Marco clapped his hands to try and get some semblance of order back.

“Okay, okay. We are late enough as it is. Now, let’s go over this one more time. According to some locals and other Zookeepers in the area, this street has been overflowing with the little monsters lately. Our job is to find the nesting stone and destroy it. I’ll send up a scouting drone to find some while we rest up a bit. Tina, since this is your first mission as a Zookeeper use your buff magic right now before we start hunting,” Marco said.

Tina nodded and summoned her wand. It was the same blue as her hair ribbons and a golden bell at the top. She tapped the rod down on the ground twice and then began to sing a gentle song, the longer she sang, the stronger her voice became. Her whole body glowed with golden light, which blew off her in waves and onto Marco and Stephani. Stephani looked down at her hands with a savage grin. She clenched them, feeling stronger and sturdier.

“Not bad, new girl! I feel like I could fly to the center of the city now.”

“Just focus on healing us if we need it,” Marco said getting out a small drone from his backpack. He set it to search the perimeter.

Not even five minutes after it left, Marco got an alarm of not one, not two, but over twenty snakes in the vicinity.

“It’s a nest alright,” Stephani said peeking over her brother’s shoulder.

“Where are they coming from?” Tina asked

“Looks like an old mechanic workshop just up the road called Tony’s Garage. Alright team, let’s head out.”

All three of them jumped from the roof and sped their way up the road.

Tina’s boots landed with a crunch, and she nearly slipped on some broken glass. The garage, like most of the city, was abandoned in a hurry. A car was gathering dust upon a raised bed, tools covered in grease and oil-stained rags hung from large tool racks.

Tina investigated the dark space and felt as if she was being sucked into a void. The longer she looked the more she wanted to take a step forward.

Stephani covered her nose. “Ew, it smells gross.”

“Probably from the old oil. Careful not to breathe in any fumes. Okay, the scan shows they are in the basement and are moving around a lot. Some more are coming from the surrounding areas. Keep your eyes peeled. Steph, use your energy to draw them out. Tina, you protect her and keep an eye on our surroundings. I will head in and get the stone,” Marco said. He summoned his own weapon, a large green bow with golden string.  

“Why are you having Stephani draw out her power?” Tina asked

“The snakes always go after people. Of course, they will come after us eventually since we are not just kids but magical kids, but it’s best to get them bunched up and take them all out at once. Saves time.”

Tina whistled.

“Smart.”

Marco smiled back at her as he started summoning golden arrows.

“They didn’t make me team leader for my fighting skills alone.”

“Here they come,” Stephani said her whole body glowing as it did was she was boosted by Tina.

Tina squinted in the sunlight, every shadow sending her heart rate skyrocketing. Just as she was getting a little too used to being on guard, a shadow wriggled out and shot straight for them. It had blood-red ruby eyes and was pitch black, almost like it absorbed the light, rather than be shiny like a normal snake. It was also huge, about the length of her arm.

“I got this,” Marco said, firing his first arrow. It sped toward the snake and hit it right in the head.

“Nice shot!” Tina said.

“Focus, new girl! Get the ones flanking us!” Stephani barked. 

“R-right,” Tina squeaked, and she stepped out to stand beside Marco, who was firing arrow after arrow without even batting an eye.

Like before, she focused inward and began to glow. She breathed in deep, arched her back, and then threw her arms forward, blasting out rings of golden light that rumbled the streets and houses.

“Yeah, that’s what idols do!” Stephani cheered.  

Then her glare returned when she noticed another wave of snakes coming in from the distance.

She darted toward Marco and unzipped his backpack.

“Steph, what are you doing?” Marco cried as he strung another arrow.

“There are more flanking us,” Stephani said. She pulled out the tablet and grew pale.

“Oh, gods…”

Where there were once just twenty dots, the drone had now picked up what looked like fifty.

“Marco, we need to call for back-up!” Stephani cried and began rapidly dialing something on the tablet.

“It’s no good, Steph, they won’t make it in time. We need to keep fighting! We can do this! Tina, sound wave! Hit the garage!” Marco commanded as he strung two arrows at the same time.

Tina ran forward and belted out a huge base note that shouldn’t have been possible to come from such a small-framed girl. Everything shook and scores of the snakes dissolved into ashes. But like water, the gap was quickly filled by more snakes.

“H-how is this possible,” Tina warbled, her voice sounding husky.

“Steph, give Tina more magic,” Marco commanded.

Stephani just nodded and shoved the tablet back into his backpack. Then she closed her eyes, focusing. The vines shivered on her rod and then fell away like a loosened rope. The tips slithered, very snake-like, toward Tina and wrapped themselves around the girls' ankles. Roses bloomed along the vine and glowing light flowed from Stephani’s vines and into Tina, who already started to look better. 

“What should I do now?” Tina asked now that her magic had been recharged. She hated how she felt when she used too much like her body was turning to stone.

“I couldn’t see the tablet, were there any flanking us?” Marco said, again stringing two arrows.

“Marco! Stop being reckless!” Stephani scolded and some of the vines now connected Tina and Marco in a Y shape from Stephani.

“Ah! Thorns!” Marco cried as the vines tightened.

“You deserve it!” Stephani shouted back.

“The snakes are coming from up the road and the basement,” Tina said after she blasted another wave. The garage was clearing up slowly.

“Crap, there must be another nest nearby. Tina, there is a stone somewhere in the garage that the snakes come out of… somehow. But they break easily if you boost yourself and throw them against the ground or a wall. Use your sound waves to clear out a wave long enough to go in, grab it and break it. Steph and I will cover you,” Marco said. He seemed calm on the outside, but sweat was rolling down his temple.

“M-me..me!?” Tina cried and began to shake with fear.

“Yeah, sorry about your first day, but I believe in you. Now GO!” With that Marco pushed her forward, the vine from Stephani’s rod letting her go.

Tina gathered her strength and what little courage she had and rushed forward, into the dark void. The snakes hissed their welcome and she blasted them with another wave. Her eyes adjusted to the dark shade and she quickly scanned for where the snakes were spawning from. She took a second to inwardly laugh at how this was like her older brother's video games.

“Ah! There!” She cried and raced to a stack of old tires.

She peeked her head inside, terrified to see a squirming pile of bodies. But instead, she saw a large diamond-shaped purple stone tucked into a pile of ash. She picked it up and held it in her hand, mesmerized by the swirling dark colors. Suddenly an eye popped into life and stared at her from within the diamond.

She screamed and hastily summoned her magic, strengthening her arm as she hurled it on the stained concrete.

Just as Marco said, it shattered easily and the darkness inside the garage brightened.

Marco rushed in, panting, his goggles pushed up to his forehead.

“Tina, you did it! We got them! Nice work!” He said rapidly between breaths.

Stephani came in, too tired to even complain about the smell anymore.

“Yeah, but Marco, we have two more nests to get. We need to report how bad this one was. It’s really weird.”

Marco breathed out a hot breath and scratched his head.

“Yeah, I feel like something big is going to happen here,” he added and Tina shivered at the ominous statement.