THE MYSTICONS SPRAWLED out on the top of the Hill of Heroes, watching the stars. It was a perfect evening. There wasn’t a cloud in sight.
“What an amazing view,” Arkayna said.
Em pointed to balls of light in the distance. They looked like huge shooting stars. “By the Hammer of Harmon! That’s the Jaxxon Cluster. It’s a meteor shower that passes by our realm every two hundred years.”
Zarya took a bite of her snorg skewer. It wasn’t that she wasn’t impressed, it was just that it was hard to be excited about anything right now. Dreadbane still had her Codex piece. She was the only one of the Mysticons who didn’t have all her powers, and she had no one to blame but herself. If she hadn’t trusted Kitty, none of this would’ve happened.…
A foz leapt up and grabbed Zarya’s snack right out of her hands. “Hey! Get back here!” she yelled, and scrambled to her feet.
“Right, it’s foz season,” Arkayna said. They were out in swarms this time of year. Sometimes you’d turn around, and there’d be three on your shoulder.
“Most annoying time of the year!” Zarya shouted. “What pests! No offense, Choko.”
She dove forward, grabbing her skewer out of the foz’s grasp. Choko darted in front of her, and the tiny creature stared up at her and Choko, its eyes wide with fear. Then it turned and ran in the opposite direction.
“Way to show ’em who’s boss, Choko,” Zarya said.
“I don’t think Choko scared them off…,” Arkayna said, terror in her voice.
Zarya spun around to see one of the meteors zooming toward them. It was a giant ball of fire and rock, big enough to ruin them all. The Mysticons ran out of the way as it crashed into the Hill of Heroes. Pieces of rock and ash rained down on them. It took a few moments before they were sure they were safe.
As they got back to their feet, an image projected over Drake City. It was of Dreadbane, his skeletal face smiling in delight. “Did you enjoy the fireworks, Drake City?” he asked. “If the Mysticons don’t deliver the rest of the Codex pieces to me within the hour, I will divert the rest of the meteor shower and burn Drake City to the ground.”
The Mysticons looked up at the rest of Jaxxon Cluster, soaring toward the realm. There was no way they’d ever give their Codex pieces to Dreadbane. But how would they stop him from destroying all of Drake City in revenge?
* * *
Back at the Royal Palace, the Mysticons tried to create a plan with Malvaron’s help.
“How did Dreadbane get the power to divert an entire meteor shower?” Arkayna asked.
“Tazma must’ve found a spell in their Codex piece,” Malvaron said.
Zarya cringed at those words. “You mean my Codex piece. If I hadn’t let Kitty get the Dragon Disk, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“Hey, all that matters is stopping Dreadbane,” Em said.
“Yeppity yep!” Piper said. “We’ll just creep into that creep’s evil lair and get everything back.”
“There’s just one problem,” Arkayna said. “We don’t know where Dreadbane’s lair is.”
“Wait!” Zarya’s eyes lit up. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it sooner. Kitty was the reason this had all happened, but she also could be the solution. “We don’t know where it is, but we know someone who does!”
“After Kitty stole the Dragon Disk from us, she sold it to Dreadbane,” Em said, nodding.
“And I know just where to find her,” Zarya said.
They gathered their supplies and headed out into the night.
There was only one sky pizzeria in all of Drake City. At least a few pirates were always there, challenging patrons to arm-wrestling matches or scamming the pizzeria’s owner, Mama Calamari.
Zarya led the way as they burst through the pizzeria doors. “Kitty Boon! Let’s talk.”
“Sorry, not really in the mood,” Kitty snapped. She was tall with long, wavy black hair that she tied back with a pink handkerchief. It seemed like she was always surrounded by her fellow pirates, who were known as the Pink Skullz.
“Well get in the mood,” Arkayna said. “Dreadbane’s going to destroy the city.”
“It’s a Mysticons problem,” Kitty said. “Pink Skullz, let’s take these to go.”
She and her pirate crew threw pizzas at the Mysticons. Zarya got hit in the face with one. She wiped the sauce from her eyes and saw the pirates fleeing in all directions. “Get them!” she called out.
Kitty and Kasey, her right-hand man, ran for the exit. But Piper and Em cut them off before they could get there.
“If it isn’t Mr. Heartbreaker,” Em said, annoyed. She had history with Kasey. He’d pretended to like her, but he’d only been using her to help Kitty get the Dragon Disk.
“Mysticon Knight,” Kasey said. “Please, I beg your forgiveness. I was a jerkface.”
Em was about to tell him off, but Kitty pulled him away, toward another exit. Arkayna blasted a fire bolt at them, sending them tumbling backward.
“Just tell us where Dreadbane’s lair is,” she said.
“Classified info, sorry,” Kitty said. She pulled a lever next to the table, opening a trapdoor in the floor. She and Kasey dropped down out of the pizzeria and took off on two delivery boards that had been hovering below.