Star League 8 (6 page)

‘JAY!' All I can think is that nobody could survive a fall like that. I race towards the hole, then I hear a scrabbling sound and Jay's hand appears over the edge. He sticks his head out, looking a bit shaken but still in one piece.

‘You're okay!' I breathe a sigh of relief. We crowd around and help pull him out of the hole.

He holds out his hand and clutched in it is the seventh Shadow Shard.

‘I grabbed it from him as he fell,' he says. ‘That means we've got all the pieces.'

A moan comes up from the hole and Jay turns pale. ‘Quick, we've got to get out of here!'

‘But we've got all the Shadow Shards,' I say. ‘We can reunite the Shadow Stone and use it to defeat Doppelganger!'

Jay shakes his head. ‘Not here. It takes time to bind the shards together. We need to put some distance between us and Doppelganger!'

‘How do you know that?' asks Asuka. Before Jay can answer there's a loud banging from the hole as though something is trying to climb out.

‘RUN!' yells Jay, and this time we don't argue.

We race up a set of stairs, and just as we reach the top I hear Doppelganger crawl out of the hole.

‘Don't look back,' yells Jay. ‘Just hurry!'

We race up a corridor towards a doorway. I can hear Doppelganger close behind us, his footsteps seeming lighter than before. The fall must've taken it out of him a bit, but I bet he could still destroy us. It feels like he's going to reach us at any second, so we all put on an extra burst of speed and race through the doorway.

I slam the door shut behind us and the others upend a table across it.

‘Good job,' says Jay. ‘We should be safe in here
until we can reunite the Shadow Stone. Quickly, everyone activate your shards!'

We hold the shards we took from the Shadow Six in front of us. Jay holds two shards – Cale's shard and the seventh shard – one in each hand.

Mine starts to glow with a swirling green light, reminding me of the troll powers it took back from Greta. These shards are so powerful on their own, who knows what they can do when they're reunited? Whoever possesses the Shadow Stone could easily rule the world. I can see how someone like Doppelganger could be corrupted by the power. But not us. We're the good guys, and once we've used the stone's power to destroy Doppelganger, we'll make sure it never falls into the wrong hands again.

Suddenly there's a loud thumping from the other side of the door. Doppelganger has caught up to us! The table across the door shudders as he tries to break in. We don't have much time left!

Everyone's Shadow Shards are glowing with different colours. The colours start to swell until they mix together to form a dark, shimmering rainbow. Then the crystals float into the air, spinning faster and faster until they join together with a blinding flash. I cover my eyes and when I look back again there's a single crystal hovering in the air. It's smooth and black with rainbow tinges running through it, like a patch of oil.

‘The Shadow Stone,' whispers Jay. He reaches out and plucks it from the air. ‘Now we can finish this, once and for all.'

The banging turns into a loud crack, and the door splits open. We turn to face Doppelganger, but as I catch sight of him I feel a jolt of shock down my spine.

I stare at the rest of the Star League and they look back at me, wide-eyed.

‘Jay?' asks Connor. ‘What's going on?'

I walk through the wreckage of the broken door I destroyed to get in here and point my finger at Doppelganger. ‘He's an impostor,' I growl. Doppelganger scowls back at me with my own eyes, looking exactly like me. I can't blame the others for falling for the disguise. It's perfect. The only person who'd be able to tell the difference is me.

Doppelganger clutches the Shadow Stone to him and starts to laugh. ‘You fools! You played right into my trap!' He starts to transform back into his usual lumpy grey self. ‘Now I have the Shadow
Stone I'll be unstoppable!'

The blood drains from the faces of the Star League as they realise they've just helped their arch-enemy achieve victory.

‘He won,' whispers Asuka. ‘After all we went through we still couldn't stop him.'

When I see their defeated faces a surge of anger rages inside me. I'm sick of Doppelganger and his evil games.

‘No!' I shout. ‘It's not over yet. We've defeated him in the past and this time won't be any different. We will win!'

Doppelganger laughs. ‘How inspiring! But I'm afraid I've already defeated you. It's the end for you, Star League!' He raises the Shadow Stone high above him. ‘Oh, powerful stone! Send out your energy to destroy my enemies!'

Tendrils of shadow slowly creep from the stone towards each of us. I feel frozen to the spot, unable to move as my fate creeps closer and closer.

Then I feel a strange tingling in my mind. At first I just think it's fear, but then I feel the power growing behind my eyes and I understand what's happening.

‘Stop,' I say. Doppelganger's hand jerks like he's been burnt and the Shadow Stone skitters to the floor.

‘How did you do that?' he snarls. Doppelganger bends down to pick up the crystal and tries to send out another wave of dark energy, but I'm not going to let that happen.

I concentrate and feel the power building inside me. ‘Put down the crystal, Doppelganger.' He slowly starts to lower the crystal, fighting it the whole way.

‘What's … happening?' he grunts between clenched teeth. I keep my eyes on him, willing him to drop the crystal.

‘Those Shadow Shards have strange powers,' I say. ‘They can be dangerous in the wrong hands.
They can give power and take it away. I guess when I touched the seventh shard it awoke some kind of power in me – the power to stop you!'

‘But … but I have the Shadow Stone!' he roars. ‘I'm the one with all the power!' He straightens and starts to raise the stone, but I shake my head.

‘There are different kinds of power, Doppelganger, and the power to do good will always triumph over evil!'

Doppelganger tries to fight back, but he's no match for my new powers. Slowly, inch by inch, Doppelganger lowers the crystal until the Shadow Stone is pointed towards him. Then a beam of darkness erupts from its point and surrounds him. His eyes glow red and he screeches as the crystal's power engulfs him.

‘I'll get you, Star League! I will win!'

‘Not this time, Doppelganger.' I glance at the Star League, my friends who have fought by my side every step of the way, and together we say:

‘ABSORB POWERS!'

There's a bright flash and Doppelganger is gone. The Shadow Stone clatters to the ground and all that's left of our arch-enemy is a curl of dark smoke.

‘I guess he was so eaten up by his powers that there was nothing left of the old Thaddeus Tench,' I say.

I bend down and pick up the Shadow Stone. I can feel the pull of it, trying to draw me in, trying to lure me towards evil with its dark powers. But I close my mind to it. I won't be tempted.

‘Goodbye, Doppelganger,' I say. Then I turn back to the others. ‘Come on, let's use this stone one last time to turn my parents and Ben back to normal.' The others nod, huge grins on their faces. ‘If we're lucky, we can still make it back to the film premiere in time for the credits!'

Believe me, getting turned to stone isn't everything it's cracked up to be. My nose was itchy the whole time, and I kept wondering if I'd spend the rest of my life in a park somewhere as a toilet for birds.

But the worst part was that I couldn't do anything except watch as the Star League put their lives on the line to help me out. I had to stand there still as a statue and watch as they fought their arch-enemy, that horrible Doppelganger. I was petrified!

Still, I should've known Jay, Connor, Asuka, Leigh, Roger and Sam could handle themselves. After all, that's why I recruited them in the first place, and thanks to them the world is safe from
maniacs like Doppelganger, whose only aim in life is to make others suffer.

After the Star League used the power of the Shadow Stone to release me and Jay's parents from our stony prisons, they created a portal to a black hole. They threw the Shadow Stone into it, destroying it and closing the portal forever. Now there's no chance it will ever fall into the wrong hands again.

Of course, they could've done that after we'd used it to teleport back home. As it was, we had to wait a few hours for Ridley to send over one of GALACTIC's helicopters to pick us up. But during that time, Jay got to know his long-lost parents a bit better. After all, there's a lot to catch up on after ten years apart. Prue and Peter Casey were delighted that their son had followed in their footsteps as a secret agent.

And now that we're back, I've promised the Star League a proper holiday, which is why we're
here at the Sunshine Stars Holiday Resort, where everyone can spend a bit of time with their families without the constant threat of evil showing up to ruin their day.

If I lean over and look out the window I can see Leigh and Chu talking to the resort wildlife, Asuka trying to sunbake under the world's largest umbrella, Sam tinkering with the automated food service unit, Connor showing off next to the pool and Roger sneaking up behind him, about to push Connor in. Just as I'm wondering where Jay has got to, the door to my office slides open.

‘Still hard at work, Ben?' asks Jay. ‘You're missing all the fun!' There's a loud splash outside my window followed by some angry yelling from Connor.

I sigh. ‘There's so much to do. Ridley and I are still searching for sightings of the Shadow Six. They disappeared after you lot were through with them.'

‘But we took their powers,' says Jay. ‘How
dangerous can they be? They won't be causing much trouble without the Shadow Stone.'

‘I guess you're right. Though speaking of powers, I still have lots of research to do on the secondary powers you six developed. There's so much more to discover about Connor's telekinesis, Asuka's invisibility, Sam's super speed, Leigh's morphing ability, Roger's future sight and your psychic powers. Have any of you had more luck with using them again?'

Jay shakes his head. ‘None of us have been able to activate our secondary powers since we destroyed the Shadow Stone. Perhaps they're gone for good?'

‘Maybe,' I say, rubbing my chin. ‘Or maybe you just haven't mastered them yet. With more practice, who knows what the six of you could do?'

Jay shrugs. ‘Sure, but for now, it's holiday time! Come on, we should get out there before Connor and Roger start a fight that makes Doppelganger
look like a warm-up match.'

‘I'll be out in a minute,' I say, shuffling some papers. ‘I'm just putting the finishing touches on the script for the Star League's next movie. I've based it on your fight with Doppelganger, but I can't figure out how to finish it.'

Jay plucks the script out of my hands and glances over it. ‘I've got an idea.' He picks up a pen and writes down two words:

 

THE END