This story takes place in the universe of The Warden's Fate. IT IS NOT BASED OFF OF HOTEL TRANSELVANIA IN ANY WAY. The Puppet Master was on the loose again.
And just when Florian had thought he had lost him in the rifts. Hmpf. Well, it was time to lose him again. He had nearly gotten eaten by dragons while inside the rift, but somehow managed to escape. Now, Florian was fighting him, high above the floating isle. Floriel and Flora were on the island below, watching as their battle continued. It was a battle of strength and speed. The Puppet Master seemed to have the upper hand, with more powerful magic, firing blast after blast at Florian. However, it was really Florian who was in the lead, because he had the advantage of speed. Being a fairy, he was a natural flier, and more agile than most humans. The Puppet Master, though he had the ability to fly, was not very good at it and hovered in one place while Florian flew in circles around him. It seemed to never be ending, shadow and earth, dueling in the sky. Flashes of bright green and murky purple, flying back and forth. Florian was landing more hits than his opponent, but they were barely doing any damage. He just had to push him close enough to the rift portal... But they weren't getting anywhere. Still too high. Then suddenly, Florian seemed to trip in the air. It only took him a second to re-balance himself, but it was just enough time for the Puppet Master to land a fatal blow, a blow that seemed different. Shadow Magic, but not. It hit Florian on one of his wings, throwing him off balance again. Then, he plummeted down from the sky, like a tiny green speck from Flora and Floriel's perspective. Falling, falling, unable to fly it seemed. Then with a crash, he landed in a shrub. Flora rushed over to where he had fallen as the Puppet Master flew up and off into the distance. "Florian? Florian! Are you alright?" She shouted into the shrub. A muffled groan came out in reply. "Florian?" Flora repeated, kneeling down by the shrub. "Are you hurt?" "Everything huuuuurts." Groaned the shrub. "Help me up, would you?" The shrub stuck out its hand towards Flora, who jolted back in shock. "Florian?" "Yeah?" "Is that you?" "Um, yeah, who else would it be?" "Hey, Floriel, you might want to come over here." "What? Wait, is that really Florian in the bush?" "I already told you it's me, please help me up now," the shrub insisted. "Do you think..." Floriel trailed off. "You guys are so frustrating. Just help me up already. I can barely hold my hand up." He complained. "So it Is your hand." Floriel replied. "Don't let him up," Flora whispered to Floriel. "I can hear you talking. Fine. I'll just get up myself- Oof." The shrub rustled as Florian unsuccessfully attempted to crawl out. "Oh, just let him out." Floriel groaned, reaching her hand into the shrub. Florian grabbed it and she heaved him out. Flora gasped. Florian tried to stand up on his own, but his knees buckled and he fell foreword on his face. "Oh dear." Flora squeaked. Florian turned onto his back and looked up at his sister and cousin. "So what was that all about?" He asked, squinting in the sun." Floriel bit her lip. Flora cast a side glance at the shrub. "Listen Florian," She explained, "I- I don't know how to tell you this, but-" She pulled a small mirror out of her pocket as Floriel helped him to his feet. Flora handed him the mirror. He took it, let out a shocked yelp, then dropped the mirror. As the bits shattered on the ground, he nearly fell again. Floriel caught him and hoisted him to his feet again. He pushed off of her and looked over his shoulder, then spun around in a circle, still looking behind him. Then he reached up and felt his ears. Floriel bit her lip again. Florian screamed. His pointed ears had become rounded, his green skin had faded to a warm brown, and his wings had disappeared. Florian had been turned into a human. "WHAT THE-" He started before face planting into the grass again. "Oh, Florian." Flora crouched down next to her brother and patted him on the back. "We've got to go to the Academy, like, now," said Floriel, looking up at the clear sky. "What? Why should we go there? We should bring him to Firefly Forest." Flora snapped back. "Just go somewhere," Florian moaned. "I wish this was a bad dream." "Too bad it isn't." Floriel stated, pulling out her map and tapping the icon of the Academy. At the Academy "Florian?" Adam shouted, running up to them. Florian looked up at Adam, then sighed. He was supported between Flora and Floriel, dragging his feet with each step. "Yes, unfortunately. I don't know how you survive- this is just so weird-" "What on earth happened?" He asked as he followed the group to the Astral tower and into the elevator. "Nemo" Floriel groaned. "I should have known," He growled, clenching one fist and tightening his grip on his sword with the other as the elevator ascended.
When Alpha saw Florian, he stood up so quickly that his chair crashed down behind him, knocking the Astral Keystone off of its pedestal. "You've really got to stop doing that," Omega stated, crawling out from under the chair. Gale's eyes grew fearful as he looked Florian up and down. "F-Florian?" He asked, voice quivering. "Yes- I'm sorry. I was fighting Nemo, he got out of the rift again. He hit me-" He bent over and took a deep breath. "Transformation magic," Omega walked towards Florian, adjusting his hat. "We don't teach much of that here. Usually, it's only temporary, morph marble making and such, but this-" Florian whimpered. "I hate to break this to you," Omega continued, "But you might be stuck as a human for a while." Florian fell over onto the floor with a thump. Flora sighed. "Omega, you wouldn't happen to know any transformation magic would you?" She asked, pulling Florian up off of the floor. "I can only reverse one half of the spell. The other is only undoable by the one who cast it. Very inconvenient. Especially because the one who cast it is Nemo. Very difficult to get him to do anything helpful." "OBVIOUSLY," Florian interrupted. "Look what he did to me! You cannot possibly know how terrible this is for me..." "Well you still look pretty good," Floriel said. Flora gave her a look. "Thank you- but I can't flyyyyyyyyy," He whined, releasing himself from his sister and cousin's grip. Alpha began to pace. Gale began to run his hands through his silver hair, breathing nervously. Omega paced after Alpha in circles around his desk. "Can you at least undo one half of the spell so I can fly?" Florian pleaded before tottering to one side, then the other before losing his balance and falling over. "My balance is NOT good right now. It feels like I have bricks glued to my feet." Gale's eyebrows had scrunched upwards, making him look even more worried than usual. "Gale, calm down, it's alright. You'll be fine," Alpha walked over to Gale and patted him on the back. Gale fidgeted with his hair a while longer, then bent down by a bookshelf to smell books. "Did you see where Nemo went? You do know his weakness, right?" Omega asked, helping Florian over to a stool nearby the bookshelf where Gale was. Florian facepalmed himself. "Urg! His weakness! I could have easily defeated him- I've been so stupid-" "Hush. There is nothing you can do about it. We only have to find him." Omega looked at Gale, then fired a small blast of magic at him. With a flash, Gale's gray skin faded to the same pale shade as Alpha's and his wings disappeared into thin air. Gale turned around, looked at himself, let out a scream, then fainted. Alpha scowled. "Why did you do that. That was really mean. Like, very very mean. Turn him back now!" He growled, casting another blast of magic at him. "He was being twitchy." Omega blasted a shock of magic at Gale, transforming him into his old self. "EXACTLY. We'll be leaving now." He heaved Gale over his shoulder and stepped into the elevator. Floriel and Flora were silent, watching on. Omega cast a glance at Florian. "I saw Nemo go to the South East." He muttered, pinching at his right eyebrow. "Towards Prodigy." "Lovely. I'll get him back to Dragon Isle. Things should work out smoothly. Unfortunately, I cannot make you fly again." Florian groaned. Several days passed. Floriel had taken over Florian's classes in the Earth Tower because Florian didn't want to teach. Then, a letter arrived. The Puppet Master had been sighted again. "Let me have at him!" Florian yelled, jumping to his feet and marching across the room. By now, he had gained balance with his legs and could walk normally like before. "He'll pay. Oh yes, he will." "Hold on, Florian. You aren't going anywhere," Floriel jumped in front of his office door. "Why not. This is the perfect time. He just has to blast me... or something. Omega already undid one half of the magic-" "Well how do you know it will transform you back?" She argued, sliding to the left, then to the right, blocking Florian. "UGG. I DON'T know. I just want to try. Come on." "You could get kil- Oof!" Floriel had been pushed forward because behind her, the door had opened. Gale peeped his head in. "Florian! Alpha says you have to go to Dragon Isle immediately- Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, are you two alright?" He exclaimed, looking down at Florian and Floriel who were tumbled in a pile on the floor. "Oww. Hey Gale- Did you say Dragon Isle? Floriel, get off me." "Yes sir." Floriel heaved herself up off her cousin and brushed off her dress. The Puppet Master was indeed at Dragon Isle, attempting to find the baby dragons again. Florian was overly eager for a rematch, and even though he couldn't fly, he could still use his magic. Life as a human wasn't too bad once he got used to it, he supposed. But it wasn't enough. He wanted to be a fairy again. Filled with wrath, he stood near the shrub and looked to the sky where the Puppet Master was descending. The shrub was instantly blasted in half by a blast of Shadow magic fired from the skies above. "You useless little Warden!" The Shadow cried from the sky. "Oh, you will see how 'useless' I can be," Florian muttered to himself. It was just him and The Puppet Master, alone. Flash after flash flew through the air. Florian made it appear as if he were trying to dodge for the first several minutes of the battle. It would probably hurt getting hit- what if it didn't work? "Florafox, now!" Florian swung his staff as a glowing white blue ball jetted down from the sky. Florafox jumped into action immediately, hopping back and forth behind Florian as the Puppet Master aimed a shot at it. Just as planned, the blast hit Florian square on the chest. He tumbled over, weakened for a split second. Please work Please work. He pleaded in his mind. "NEMO!" He shouted from amidst the shadowy fog surrounding him. "No-" Nemo plummeted from the sky, trying to grasp the air as if trying to stop himself from falling. Florian ran out of the shadows and jumped to the sky. Traces of the smog still latched onto him, but quickly melted off as he soared skyward. Glimmering cyan wings unfurled from his shoulders and his skin faded back to the light green it was before. "Why?!?!" Nemo shouted as he hit the ground. "Ha ha!" Florian laughed as he turned backflips through the sky. "Didn't expect that to work, huh?" "What on EARTH." He scowled, crawling to his feet. "How-" "La la la, no turning me back now! Hey, Florafox, go!" The fox-epic skipped up to Nemo and bit his butt. "You %%@^&!" He hissed, jumping foreward. Whoooosh "Into the rift ya go! Have fun!" Florian had blasted a massive beam of magic at Nemo, pushing him backwards and towards the rift. "@#*)%@#$!" He growled, trying to hold onto the ground outside of the portal, but it was no use. With a flash of purple and blue light, he was gone. "Language!" Florian sighed, descending next to Florafox. "Who's a good girl? You are, oh yes you are!" He purred, rubbing her on the head. "Thank goodness that worked!" He looked to the sky and sighed a sigh of relief.
THE END