by T5, I'm Not Mister Mxypltk and Chewy Walrus
Chicago:
Mr. Smith smiled at Ma Kalunga, a smile that revealed no emotion, a smile made out of every child's nightmares. The fourth-dimensional shadow that was his body leaned over her (inside her?), and she was in ecstasy.
No one that claimed to have experienced bliss and ecstasy could ever come close to the sensations she was enjoying now. The fifth-dimensional heart was hovering at their side, singing in a voice and tone that could never be.
He reached out for it, and its rhythm became faster and faster, until it was in total harmony with Ma Kalunga's own heart, her bio rhythm, her seven chakras giving birth to a new overchakra, one that hungrily reached for the heart and swallowed it whole.
The heart now becoming her heart, the boat of infinite possibilities drifting slowly upon the dream... life was but a stream. She screamed out her ecstasy and pain. Were they not the same?
She was no longer who she was. Ma Kalunga's id faded away into the reptilian part of the brain and stayed there. The new overchakra was in control. Kalunga the creator, the giver, the bringer of Armageddon, awakened.
"It's time, my friends," Mr. Smith said as he entered the meeting room. "Follow me."
"Time for what?" Aurochs, naturally curious, asked as Smith led the team to a door.
"Time for an... upgrade," Smith answered.
"Upgrade?" Dr. Zachary Knell asked.
"Exactly. I've already given Ma Kalunga her present. Now it's your turn," Smith said. "Aurochs, you are first"
Smith opened the door. Aurochs realized this was the room only Smith was allowed to see from the inside. He walked into it expectantly.
"Inside that room," explained Smith to the rest, while Aurochs was inside, "is all the evil... all the power... I have gathered."
There was a flash of light from inside the room. The team heard Aurochs screaming.
"That power," Smith said, melodramatic as always, "is now yours."
Aurochs came out of the room completely renewed. Until moments ago, he still hadn't totally recovered from what happened in Uruguay one month ago, but now his vitality and stamina seemed completely restored. He even seemed a little younger.
"This is..." Aurochs began, not finding the words, "...this..."
"I know," Smith said. "Next, Red Scorpion."
When Red Scorpion came out the room, his size was almost twice what it was when he went into it. His armor seemed more a part of his body than an accessory. His sword was part of his right arm and his axe of his left one.
Something similar happened when it was Blue Scorpion's turn, except he did not grow. Instead, his speed was increased. His reflexes weren't as good as that of Tobias Christopher, but if they were used in combination with his strength, it didn't matter who was more fast.
"Now it's your turn, Knell. I hope you will be pleased."
Before coming out of the room, Knell screamed Smith's name. Pronouncing the S seemed to take him forever. He came out of the room significantly bigger. His reptile characteristics had been exaggerated to the limit.
"What have you done to me?" Knell asked, looking at the abomination Smith had turned him into.
"Relax, Doctor," Smith said, smiling.
"You want me to relaxxx? YOU WANT ME TO RELAXXX?" Knell yelled. "LOOK AT ME! I'M BARELY HUMAN ANYMORE!"
"The opposite, actually. Calm down, and you will see," Smith said. After a moment, he added, "Now turn into a human."
"What?"
"Come on, give it a try."
Knell closed his eyes and concentrated. And when he opened them, he was human again.
"This is... I'm me again," Knell said. "This is incredible..."
"You can turn back to your previous state at will," Smith said to the perplexed Dr. Zachary Knell. "Now you, K'tl."
"I can't wait to see what you got for me, boss..."
But when he came out from the room moments later, he was still the same he was before.
"What joke is this? Why didn't anything happen?" K'tl said. "What did you give to me?"
"Superiority."
"What?"
"Superiority over M'xy. You're no longer exact opposites. You are superior now."
Dr. Zachary Knell was utterly speechless as he gazed into the small mirror that sat on a nearby wall. His small human hands met with his face and ran themselves along his features, his cheekbones, his chin, his jaw. None were covered with scales any longer!
The elation that filled Knell's heart one minute was brought to a crushing depth of despair the next.
Magic, his inner scientist whispered gently to him. This was all done through magic. You put no stock in that crap. How can you accept this?
Shut up, Knell told himself silently. This is the chance I've been waiting for! Modern science could not do this for me... no. With my old body, Cicciotto and his ragtag group of friends shall regret what they did to me!
You deceive yourself, Knell heard himself whisper back. You will live to regret this bargain. You are no longer a scientist. You've traded your love of discovery for stupid rites and voodoo practises. If that is what you wish, then so be it.
Knell gritted his teeth, something he'd gotten used to when he was upset in his reptilian form, but now that he had a human body again, he found it looked simply grotesque.
"My dear doctor," Mr. Smith said, peeking his head around a corner. "Please come along. You don't want to keep the rest of us waiting."
"Of course not, Smith," Knell said, enjoying very much the fact that he no longer hissed his esses. "This I wouldn't miss for the world..."