Stalking through the woods late at night, a female mage scientist named Sarya Kesh was desperately searching for a certain creature that she has been after for several dimensional traveling.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Sarya said to herself. She was holding a black plasma laser weapon gun in her hands. "You know he's out there. He's watching me."
Pulling up her plasma laser gun, Sarya was fully ready to defend herself. Suddenly, a fast figure jumped down from a tree and aimed its laser cannon at her from behind, which created a little explosion rising above the trees.
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Meanwhile, Ariana was busying at work in her lab on a sunny morning. But it wasn't any scientific research this time. She was actually making a hand-made silver metallic hockey stick with her purple clover symbol on the hook to give to Casey.
"Too much?" Ariana asked.
"Do you really want my opinion?" Talia inquired, popping up behind her older sister.
"Only if you think it's perfect." Ariana responded.
"Then it's perfect!" Talia smiled happily as she gave Ariana a thumbs up.
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After Ariana and Talia casted their spell to teleport themselves to their destination, they had arrived at the O'Neil farmhouse and walked inside the barn where they found Casey repairing an old truck. Casey looked up and was happy to see the girls again.
"Hey, girls." Casey greeted casually, walking forward to Ariana and Talia with his hands inside his pocket. "Did that cell phone April has worked?"
"No, we used a spell to get here." Talia replied with a smile. "Besides, Ariana has a present for you."
Ariana's face blushed red as she handed the gift she made over to Casey. Casey stared at the silver metallic hockey stick. He was really impressed, but his eyes widened when he saw the purple clover symbol on the hook that made him recalling what Camilla said about Ariana's feelings for him.
"Wow, uh, that's just super cool. Thank you so much, Ariana." Casey said with an awkward chuckle. He set the hockey stick on top of the truck and ran outside with a quick explanation. "Well, I got some, uh, training to do with, uh, April. Thanks again, Ariana! Peace!"
After Casey ran out of the barn, Ariana and Talia teleported back to their aunt's house into the living room as the orange mage kunoichi placed her hand on her distraught older sister's shoulder.
"Are you okay, Ariana?" Talia asked.
"Devastated." Ariana answered sadly.
"That's rough, sis." Talia said with a soft smile. "But don't worry, you'll get his attention some other way."
Ezra walked in and saw Ariana feeling down.
"Video game again?" Ezra asked.
"Nope. Hockey stick." Ariana answered.
"Smooth move, genius. I mean, face it, Ariana. It's never gonna happen." Camilla said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest. She walked over to her younger siblings. "We're mages. He's a human boy and you're a mage kunoichi. Sooner or later, you have to get used to it." She let out a smile as she was ready to get her sister's mind off of the lovey-dovey stuff. "You know what you need?"
"What's that?" Ariana muttered.
"A little dimensional forest ninja training!" Camilla replied, placing her left arm around Ariana's neck. "Sounds like fun, right?"
Ariana rolled her eyes and groaned in annoyance.
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Outside, the three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja engaged themselves in a little forest ninja training. But Ariana and Talia are failing miserably since they keep on bumping into trees and Camilla kept beating them up without a problem. Ezra was training perfectly and blocking Camilla's every strike at him. Up on a small hill, Kirana came by and stood next to the tree to watch the whole training session with a pleasing smile.
"Come on girls, we're not in the city anymore." Ezra grinned. "We need to get used to this new environment. No buildings, no subways. But there are a lot of trees."
"Ugh, don't remind me." Talia groaned as she and Ariana laid on the grass in pain.
"Well, what do you think?" Camilla asked, turning to her older sister.
"Hmmm, mage hunt." Kirana said.
"Mage hunt." Camilla said with a sly grin.
"Mage hunt?!" Ariana, Talia, and Ezra asked shockingly as they quickly got up behind Camilla. "Are you crazy?"
"You wanna join, Kirana?" Camilla asked.
"Yeah." Kirana said eagerly. But unfortunately, the painful injuries coming from her liquefying left arm and right leg made her decline with a groan. "Sorry. I guess I'm still not up to it. Enjoy your little hunt, guys."
"It'll heal, Kirana." Ezra encouraged. "Don't worry."
Kirana gave a smile to Ezra and walked back to the house. When Kirana went back to the house, Camilla turned back to her younger siblings with her game face.
"Okay, I'll give you three a five-minute head start into the forest, and then I hunt you down." Camilla explained. "If you can't stay hidden for at least an hour, you'll have to wash Aunt Coral's imp pets."
"No way! Not the imps, man!" Talia cried.
"They get rough when it comes to bath time! We can't wash them!" Ariana whimpered.
"Then, get moving." Camilla grinned slyly.
"Challenge accepted." Ezra smirked before he ran away in the woods.
With quick speed, Ariana and Talia ran away from Camilla and into the woods to follow Ezra.
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Ariana, Talia, and Ezra hurried themselves through the trees, but they couldn't find a spot to hide because of all the tall trees.
"How do we hide in the woods, anyway?" Talia asked as she was sounding out of breath.
"We could climb a tree." Ezra suggested, looking up at the nearby tree with a pointing finger.
"That's the first place she's gonna look." Talia said.
"But we got to hide now!" Ariana shouted sternly.
Ariana, Talia, and Ezra quickly climbed up a tree to hide from Camilla.
"Aw, we are so washing those imps." Ariana's sighed desperately. "Camilla's gonna find us up here in, like, five seconds."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Talia said, looking up with her voice shaking in fear.
"Why?" Ezra asked.
"Because of him!" Talia screamed.
Ariana and Ezra looked up and gasped in fear. Two mage kunoichis and one mage ninja are staring at a teenage male android, who was staring down at them with an angry expression on a tree branch above them. He has a tall and lean frame with broad shoulders and clearly defined muscles. He has fair skin with green circuitry stripes all over him, jade green eyes, blond hair in a cowlick style, and enlarged arms. He wore a black sleeveless bodysuit with a gold utility belt and golden combat boots.
"Uh, bye." Talia squeaked nervously.
Ariana, Talia, and Ezra immediately hopped out of the tree and started running away with the android, who was following closely behind them. He aimed his laser cannon at the mages, who were summoning out their elemental magic and got into their fighting stance. The android dropped his arm cannon down and his eyes began to analyze the mages' powers, effortlessly mimicking the way Ariana wield her powers.
"Who is he? Some kind of robot boy?" Talia asked.
"It looks like android to me!" Ariana explained.
"An android? In the woods?" Ezra said in confusion.
"That's correct, and the name's Dagger." The android spoke.
Ariana released a powerful metal blast that split into multiple fragments at Dagger, Talia released the strong sound of high amplitude at Dagger from her mouth, and Ezra released a herd of light shurikuns at Dagger from his hands, but Dagger quickly created a bright green force field for protection from the mages' attacks and send them flying away from him with his swift kicks.
"He's too powerful." Ariana gasped.
"What do we do?" Ezra asked.
"I'm gonna go with; Run!" Ariana shouted as she got up from the grass and picked up Ezra in her arms.
Ariana and Talia ran away as Dagger quickly chased after them.
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Meanwhile, Camilla searched for her younger siblings and stood next a tree until she spotted Ariana and Talia running towards her.
"Come on, you're not even trying to hide!" Camilla said with an unamused look on her face.
"Dagger!" Ariana and Talia yelled, running behind Camilla for cover.
"Who the heck is Dagger?" Camilla asked.
"Him!" Ezra said as he got off of Ariana.
When Ezra turned Camilla around, the red mage kunoichi faced Dagger heading in their direction. But she wasn't scared at all.
"Looks like we're gonna get some real training." Camilla smiled.
Ezra fired ten light daggers from his palms to Dagger's arms, but Dagger dodged the light daggers and fired a bright green blast at Ezra to knock the teal mage ninja into a tree. Talia transmitted a very powerful sound wave from her palm to Dagger's body, but Dagger fired a bright green energy blast at Talia from his palms that threw the orange mage kunoichi up in the air and landed hard on her back in pain. Ariana rapidly fired massive metal spikes at Dagger from her hands, but Dagger dodged out of the way and fired a bright green laser beam from his chest that tossed Ariana to the side of his sight. Camilla backflipped over Dagger and then faced the android with her fist in front of her. Dagger noticed the red mage kunoichi's electrical fists and transformed his enlarged hands into a pair of massive gauntlets. They charged at each other with their fists clashing with brutal strength, but Dagger tossed Camilla away from him that send her flying to the tree nearby. Dagger has beaten three mage kunoichis and one mage ninja with sheer strength and vast intelligence effortlessly.
"Wow, Dagger's got some skills." Camilla noted.
As Camilla, Talia, and Ezra continued to fight Dagger with everything they got, Ariana halted herself for a minute and caught Dagger's short breaths coming out from his mouth.
"Guys, stop!" Ariana shouted, stopping four people together from attacking each other and walked over to Dagger and looked at green sparks coming from his arm. "I can fix your arm if you let me. I want to help. Okay?"
Dagger's eyes narrowed and responded with a slow nod.
"What? Hello? No way!" Camilla urged. "We can't bring robot boy with us!"
"Of course we can. Besides, can you see he's hurt? He doesn't want to fight us anymore." Ariana said. She turned her face to Talia and Ezra. "Talia? Ezra?"
"I'd say bring him home." Talia said quickly.
"I'm with Talia." Ezra agreed.
"Three to one, Camilla." Ariana grinned. She turned back to Dagger with a calm smile. "Hi. I'm Ariana. This is Ezra, this is Camilla, and this is Talia."
"Nice to meet you all. The name's Dagger." Dagger greeted politely.
"Will you come with us?" Ariana asked. "You're gonna be safe with us."
"I'd be delighted." Dagger replied.
Unbeknownst to them, Sarya had been spying on them the whole time from above the tall trees.
"Well, I've been tracking him for too long." Sarya muttered to herself. "And now he goes and finds himself friends with more mages! No one is going to stand in my way from my son."
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Back at the house, Ariana opened the door and stepped herself in the living room. Camilla, Talia, and Ezra followed from behind. And Dagger was the last one to walk in the house and sat on the couch into the living room. Ariana introduced Dagger to her entire family as Coral was bandaging Dagger's arm, but Kirana and Mūn are less than thrilled to meet a robot stranger. Norbit was just confused about Dagger.
"You can't just bring a strange robot home!" Kirana protested.
"But he needs our help just until his arm gets better." Ariana explained.
"Besides, Ariana has a big heart." Ezra smiled.
"Ariana's emotions show kindness and compassion towards Dagger." Norbit said after scanning Ariana.
"There you go." Coral said, wrapping Dagger's arm and tied the wrap in a knot. "Try not to use it too much for the next few days."
"Well, I thank you for helping me." Dagger smiled to Ariana.
"No problem." Ariana replied.
"I was created as a powerful android with vast intelligence until my free will and consciousness allowed me to escape and explore the world." Dagger explained. "But my mother wasn't pleased with my curious mind, so I ran away on my own." He stared Ariana with a kind smile. "And I owe my life for Ariana's kindness."
"Aw, thanks, Dagger." Ariana smiled back.
Ariana knew that Dagger was still staring at her, making the purple mage kunoichi blush by that. Suddenly, Kirana, Talia, Camilla, Ezra, and Mūn began to laugh out loud on Dagger and Ariana sudden attraction toward each other.
"Dude, you two are so lovebirds now." Talia laughed.
"Can I be the first to say ew?" Mūn asked gloomily.
"Zip it!" Dagger and Ariana yelled threateningly. "And we're not lovebirds!"
Ariana and Dagger looked at each other and went back glaring at the laughing stock.
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Throughout the day, Dagger has been following Ariana around wherever she goes, relentlessly trying to get the purple mage kunoichi's attention at every turn she went around the house. Dagger tracked Ariana with his calm, dreamily eyes that only made the purple mage kunoichi confused but also responded with a blush. Despite all of that, Ariana and Dagger shared the same amount of intelligence that allowed them to do anything to spark their interests.
That's when Ariana realized something. It totally makes sense to her now.
Ariana recalled Donnie kept trying to one-up Casey's attempts to impress April because he wants to earn April's heart for himself. But it became perfectly clear that Casey is also in love with April. For as long as she can remember, Ariana formed a crush on Casey from the moment she saw him until Dagger started to flirt with her openly and confidently that left her confused and stuttering every time he speaks, even though they both have many things in common and also talked for hours about their subjects they love. Ariana loves spending her time with both Casey and Dagger, but she doesn't know who to choose.
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Outside, three mage kunoichis and techno-organic teen huddled together in a circle inside the woods.
"Ariana, you and Talia need to learn to blend in the wilderness with Ezra. You two can show Dagger how it's done." Camilla explained. "If you need me, I'll be feeding the imps."
Camilla held out a brown bag in her hands and walked away back home.
"Okay, let's get this session started." Ariana smiled.
As Dagger was training with Ariana, Talia, and Ezra in the middle of the training session, his mage mother Sarya hid behind the tree with her laser weapon armed and ready.
"I see him." Sarya said to herself. "I must get him back to my lab."
Sarya jumped out and fired her laser blast directly at her techno-organic son, but Dagger quickly shielded himself and his three friends with a large green force field. Quickly, Dagger grabbed his three mage friends and flew back to the house with rocket legs.
"No! He's gone." Sarya said angrily. "But not for long."
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Later on that evening, Dagger strolled himself inside the kitchen and detected San making a delicious soup for the family dinner.
"Uh, San, I need your help." Dagger said.
"Sure, what do you want?" San asked happily.
"A new look." Dagger replied.
Smiling happily, San suddenly grabbed Dagger's arm and quickly took Dagger upstairs in her bedroom. Dagger sat on the bed and looked around to see the positive atmosphere on the room. San took out almost numerous clothing and her makeup set to get Dagger looking cool and chill until she finally found a perfect look for him. San held out a small mirror right in front of Dagger's face.
"Oh yeah, she's gonna love you in that." San assured.
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As the evening sky quickly changed into the dark night set, Ariana walked inside the kitchen and found Dagger in the residential cooking room that made her froze in seconds. Dagger was wearing a green T-shirt with black designs, black pants with green pockets, and black and green shoes. According to Ariana's large eyes, he looks so hot!
"Hey, Ariana." Dagger said, approaching Ariana with a beautiful red rose in his hands. "I want you to have this. A token of your brains and beauty."
"Uh, yeah, thank you." Ariana said nervously as she took the rose from Dagger. "Well, got to go to finish my experiments, bye!"
Ariana hastily ran away out of the kitchen, leaving Dagger extremely confused.
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As fast as she can, Ariana stepped into the living room and leaned against the wall. Camilla was playing a fighting video game by herself, Ezra was working on his scrapbook, and Norbit was listening to music with headphones on his head.
"This is so uncomfortable!" Ariana complained. "Dagger started to follow me around like he's in love with me." Her worry tone was replaced by a small giggle. "Even though we shared a lot of things in common."
"Now you know how Casey feels every time you're around him." Camilla commented, not turning around to her younger sister.
Ariana's eyes widened in surprise as she immediately realized that Camilla was right. Every time she wants to impress Casey, he awkwardly acts indifferent to her advances. But now Dagger wants to impress Ariana and she feels very confused to his advances. Ariana walked out of the living room and searched for Dagger around the house.
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In the dining room, Mūn and Kirana are eating their meal as they talked and giggled about how Dagger has been pestering Ariana.
"So he's wearing bad boy clothes now, and he gave a rose to Ariana." Kirana smiled.
"Do you think he's her type?" Mūn wondered.
"It's possible, but that's for them to decide." Kirana said with a shrug.
Kirana and Mūn suddenly turned around and saw Dagger standing behind them, but he wasn't listening to their conversation. He was staring at the kitchen window as if he was attracting to something that seemed to take control of him. Without any words, he jumped out of the window and sped into the forest. Luckily, Ariana, Talia, and Ezra saw what happened to him.
"Dagger, wait!" Ezra shouted.
"What's wrong with him?" Talia asked her older sister and her younger cousin.
"We don't know." Kirana replied with a shrug.
"I think he was sensing something outside." Mūn said. "At least, that's what he did when he was staring at the forest from the upstairs window."
"Dagger! Wait up!" Ariana yelled, running into the woods with Talia and Ezra.
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As Ariana, Talia, and Ezra finally arrived at the wide, open area of the woods, they found Dagger being suspended in a dark green electrical net on the ground. Sarya made her way over to Dagger and turned her attention to the two mage kunoichis and mage ninja.
"Let him go!" Ariana demanded.
"You don't understand!" Sarya said sternly. "My son needs to go back to the lab! And I won't let you three take him away from me!"
"Your son has a free will of his own." Talia said. "Does that mean anything to you?"
"Escaping from me isn't one of them." Sarya said angrily.
"He needs his freedom once in a while." Ezra said.
"You don't understand what he needs!" Sarya glared.
Sarya aimed her laser weapon and fired many strong laser blasts at the three siblings, who quickly dodged each blast that were coming at them. Ariana fired a large number of iron spears towards Sarya multiple times in rapid succession while Talia released a loud, piercing supersonic scream that distorted at the mage scientist. But Sarya effortlessly used her weapon to break free and fired more laser blasts at the two mage kunoichis to the ground. Ezra shined a powerful beam of light to daze Sarya off guard and snatched her weapon from her hands. Luckily, Sarya pulled out a smaller pistol from her pocket and began shooting at the teal mage ninja, who was dodging every shot.
"Ha! Missed me!" Ezra teased.
"Really?" Sarya smirked.
Suddenly, a bunch of tree branches feel in front of Ezra, separating him from his sisters and being trapped by broken branches from gunshots. Quickly, Ariana's fingers encased in hard metal and slashed Sarya's laser weapon, causing the weaponry set to explode next to Sarya. Dagger got out of the net and came over to his mother, who was lying on the ground in defeat.
"Dagger, I'm sorry." Sarya said softly as she slowly got up from the grass and looked at her son. "I know that you had a free will and consciousness, but everything I did was trying to protect you from those who will despise you by your looks."
"Actually, I do have friends that help and appreciate me from who I am." Dagger said. He walked over to Ariana, Talia, and Ezra with a smile. "I'll take my mother back to our home into another dimension. But we'll see each other again someday."
Dagger helped Ezra out of the trap and fist bumped the teal mage ninja, who smiled. Dagger hugged Talia and she hugged him back. Dagger leaned in closer to Ariana and kissed her cheek, making the purple mage kunoichi to blush madly. With that, Dagger and Sarya stomped into the portal that Dagger mathematically conjured up while Ariana, Talia, and Ezra waved good-bye to them.
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The next morning, Casey was working with the old truck with his tools inside the barn. Ariana took a deep breath and slowly approached to him.
"Hey, Casey." Ariana greeted.
"What's up, Ariana?" Casey smiled, getting up and stood in front of Ariana.
"Well, I just wanted to let you know I won't be bothering you with hockey stick anymore." Ariana said softly. "I get it now. Ariana is to Casey as Dagger was to Ariana back in her aunt's dimension."
Casey was surprised by what Ariana said to him and looked at her sympathetically.
"Besides, I'm just a mage." Ariana said sadly.
After a brief moment of silence, Casey knew exactly what he has to do.
"Ariana, you're not just any mage." Casey smiled coyly, leaning toward Ariana. "You're my wicked mage."
Casey gently grabbed Ariana's face and pulled her toward him, planting a brief but affectionate kiss on her lips, much to Ariana's shock. He smiled and walked out of the barn, leaving puzzled Ariana extremely confused as she didn't know if the kiss meant Casey has feelings for her or he did that to make her feel better.
"I deeply understand nothing at all." Ariana sighed.