Wiggin Academy and the Forbidden Curse

Mako, Penelope and Aiden followed a raggedy stone path with complete uncertainty of what was to come, and as they walked deeper the weirder the sounds in the forest become. They all knew the other squads had left the forest, so the strange creepy noises weren’t people, and that just drew them closer to one another.

“What was that!” Penelope jumped at the low howl behind them.

Aiden scoffed. “Relax, it was probably just a wolf,” he said conventionally.

“How do you know?” spat Penelope.

“This particular forest is in every Discover Alchemy volume,” he said. “It’s famous.”

Mako struggled to keep track as their bickering grew. “Okay guys, why don’t we actually come up with a plan.”

“Yes Mako, I think that’s a good idea,” said Penelope.

Aiden chuckled. “At least we have someone thinking, unlike the water slug over there,” he remarked.

“You know what!” Penelope launched herself at Aiden’s smug face.

“Penelope, calm down!” Mako grabbed a hold of her friend’s feisty arms before glaring at Aiden. “Cut it out,” she scolded them.

“Fine.” Aiden’s smirk dropped. “We need a fire orb, water orb and a black smoke orb,” said Aiden.

Penelope then spoke up. “We should probably look in places similar to that element.”

“Sure, does anyone hear water around here,” said Mako. “Aiden?” They both looked at him.

“In the book the only river that they talked about was, River of Ornaments,” he said.

Penelope strapped the casket around herself. “Well, what are we waiting for,” she began walking towards the steep hill.

“Wrong way,” said Aiden along with a sigh.

“I knew that,” she pointed to the opposite direction and began trailing through the murky forest trees.

They had fumbled through bushes, and past caves that had weird echoing sound coming out of it.

“Look moss,” pointed Aiden towards the vast land that shielded by blankets of moist moss, it clung onto the thick tree trunks and over enormous logs on the ground.

“So,” said Penelope. “If you’ve never seen moss before, you should visit my uncle Barry’s house-”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Aiden interrupted Penelope’s chatter. “Moss grows near water, so we’re close.”

Mako and the other two leaped over the massive boulder that was covered in soft thick moss, and at the end of the path they spotted a glittery blue river covered in thick mist.

Aiden and Penelope quickly scuffled down the boulder and followed Mako towards the smooth trail where the water produced white fluffy foam and pushed and pulled in relaxing soft motions.

“I don’t see any orbs,” said Mako.

“All I see is fog,” said Penelope before her green eyes drifted. “Ooooh and a bubble.”

Aiden rolled his blank eyes. “Thanks for stating the obvious,” he remarked.

“Hey,” Penelope murmured.

“Isn’t this supposed to be your area of expertise?” he asked.

Penelope sighed at his jabbing tone. “You know my mom always used to warn me before I would go swimming in the lake at our house,” she said with a goofy chuckle. “My siblings and I would have so much fun there-”

“Does this story actually have a point?” Aiden interrupted irritably.

“Oh yeah,” she caught herself falling off track. “She used to always warn us by saying that just because the water looked pretty and calm doesn’t mean it actually was.”

“So, what are you saying, this lake could be dangerous,” said Mako.

Penelope nodded. “Could be.”

“That’s it!” Aiden exclaimed. “The fog, it’s a cover.”

“For what?” asked Mako.

“For that,” mumbled Penelope.

They followed her wide green eyes to a massive figure emerging from under the water, and shockingly without a single sound the colossal figure rose with pride.

“Great,” whispered Aiden harshly. “It’s a water slug like our partner over here. Penelope maybe you should go say hi.”

“Maybe you should!” Penelope shouted.

“Shhh!” Mako hushed their bickering and pulled them both behind another boulder.

Penelope’s anger quickly washed away when she spotted another shiny sphere. “Oh look, it’s another bubble,” Penelope popped the rainbow globe with her finger.

Before they could even get another word out they noticed the swarm of bubbles engulfing the entire sky above them.

“What’s going on?” Mako puzzled.

“Oh no,” Aiden paled. “It’s Behemoth.”

Mako and Penelope stayed quiet.

“I thought Behemoth was dead,” said Mako, both of them were slightly surprised. “I read about him in a book.”

“No, he was captured,” said Aiden.

“What does Behemoth look like?” Penelope asked.

“He’s a dragon,” said Mako.

“Wait a bubble dragon,” said Penelope with a chuckle.

“It’s not funny,” cautioned Aiden. “They’re very dangerous and have terrible moods, so you can rarely talk sense to them.”

“Kind of like you, fire boy,” retorted Penelope with a smirk as Aiden threw her a scowl.

Mako peeked over the rim of their improvised cover and saw some of the fog disperse, she could spot the massive white figure perched on a flat rock in the middle of the lake. His sharp teeth and claws were noticeable even from this distance. “He looks pretty angry,” she commented. “Hold on, what is that?

“What-” both Aiden and Penelope spoke.

Mako spotted a brilliant aqua blue orb that had no reflective rainbow like the other bubbled, it danced around Behemoth as the bubbles grew and swayed. “I think that’s the orb,” she said as they all watched Behemoth frozen in his spot.

“What’s the plan?” asked Penelope.

“Someone will have to distract him enough for the other two to get the orb,” offered Aiden. Penelope and Mako stared at Aiden with blank expressions.

Penelope groaned. “Ugh fine, I’ll-”

“Wait,” said Mako. “What don’t water creatures like-” they stared at her with puzzled faces- “fire. Just show some fire to him and he’ll get distracted.”

Aiden nodded off silently before quickly scurrying off to the other side of the woods to pull out some fire tricks to lure Behemoth away.

Mako hastily climbed up the massive tree to get closer to the orb with Penelope following hesitantly.

“This doesn’t seem right,” examined Penelope.

Mako noticed Penelope watching Aiden create small fire balls to lure Behemoth away long enough for them to snatch the orb like some thieves.

“My Nana told me that Behemoth was just a protector of the lake and he wasn’t always angry,” she said. “People just didn’t let him play with his bubbles.”

Mako noticed Penelope slide down the tree trunk and run towards Behemoth. “Penelope!” Mako called out to her friend but she didn’t listen, Mako climbed down as fast as she could.

“Bubbles!” Penelope called out getting the beast’s undivided attention. His sharp eyes glared at her with complete confusion. “Hello,” she greeted as she stepped on to the piece of ice she accidentally froze under her feet to get closer to the dragon.

“What is she doing?” Aiden reached Mako furiously.

Mako nudged him. “Penelope knows water creatures better than both of us,” she answered. “She probably has some trick up her sleeve.”

“Hope she doesn’t do anything stupid,” Aiden grumbled but watched Penelope carefully.

“Are those your friends?” Behemoth’s deep voice was intimidating but also very soothing like the ocean waves itself, he looked quite ancient but strong and his beauty wasn’t lost under the old age, he tilted his head to observe the little girl in front of him.

“Yes, they are,” said Penelope before hastily adding, “Oh, and I’m a Primrose!”

He suddenly let out a hearty laughter. “Primrose, you crazy buffoons are still around.”

Penelope’s smile broadened. “I also met your brother, Leviathan!”

The dragon’s pale green eyes widened. “Really?”

“He talked about you,” said Penelope. “He said that you and he used to fight all the time, and that your mom would get furious.”

Behemoth blew out a puff of fresh bubbles. “Did he also tell you who would always win?”

Penelope froze another piece of water into ice and stepped closer. “He would always tell me that he won,” said Penelope. “But after seeing you, I don’t believe him.”

Behemoth’s deep snicker rumbled the bubbles. “I like you, kid,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

Mako and Aiden stood stunned, but they slowly tried to approach them without any noise; they failed miserably but the Behemoth was too focused with Penelope.

“I need that orb,” she said with her finger pointed out. “It’s for a challenge we have to complete.”

Behemoth’s clawed hand snaked up and snatched it out of the sky closer down in front of all them. “This one?”

Penelope nodded.

“And why should I give this to you?” he asked subtly.

“Er- did you need it for something?” Penelope caught Behemoth off guard.

“No but-”

“So, then just lend it to me,” said Penelope before quickly adding, “I can even give your brother a message for you.”

Mako and Aiden both smiled as Penelope held her hand out to the colossal dragon without any fear.

“You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that,” said Behemoth as he simply handed the orb to her. “Tell my brother to stop lying about who would always beat him.”

“You got it,” said Penelope as she hopped on the ice platforms she made and landing on the shore. “Goodbye, Behemoth.”

The lake began to fill again with misty rain and Behemoth disappeared under the lake.

Mako held her hand up to Penelope, and she got the silent gesture, and clapped her hand against Mako’s and Aiden’s.

“Alright, let’s go get the fire orb squad 9,” ordered Mako.