Lightning flashed across the somber sky above San Francisco forming brilliant arcs of light linking sky to ground, illuminating the monolithic pyramid at the waterfront and matching the mood of its 3500 year old occupant.

Scarab sat brooding in his study, a thunderous expression on his face. Yet another of his meticulously constructed plans to seize Rapses' spirit had fallen to pieces because of those accursed mummies.

"Why can't I just be rid of those damnable Guardians, Heka? Is that too much to ask?"

The golden cobra looked up from her newspaper. Although directed at her, Scarab's question had sounded more rhetorical and she didn't think he was wanting an answer. So she decided to try and take his mind off things with another approach. "What's that you're working on Scarab?"

The sorcerer picked up the small, rather nondescript amulet from his worktable.

"Observe" He pointed it at Ammut who was happily chewing on one of his pink bunny slippers. "I told you not to do that." he said and fired a beam of light from it aimed at the ground beneath his intellectually challenged pet's feet.

Ammut yelped and jumped back as the floor he was standing on began to ripple and then slosh back and forth in a viscous manner. As though he'd been stood on a waterbed.

Heka watched the floor as the spell faded and it returned to normal. "Well that should send them fleeing in terror." she commented sarcastically "What's it going to do, make the mummies too seasick to fight back?" Scarab scowled and Heka quickly changed subject again. "Ever considered using necromancy against them Boss?"

"What?"

"You know, the dark art of raising and controlling the dead."

"I know what it is Heka." he snapped, "But why even suggest it? Any spells or artifacts associated with that sort of magic are either lost or were destroyed by do-gooders millennia ago."

"Perhaps not quite all..." she smirked evilly and passed him the newspaper. He looked at it. It was an advert for a Halloween street party on tonight. "Oops. Wrong page." Heka turned over with her tail and Scarab scanned the article presented to him, occasionally reading snippets out loud.

"...Mysterious ancient artifact unearthed in archaeological dig in Egypt...experts think it could be the Raven Staff...believed by Ancient Egyptians to have the power to banish unwanted spirits...currently on loan to San Francisco city museum...arriving today"

The sorcerer's eyes narrowed slyly as he considered the new possibilities this offered. The Raven Staff had come and gone long before even his time. It had eventually been hidden because people feared its power. The small minded fools he thought. According to his histories it had turned out that it could do more than simply banish spirits, but that was all Scarab actually needed to deal with those wretched mummies.

"What do you think then?" inquired Heka, unable to read Scarab's expression.

"I think" he said slowly, an evil smile spreading across his face, "that the mummies' time on this world has finally come to an end."

* * *

"Do you think this looks fancy enough?"

Ja-kal looked up from polishing his longbow to see Nefertina standing in the doorway wearing a rather extravagant dress. He was about to reply but Rath, who was watching the 'spirit box', got there first,

"I don't think that's quite what the young prince had in mind when he said the Halloween party we're going to tonight was a fancy dress party."

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Armon was watching closely as Presley scooped the final spoonful out of the big pumpkin he had brought along with him to the sphinx. As Presley set to work at cutting oddly-shaped holes in the side of it, he finished off the huge bag of donuts he had been snacking on, and finally asked "What is the significance of a hollowed out pumpkin?"

"Turn the light off and I'll show you."

As Armon did so, Presley put a flashlight into the pumpkin and replaced the top which had previously been cut off. The huge mummy turned round and saw the grinning, glowing orange face. "Ooh, scarey." he said in admiration of his prince's handiwork.

"Yeah, it's meant to be. Mr Huxley was telling us today that people used to use these to scare off evil spirits or something." Although, looking at it, Presley wasn't too sure how a big orange vegetable with a few holes in it would manage that. Still, it would be cool to take it along to tonight's party.

"Let's show the others." suggested Armon. As they went into the TV chamber he saw what was on "Hey look! It's the museum." he exclaimed around a mouthful of donut, pointing at the screen and sending out a spray of crumbs.

"So it is. Were you never taught not to speak with your mouth full?" said Rath archly as he brushed bits of donut off his bandages.

"Quiet you two. Let's hear what they are saying." Ja-kal, as usual, being the voice of reason when the others argued. They quieted and watched the tiny man sitting behind a desk as he spoke to them,

"Next week when the City Museum reopens after ten days' closure for maintenance work, there will be an exclusive never-before-seen artifact on display." The screen cut to a shot of a simple brown wooden staff, but as it panned upwards the magnificent headpiece came into view. It was jet black and carved in the form of a stylized raven with its wings swept forwards. It had brilliant yellow-green emeralds for the eyes and a huge deep blue sapphire-like stone set between the shoulders. Below this were three smaller round gems of the same unusual mineral.

"It's beautiful." said Nefertina.

"Sshh," Rath was staring intently at the screen, listening to every word being said.

The report continued, "...Ancient Egyptians reputedly used the Raven Staff to drive out unwelcome spirits and lost souls before bodies were placed in tombs, but it was taken and hidden out of fear when people started to think that it could actually control the dead!" the newscaster wrapped up with a typical lame end-of-report joke "Still, if I find an unwanted spirit in my house, then I think I'd rather call the Ghostbusters!"

Seeing how attentive Rath had been Ja-kal asked "You know of that Staff?"

"Yes, and everything the reporter said was true. And it gets worse..."

"I hate it when he says that." whispered Armon to Presley.

Rath raised an eyebrow as if to say 'I heard that' and continued, "Well, if Scarab gets the Staff then he could almost certainly use its considerable power against us. After all, we are...uhm..."

"Dead?" suggested Presley helpfully.

"Well I was trying to think of a more delicate way of putting it my prince, but yes."

Ja-kal frowned "If we learned of the Staff through the Magic Box, then it's most likely that Scarab now knows of its whereabouts too. No doubt he will try to get it."

"Then let's get over to the museum and kick his tut the moment he shows up!" exclaimed Nefertina.

* * *

It was 6:30pm on a Saturday evening and the museum was completely empty. The workmen had finished for the day and it was closed to the public due to the repair work being carried out.

Rath used his magic ti disable the alarms as the mummies entered and made their way to the Egyptian exhibit area located in the western part of the museum.

"There it is." breathed Ja-kal as the Raven Staff, standing in a display case on its own, came into view.

Approaching it to look more closely, Nefertina frowned and said critically "The top doesn't exactly go with the shaft, does it?"

Rath shook his head. "No one knows where the headpiece actually came from, but the Staff was rumored to have been in two parts, only the proper shaft has never been found. If the two parts were ever united, then I dread to think how powerful it could become."

"All the more reason to keep it from Scarab then." said Ja-kal,

Almost as if on cue, the skylight flew open of its own accord and Scarab, in full armour, dropped through, landing before them.

"Ah, look. A welcoming committee, how sweet!" laughed Heka nastily.

"Shabties! Attack!" commanded Scarab.

"WITH THE STRENGTH OF RA!!!!!"

Newly transformed, the mummies all stood their ground as the first wave of animate stone henchmen charged, spears at the ready.

"I'll destroy you all!" yelled Scarab as he used Heka to fire a bolt of energy at Ja-kal, who spread his wings and leapt into the air, easily avoiding the shot as it sizzled through the air beneath him and exploded against the wall in a shower of purple sparks.

He swooped down at the nearest group of shabties using his momentum to allow his wings to slice through them, leaving a pile of rubble in his wake. One of the henchmen Nefertina was fighting reached up, grabbing his foot, and tried to pull the hawk Guardian from the air. But the sound of a whip cracking - for it was too fast to be seen - filled the air and the shabtie shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. Nefertina somersaulted over the head of another shabtie as it shot an energy bolt at her. It turned around, continuing to fire, only to miss her completely and blow up an unfortunate one of its comrades instead as she easily sidestepped the blast and then destroyed her would-be attacker with a powerful round-house kick.

On the other side of the room yet another shabtie fell neatly in half thanks to Rath's khepesh blade. As he took a step backwards the mummy caught sight of another shabtie trying to sneak up behind him with its spear. At the last second he spun round, blocking the strike with his sword and then smashing it with a well placed lash from his animate golden tail. Dusting off his hands, Rath found himself suddenly ducking as a shabtie came flying past overhead from Armon's direction. It landed in a display cabinet with a deafening crash and shattered from the impact.

"Oh, do be careful where you're throwing things Armon." he scolded, almost casually decapitating yet another stone warrior.

"Sorry." called Armon as he supported himself on his golden arm and kicked out with both legs to reduce two approaching henchmen to gravel. Hopping back to his feet he obliterated six more in two massive punches. Momentarily forming a little clearing around himself the hefty mummy had the chance to see how his fellow Guardians were doing. Immediately he saw the danger Ja-kal was about to fly in to, "Look out Ja-kal!" he shouted, but by then it was too late.

The mummies' leader had been flying in low for another swoop-attack on a group of shabties, but he hadn't seen Scarab hiding behind a particularly large stone statue. As he flew by, the evil sorcerer pushed it over so that it landed on top of him, trapping him beneath.

Abandoning their positions, Rath and Nefertina lifted the statue up as much as they could. Although it wasn't enough for Ja-kal to be able to crawl free, it was just enough to prevent him from being crushed under the great weight.

"Armon!" called Rath in a strained voice. But, much as he wanted to, Armon could not reach them to help as the shabties had taken the distraction of Ja-kal's plight as an opportunity to swamp the big Guardian so that he was able to do little else other than fend off their attacks.

Seeing that everyone was occupied, Scarab took the opportunity to grab the Raven Staff and escape out back through the skylight.

"So long, suckers!" Heka's mocking cry receded into the distance as Armon smashed the last shabtie and quickly rushed over to the others, grabbing the statue just as their grip was slipping and he effortlessly lifted it up so that Ja-kal could free himself.

"Scarab got away with the Staff." he observed despondently, changing out of his ram armour back to normal.

The others all transformed as well.

"He's too far gone to give chase. I'm afraid we will have to wait for him to make the next move now." said Ja-kal surveying the damage, "There's nothing left for us to do here, so we may as well go to this 'street party' Presley wants us visit."

"Alright!" said Nefertina, feeling like she needed it as relief after the fight.

Ja-kal concluded, "We need to recharge, let's go."

* * *

The weather at Halloween in San Francisco had never been quite so miserable. Thunder rumbled far off in the distance whilst the continual heavy rain drummed persistently on the roof of the near empty Beefy Burger restaurant.

The Daemonslayer known as F'lair Hartland, A.K.A. Shade, sat in a wet, dejected heap in the restaurant. Ignoring his steadily cooling coffee he stared out the window at his bike instead - it was a huge, scarey-looking black and chrome machine adorned with bones, a demon-like skull over the headlight and with strange crawling runes carved into the paint and metalwork. Right now, like him, it was also very, very wet from his ride from the Golden Gate Bridge.

He hated Halloween. It didn't exist back on his home world Tymaera, and he would have much preferred to be back there right now save for two reasons:

Firstly his Daemonslayer counterpart, the black dragon Syrax, known as Bloodbane or Blackjack (depending on which form he was currently in) had used his silver tongue and his manipulative powers of persuasion to sway Shade to use his ability to teleport through the Realm of Shadows as an easy ticket to reach this reality's Earth in order for him to go off and party in New York with some old allies;

Secondly, part of an ancient relic of untold power had been discovered in Egypt, and then sent to the San Francisco City Museum. It actually came from Tymaera but had disappeared millennia ago and F'lair had come seeking it. Not just because he held the other half of the Raven Staff and wanted to reunite it with the headpiece, but also because he felt a certain responsibility to prevent its power from falling into the wrong hands.

"You sure you don't want some milk with that coffee?" asked the rather spotty teenaged girl behind the counter hopefully.

Looking up from trying to untangle loose ends of his straggly long blonde/brown hair (most of which was held back in a ponytail) from being caught up in his steel skull and crossbones earring in his left ear, F'lair answered as politely as possible "For the fourth time, no. I really do prefer my coffee black, thank-you." He was starting to worry that she fancied him - she'd been smiling and batting her eyelids at him all the time - F'lair looked about 21 and he was handsome (in a creepy kind of way) but usually his sharp teeth, ashen skin, pointed ears and slightly glowing greenish-yellow eyes put most women off. Unfortunately that didn't apply to this one and Shade was becoming desperate for some other customers to come in so he could escape her undivided attention. After all, he'd only come in here as an excuse to get out of the rain on his way to the museum from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Man, he hated Halloween - it reminded him he was dead.

Apparently the Daemonslayer's silent pleas were about to be answered, albeit a bit on the late side, as the Hotra came speeding down the road towards the Beefy Burger's.

"Didn't I tell you guys that you'd love Halloween?!" exclaimed Presley excitedly.

"Yes, that...uh...street party was most enjoyably o'prince" smiled Ja-kal, having to agree.

"I wish they had this 'Hollow-evening' more often." enthused Nefertina.

"That's Halloween" corrected Presley for about the hundredth time that evening.

"Whatever."

Armon was too busy eating to contribute to the conversation, but it was safe to surmise that his favourite parts of the evening had been the food-related bits, especially the bobbing for apples - up until now Presley had not thought it possibly for someone to get 5 in their mouth in one go!

"C'mon Rath, you have to admit that you had a good time too...You certainly look like you did! " teased Nefertina.

"Hmpf." Rath folded his arms, not deigning to comment on that. "You realize this is going to be most difficult to get off my bandages." he finally said, pointing at several lipstick smears on his face and neck. Presley and the other mummies couldn't help but snigger - much to the intellectual mummy's consternation a rather tipsy 'vampiress' had taken a shine to him at the party. Rath chose to ignore the others and stared out the window instead in elegant disdain.

"Let's stop for a snack." suggested Armon hopefully, finally emptying his mouth as he saw the familiar shape of the Beefy Burger sign up ahead.

"I thought you just had four pies." said Ja-kal.

"But they were only little."

Ja-kal relented "Oh all right, let's pull over here then."

Nefertina brought the Hotra screeching to a halt in the small car park and everyone jumped out, making a dash for the entrance before they got soaked in the rainstorm.

Nefertina paused for a second behind the others to admire the unusual bike parked next to their vehicle before running inside after them. Too busy wondering how fast it could go to look where she was going, she ran straight into a man on his way out just inside the entrance, knocking them both flying. With the force with which they'd collided the stranger shouldn't have been back on his feet so fast, but somehow he was already up and offering her a hand which, along with the rest of his forearm, was covered in bandages.

"Uh...sorry. You okay?" he asked a little nervously.

She looked up at him as she took his hand, slightly surprised at how cold the almost waxen skin felt. He was wearing torn faded jeans with a black leather jacket over a Metallica t-shirt. His unruly long hair was tied back in a ponytail and he had a thin orange strip of material with long tailing ends round his head like a sweatband. Apart from the bandaged forearms, the strangest items of clothing he had on were his boots and 'kneepads' - the boots were brown leather with black metal plating running from just above the toes all the way up to the top at the knees. On his knees acting as kneepads the man had two demon skulls with the horns curving back to protect the sides of the joints. But the most striking thing about him were the strange greenish-yellow eyes that she would swear were glowing. He gave her an uncertain smile as he helped her up.

"I'm fine, thanks...no need to be sorry." replied Nefertina returning the smile warmly. She held on for a second longer until Armon called her

"Do you want a large or regular milkshake?"

"I haveta go..." said the stranger with perhaps a tinge of reluctance in his oddly accented voice. Yes, he was attractive, but there had been something not quite right about him; something that set him apart from anyone else she had met in this 'modern' time. Nefertina looked after him as he left before going over to the counter to join Presley and the other Guardians.

* * *

Outside as F'lair mounted his motorcycle, capable of withstanding the frequent journeys between worlds and realities his profession demanded, he couldn't help looking back through the window at the woman who had, literally, bowled him over. She's beautiful, I wonder who she is...but he couldn't ponder on that just now - he had a museum to break in to.

The torrential rain had slowed to a steady drizzle by the time Shade reached the museum although rolling thunder still boomed through the otherwise quiet night air. He dismounted and attempted to wring out his hair whilst choosing what weaponry to bring. He decided to leave his magical fireblade behind. After all, he thought, there can't be that many demons waiting inside to kill me. Instead he took the pole part of the Raven Staff - the sooner he could reunite it with the headpiece the better. F'lair slung it across his back using its special holster and then took a second to clear his mind and concentrate on the shadows surrounding him.

This was always harder when the moon was approaching full, like it was tonight, and the undead side of his nature was most dominant. After a moment he discorporated into the darkness, rematerialising on the museum rooftop.

"Aw, heck. Why won't this stupid power work right?" he muttered, glaring accusingly at his hands. He'd wanted to teleport directly into the museum, but now it looked like Shade would have to gain entry the old fashioned way. He started looking round for a convenient skylight. Oh well...

"Aw, c'mon Ja-kal. Do I have to get dropped home yet? Mom's not expecting me back until late." complained Presley as the Hotra left the sphinx and headed past the museum on the way to his house.

"It already is late, besides-" Ja-kal suddenly stopped talking and stared out the window at the museum.

"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Nefertina in concern, stopping the vehicle.

"I saw someone up there on the roof." None of the others had seen the sudden appearance of the shadowy figure, but Ja-kal was one of Ancient Egypt's greatest hunters and an essential prerequisites of being so was keenness of vision and being able to notice even the smallest signs of movement.

No one questioned the hawk Guardian's unrivaled perception.

"We should check it out." said Armon, following their leader's line of sight.

"I agree. Someone illegitimately at the museum in the same day as Scarab is just too much of a coincidence." Rath narrowed his eyes, also trying to see. But the blackness of the night coupled with the rain did not help.

"You stay here, my prince." Ja-kal addressed Presley, "We shall not be long."

Inside the museum all appeared quiet. Rath had used his magic to prevent the security system from detecting them. The mummies decided to split up so that they could cover more ground but they all agreed to call the others if they found something, as Ja-kal had said "We fight them as a team."

Shade dropped silently through the skylight. As quiet as death itself he padded through the darkened corridors following the signs for the 'Mysteries of Egypt' exhibit. Managing to avoid tripping any alarms he finally reached the double doors leading to the museum's Egyptian wing. With the place closed for maintenance work no one should have come in here for several days and, F'lair hoped, no one would come in for the next few days after So I can get the Staff , get Blackjack from New York and be off this planet before anyone realises it's missing. Things always sounded so good in theory. But Shade got a nasty shock when he cracked open one of the doors and slipped through.

The place was a mess! As though a bomb had hit it. Display cabinets had been shattered, broken earthenware lay strewn across the slick tiled floor and burn marks were visible at various points on the walls - as though they had been hit by energy bolts. Worse still, the Staff was nowhere to be seen.

He crouched down to examine some of the pottery only to find that, on closer inspection, it proved to be part of a fractured statue. Looking at several more pieces he realised that all of what he had first thought of as broken pots, jugs and dishes were in fact segments of many similar statues. "What is this?" he murmured as the supernatural part of his being sensed that there had been magic used here not long ago and there was still a fair amount lingering in the air. But, fortunately, it did not hold the all too familiar foul taint of demon magic. Deciding to try and find the headpiece and go, the Daemonslayer stood up from his crouch, but froze when his unnaturally keen hearing detected the sound of soft footsteps approaching up the corridor outside.

Casting about desperately Shade realised there was no exit from this room other than the doors through which he had entered. As he moved looking for something to hide behind some of the fragments crunched underfoot, causing him to curse under his breath when the footsteps suddenly stopped, indicating that he had been heard.

Just my typical, useless luck!! I can't even concentrate enough to teleport out of here! Not wanting to end up getting himself caught by a security guard or policeman, F'lair gritted his teeth and did the only other thing he could...

Nefertina moved quietly through the City Museum's western wing, thinking she had heard a sound from within one of the rooms up ahead. The person on the roof may well have just been a common thief who would gladly turn themselves over to the Authorities once the mummies had spoken a few 'quiet words' to them, but with Scarab at large they could not afford to take that chance by not investigating.

She stopped dead when she heard a noise, for definite this time, from behind some double doors that were ajar. The sound was hard to describe, but if she had to she would have likened it to...tearing flesh. This is where we fought Scarab earlier! I should find the others, but what if whoever - or whatever's - in there is gone by the time we get back here?

Making her decision, Nefertina gripped her amulet in readiness and determination and kicked open the door, hoping to catch the intruder by surprise. Instead she was greeted by an empty chamber (aside from the damaged furnishings).

Something was here, she knew it but could not see anything. Drawing in breath to call upon Ra and holding her whip tightly she made her way cautiously past the door.

Suddenly her whole world of sound was filled by a terrifying canine snarl and a huge brown-furred hand - or was that forepaw? - with lethally sharp hooked claws backhanded her across the face, knocking the cat Guardian backwards to the floor where she cried out involuntarily as she hit her head hard on the stone tiles.

With a groan Nefertina opened her eyes to see a huge, snarling monster that appeared, from her point of view, to be all cruel teeth, muscle and razor sharp claws towering above her, ready to strike....

TO BE CONTINUED....

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Legal stuff (you know the score): Mummies Alive is owned by those who possess the copyright, ie, not me. This story is for entertainment purposes only (no money is being made.::sigh::) etc.
Just a word on continuity...I've no idea where this story would come in the MA series (we haven't seen all the episodes yet where I am).

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All characters, places and anything else portrayed in this story is copyright 2004 to the author, Isabelle Davis (Drakhenliche), and may not be used without express permission. Meccha/Soul (c) Elsa Lai 2004

Comments, questions, whatever, can be addressed to me at the www.NecroDragon.com forum.