A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chapter 19: Subtle guidance and the arrival of the magishadow.

-Time skip pov-

A month had passed since that incident and everyone, including lemmy, is filled in on what was happening to max. Lemmy didn't take it very well, and even though he wanted to tell max so badly, he was told that it wouldn't make it any easier, and struggled to keep the subtle approach going. Max of course, is able to figure out he could easily lift weights with roy and morton even though both koopas kept literally butting heads about who is stronger. Aside from that, max's body went from a barely noticeable muscular body, to noticeable, and even though he wasn't much a show off like roy was, he certainly enjoyed the results of lifting weights with roy and morton.

When it came roy? Max felt like he had grown pretty close to him. Sure, he's his brother along with morton who was able to get max to be talktive at times, but not so much so that he would ramble, but with roy? It was as if they bonded instantly and everyone else took note of it. Then came mike. He started teaching max hand to hand combat while max learned more from kamek.

Max of of course, called it a spelltactular time which kamek rolled his eyes at and chuckled. And with mike? He told him that he would love to try and de-feet him when they are able to spar, which resulted in mike smacking upside the head with the hilt of his blade, and since roy was there, he punched max in the arm in annoyance. The seriousness max had in the past few months had dwindled to the point that he felt like he could actually relax again, which felt so refreshing to him.

With iggy? He got him to watch star wars since iggy was a definite superfan, and it didn't take max long to be instantly enthralled in it and iggy went so far to suggest that max could one day make his own lightsaber, or beamsword since that was the closest weapon that was similar to it, and believed that max's crystal necklace could be used to make one. The only problem? Beamswords are considered extremely rare to see, and making just one takes a long time. And, since max could use magic without a wand...iggy kept calling him a jedi thinking it's because max never got angry with anyone in his family, and squealed like a fangirl when max showed him his magical skill iggy called 'the force', which kamek looked on as if iggy had lost his mind.

Larry was able to show him how to be sneaky, believing that since max could use aura, he could be even sneakier. Wendy on the other hand...well, even though she never interacted with max much, she was at least happy to lend a helpful hand when it was considered convenient to her. She was still very wary of max, but was slowly becoming used to having him part of the family.

And finally, when it came to lemmy, he was always happy to encourage him to keep going, though he and max always watched cartoons together since it was their favorite activity to do. With all of this happening, kamek and bowser watched while bowser wanted so badly for max to break the containment spell so that he wouldn't have to worry so much. Kamek on the other hand, was happy with the progress that was made and so was Ludwig, who mainly watched from afar.

-Narration-

A few days have passed since anything new was going on, and it was basically a blah day for everyone except for bowser who was doing paperwork in his office which he didn't particularly enjoy on some days, while max is in living room with kamek. They had just got finished with a magic lesson inside since it had started raining. "I'm impressed with how much you've learned. However, i believe you still need to have a wand, only because you'll need one in order to conjure more powerful spells." Kamek says to max. "Such as teleportation and shapeshifting?" Max asked. "Precisely! You have much to learn, but your progress is astoundingly amazing." Kamek replies, giving him a reminder. "Of course." He says, turning on the tv with the remote, wanting to see what the weather would be like only because he wanted to go swimming soon, but he instead, came across a breaking news story that had just came up, with a female koopa reporter doing the talking.

"We give you a breaking news update from the koopa kingdom news channel 4! Reports have indicated that there have been sightings of people with black hooded robes have been seen recently in the last few days, but have so far caused no trouble. It is believed that they are looking for someone but it's largely unconfirmed at this time. While they have been seen at random places, it would be best to not engage them." She says, while max went pale, and kamek knew exactly who they were.

"Oh, no..." Max said, who was very bothered by this. "Bowser must be informed immediately. It's rather strange how we are just finding out about this now though..." Kamek says, who immediately went into serious mode. "They must be after me, which i hope isn't the case. Though i have a feeling that they don't want to simply chat." Max commented, who had a bad feeling that was like an annoying nat buzzing around his ear.

"I agree. We must be prepared for anything should we face them. For now, i want you to relax." Kamek instructed him before heading to bowser's office.

-Kamek pov-

This is not good...the magishadow are now here in the koopa kingdom and have been seen in random places. Max doesn't quite know who they are just yet, though i'm afraid he'll have to find out soon. I'm at least satisfied to know that an ambush isn't going to be happening here..otherwise, we would be in serious trouble.

-Max pov-

These guys again...who the fuck are they? It's enough to get me a little paranoid! I suppose we aren't getting ambushed by them at this very moment, but i couldn't help but wonder...what now?

-Narration-

The seriousness had returned for max, but he did need to loosen up and not be serious all the time thanks to the koopalings and junior, who once reminded him that he can't beserious all the time, or he'll end up as some guy who is unable to have fun or relax. For a nine year old kid, max saw him as surprisingly spot on with his words!

Meanwhile, marx had been busy exploring and sightseeing, and he had begun seeing people with black hooded robes on. "Why do i have a feeling that these guys are not here to have tea? Hm...i should keep an eye out..." Marx commented. Could these idiots wearing hooded robes be this magishadow group he's heard of?

He decided to keep a close eyes on them, wanting to know more, and even though he acted as if he didn't care, marx hoped that deep down, that their arrival wasn't leading to complicated chaos, because as of right now...not only could this be the start of something chaotic brewing, he was also aware of a certain person among these magishadow that had a very...wide smile. Meanwhile, max silently began to realize that he couldn't remain hidden from whoever they are, and as of now, the grip he had on himself believing whether or not he's human is starting to slip away, but was far too occupied with what ifs that made him overthink to let go, if at all.

Was he supposed to let go? Would it turn his mind into something he wasn't going to enjoy? He simply didn't know, but he is definitely more focused on what was going to happen next.