Scheherazade smirks and sneers, “Unless you can defeat all of my fairy tales, you have zero chance against me.” Scheherazade orders Ali Baba and the band of thieves to go on the attack. Courtney started having problems as six of them started attacking her. When she manages to block the attack from the first bandit, another would come up behind her. She pushes away the first bandit and parries the attack from the second bandit only to have a third bandit kick her from the side. She rolled to the ground. As she was trying to get up, a fourth bandit tried to attack her while she was down. Courtney was able to place the staff between her and the incoming scimitar. The Star Staff then pulled her away from the danger and kept her in the air for her safety. ”Hey guys, is it just me, or are these guys getting better?”

STRIPE, Henry, and Joey also were facing six bandits. Four of them were attacking STRIPE while the other two tried to attack Joey and Henry. Joey panicked when he saw one of them running towards him. He used the slip spell and made the bandit trip on himself. “Man, what was that offensive spell that Caster taught me.” When he finally remembered the spell, the bandit rushed towards him again, “Crystal Coffin”. Joey cast the spell according to what Caster taught him. When the spell was cast and it hit its target, the bandit was frozen in a human-sized piece of ice crystal.

Henry stops his bandit’s movements by getting into his head. The pain the bandit felt from Henry’s invasion of his mind caused him to be dazed, before Henry used his telekinesis to pick up the ice crystal with the frozen bandit inside it and slammed it against the dazed bandit. Both of them disintegrated after they were defeated.

STRIPE had a harder time against his foes they were small compared to his robot suit. Whenever he tried to either punch, kick or step on them, they managed to dodge his attack with their agile movement. “It’s not just you Courtney. They’ve improved their coordination and now know our moves. The first dozen we faced were probably meant to gauge our abilities. These guys are the real fighters.”

Berserker already defeated seven of them and was dealing with the eighth bandit. “These guys aren’t all that. Despite the trouble you’re having Pat, these guys are just the small fries. Scheherazade still hasn’t brought out the big guns yet.” Berserker was still fighting with the eighth bandit as he informs his master and his master’s friends of their predicament. Ax and scimitar clashed and sparks were flying as Berserker fought the bandit. “You’re skills are different compared to those small fries. You must be the infamous Ali Baba. Your silence just confirms my conjecture.”

Caster easily disposed of the bandits that were attacking her. They had her surrounded but she just waved her wand, cast a spell, and they were all frozen inside a block of ice. “Good work, master. You remembered the spell I taught you.” Caster was happy that Joey successfully cast his first offensive spell. After freezing the bandits. Caster used a spell to break them. The bandits disintegrated when the ice shattered along with its frozen contents.

STRIPE was finally able to defeat the four bandits attacking him with Henry and Joey’s help. When Courtney was in the air, two of the bandits distracted her while the other four tried to reach her. The third bandit tossed the fourth bandit into the air, while the sixth bandit climbed and blasted off the fifth bandit’s shoulder after he got a running start and jumped off the fourth bandit when he reached him. The fourth bandit then threw the sixth bandit at Courtney.  The sixth bandit jumped her from behind causing her to fall. When she fell, the staff left her hands and fired an energy blast at the first and second bandit that was about slash Courtney.

Henry used his telekinesis to lift the sixth bandit from Courtney’s back and threw him against a tree hard. STRIPE launched a rocket fist at the fourth bandit that was falling to the ground, while Joey cast a spell and created ice shards and sent them towards the third and fifth bandit that was still on the ground. The rocket fist hit the fourth bandit and slammed him to the ground. The ice shards that Joey shot out hit bandits and they disintegrated along with the ones that Henry, STRIPE, and the Star Staff defeated.

After casting that spell, Joey fell to his knees and he was breathing heavily. Henry runs up to Joey, “Joey, buddy are you okay?” Joey continued to breathe heavily, “I’m fine. Just a little tired.” Henry pulls him up, “Everything’s cool as long as you’re okay. You shouldn’t make us worry. You shouldn’t make me worry. You need to take care of yourself more.” Joey giggled, “Don’t I have you for that.” Henry blushes.

Scheherazade smirks under her veil, “So, you managed to defeat the forty thieves. How about you try these.” Scheherazade waves her staff again, and something else was conjured as her familiars. This time what came out was a giant bird, a man on a flying carpet, and a woman with a woman’s torso but instead of legs, the lower half of her body was that of a snake.

Joey panicked seeing the female creature, “A woman for an upper half and a snake for her lower half, everyone avert your eyes it’s Medusa.” Just as Courtney, Henry, and Pat were about to look away, Caster reassured them. “Don’t worry master. All of Scheherazade’s power is from middle-eastern folklore. Medusa is Greek. That creature is most likely a shahmaran, while the oversized bird is a Roc. I’ve heard about the one thousand and one nights and one of them speaks about a prince flying on a magic carpet. This person on the flying carpet must be Prince Hussain.”

Courtney comments about the new familiars, “Shouldn’t Aladdin be the guy on the flying carpet?” Scheherazade scoff, “I’m guessing you’ve never read about the one thousand and one nights. You’ve only seen that pale adaptation of our stories by Disney.” When the Roc flew to the sky, Courtney and Pat chased after it while Prince Husain flew towards Henry who had Joey over his shoulder.

When the shahmaran blasted Caster with an energy beam, Caster created an ice shield and protected herself. Caster then created Ice swords and they danced around her. She then sends them towards the shahmaran. The ice sword pierced the creature from several different directions. The creature disintegrated after the final sword pierced its chest.

It took a while but Berserker was able to defeat Ali Baba without breaking a sweat. As soon as he finished with his enemy, Berserker came to his master’s aid. “Hey kid, need a little help?” Henry accepted his servant’s offer since he could not keep up with the magic carpet’s speed. Berserker was not having much luck against the prince with his level of speed. “Hey kid, use your telekinesis to slow him down for a bit, then I can take him out in one blow.” Henry nodded and manage to slow the prince down when he came by for another attack. Berserker called down lighting to strike the prince.

Courtney and STRIPE were fighting against the Roc in the air. Despite its large size, the bird was very maneuverable when it was flying freely without any obstacles in its way. Courtney blasted it with her staff and STRIPE launched his rocket fist against it. “After taking all those hits, this bird didn’t even flinch. How do we stop it, Pat? Any ideas?” STRIPE also had a hard time against the feathered fiend but just as he was trying to think of a plan against the old bird, dark clouds covered the sky, and lightning struck down. The Roc took a direct hit and fell to the ground. Courtney and STRIPE chased after it as it fell. When it finally hit the ground, Courtney checked on it to make sure it was down for the count. “Wow, extra crispy. Fried chicken anyone?” After Courtney said that, the Roc started to disintegrate. Courtney looked over at her friends and found Berserker fighting the prince on the carpet and Joey had his hand over Henry’s shoulder.

“Damnit, where is that lightning strike I called for?” Berserker was on the defensive when dealing with the prince, when Courtney showed up and blasted him off his carpet. “You guys okay?” Joey answers, “I’ll be fine after a little rest.” Berserker turns to Courtney, “Hey girlie, you know where my lightning bolt went?” Courtney then turns and points to the charred remains of the Roc that was still disintegrating. Berserker smiles and laughs, “Looks like I saved your butt girlie.”

Just as they were celebrating their victory, Scheherazade, the Black Caster took out a scroll and unfurled it. “Bear witness to the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights, Alf Layla wa-Layla” As Scheherazade used her Noble Phantasm, the scenery around them changed. They were now in a desert. Scheherazade sat atop a large statue of a Roc overlooking her enemies.

As the hot desert winds blew, people and various creatures started appearing from the desert. The heroes could see, Ali Baba and the forty thieves they had just defeated after much effort, the shamaran that Caster defeated, the Roc that they could barely leave a scratch on, and there was a new creature towering above them. It was blue had its arms crossed and had smoke in place of legs.

Joey looked at the towering figure, “She brought out the genie. We’re screwed.” Caster then stood in front of Joey and Henry, shielding them from the impending carnage. “To be more accurate, it’s a djinn, not a genie. And we’re not screwed. I’ve still got an ace up my sleeves master. I can use my Noble Phantasm to defeat them in one fell swoop.” Berserker wanted to stop her, “Hey Caster, are you sure about this? If you use it, they’ll exactly who you are.” Caster smiles, “At the moment, I don’t mind.”

“The castle of shadows that I do not know. My castle of shadows. Come from the sky… Come to me. Gate of Skye.” As Caster called out the true name of her Noble Phantasm, the sky rippled and a castle emerged from the ripples. “Now come, and bring me victory”, When the castle completely emerged from the ripple, Joey felt his mana replenished and they were all more energetic to continue the battle. The castle had given them a stat boost.

Just as they were excited to continue the fight, the castle fell on top of Scheherazade’s familiars. Only the djinn had survived the impact. Scheherazade was angry and had the djinn raise a pillar of fire around Caster. Berserker retaliated by striking the djinn with lightning. Scheherazade’s master did not like the direction the battle was headed so he took out a gun from his jacket pocket and aimed it Joey. He pulled the trigger and a bullet came flying at the young master. The bullet hit him just above his chest.

Caster was enraged at the sudden attack on her master. She froze the pillar of fire and shattered it. She then sent the broken shards towards Scheherazade’s master. The man suffered terrible wounds from the attack. After her attack, Caster ran towards Joey. “Caster please save me.” When Joey said those words, one of the marks on his command seal glowed before disappearing. Caster did not have the power to heal so she cast a spell and encased her master in a block of ice.

Henry was crying and enraged. He grabs Caster “What did you do? Why did you do that? Can’t you save him like Carter can? Use your magic to save him?” Berserker pulls Henry away from Caster, “She can’t do it, kid. Caster doesn’t have any healing spells. This was probably the best solution she could think of. This way, he’ll be preserved until we can find a way to heal and revive him. Be patient kid. We’ll definitely save him, I promise.” Henry breaks out of Berserker grasp and grabs Caster again, “Promise me you’ll save him Caster. Promise me. I’ve already lost my mom, and my dad was sent to prison. I can’t afford to lose anyone else. I can’t afford to lose him. I can’t lose Joey. Please, Caster. Promise me that you’ll find a way to save him.” Henry was crying as he spoke those words. The love of his life had just been shot right in front of him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Caster nods “I will do everything in my power to save master.”