Watch where you step, for the monsters could be right behind you. Do you have a guardian angel? Our world has seven, all led by one man (who is currently indisposed due to a large and overdramatic tantrum about having such a small role in the previous episode).
This is his story.

*o*o*o*
Ep. 8, Arc 1 (Psychic City Arc), Ep. 3: Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Goblins
o*o*o*o

Surveying the damage, Essence sighed and looked at Ben. "This was a lot of work, and now all for naught. At least nothing has gotten in yet. If it had the proximity alarm would have gone off..."
With a loud thunk, Keith and Derrek landed in front of Ben and Essence. "Guys, goblins knocked this rock down and are now attacking the city! We've gotta do something!"

"Proximity alarm, eh?" Ben said turning to Essence.
"Hooked up to the same system, I guess. In retrospect, I suppose it isn't the wisest of ideas on the city's part. Well, it sounds as if we have bigger problems. What shall we do about this?"
"Well, I have an idea," Keith said. "Why not chase them out?"
"Yeah, that sounds good," Derrek said. "We've got three large guns and an oreo. They don't stand a chance!"

Keith let his golden Twinkie wings flow out of his back. Essence looked at him in amazement as he jumped into the sky and began to glide toward the edge of the town. Derrek got on all fours and began charging down the streets, headed for the goblins (and if you were listening closely, you could have heard him quietly singing "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen). Ben looked at Essence and shrugged. Essence looked back at him and said, "You mean there are others with wings?"

"I take it you mean like yourself?"
Amazed, Essence shot him an inquisitive look and asked, "How did you figure out?"

"Wasn't that hard. You never were discreet..." With that, Ben jumped as his steely wings spread apart and he took to the sky. Essence sighed as smoke and fog started appariting around her back, until it was clear - she had wings made out of pure clouds. She easily rose into the sky. Ben smirked and they soared off after Keith and Derek, headed toward the goblins.
* * *
"Come in Mr. Uphoff. Can you read us?"
"Loud and clear sir. You were right - she too is an angel."

Most of the shadowy figures were back in their surveillance room, and their leader was nodding in approval over his subordinate's comment. He was glad that his plan had worked, that they had drawn out another angel. One down, three discovered, three more to go, he told himself.

"Remember Mr. Uphoff, neither the angels nor the monsters can know you are there. If need be, we can send in reinforcements to supplement them, but you are to stick to the shadows!" He shut off the com.

"Do you think we can trust him?" asked another, closer to the leader's end of the table.
"For our sake, I hope we can Mr. Free. In any case, I have a backup plan. I 'led' one of our deserters to the city. If something goes wrong, we can say Uphoff was working separate from us and with her. However, I don't think we need to worry. Uphoff won't pick a fight he can't win, and need not fear him attacking them. At least I hope that is the case."
"Great plan sir," said the lanky one.
"I know Mr. Schmadeke, now get back to guarding the prisoner, ASAP. The rest of you are dismissed. "

At the cell, Schmadeke and his two associates had their back against the bars and to the prisoner. They all seemed extremely bored, and ended up talking about which department of the school had been the best before they destroyed it.
The prisoner was not amused. He was rather annoyed by their prattle, and did his best to block them out. In doing so, he opened up his mind and attempted to think up a way out of his straight jacket. It was the only thing preventing his freedom, and he knew it wouldn't last very long...
* * *
The three angels landed behind the sphinx at the scene of the disturbance. After doing a double take, Keith smiled. "Essence, I always knew you could be floaty, but this is ridiculous!"
"Hey," she shouted and then punched him in the shoulder. Ben and Derek chuckled, Derek because it was funny and Ben because it wasn't him.

The four of them surveyed the scene. The goblins hadn't even noticed the four; for they were too busy causing mayhem and destruction in this part of town. It seemed that the goblins enjoyed scaring the humans. They were a couple of colors, but mainly red and green skinned. They wore some makeshift armor, which was the extent of their clothes. If standing at full height, they would have almost been Keith's height, but they had terrible posture and had arched backs that made them look much smaller. Their main force, however, was their numbers. It appeared that there was around twenty or thirty of them, with one twice the size of the others in the back. He wasn't taking part in the action, just supervising. It was he who saw the angels and the sphinx first.
"Grraaar aggg!" it...shouted as it pointed at them. The other goblins looked up, saw them, and started making odd noises that sounded like a mix between gurgles and grunts. They began to rush the four of them.

With his wings drawn, Ben reached into them and started shuffling his hands around inside them. "Anyone need a sword or two?"
"I'd love one," Keith said, looking at him with a smirk. "Do you have any longswords?" Ben had one out and ready for him as soon as Keith looked up. "Thanks," he said, propelling himself into the sky.
"Not a problem. Anyone else?"
Derrek shook his head and charged toward the goblins, with Keith following in the skies.

"No thank you Ranes. I am not a fighter."
"That may have to change soon..." Ben then pulled out double broadswords. He swung each around once, then shrugged at Essence and began slowly walking toward the goblins, who Keith and Derrek had engaged by now. Essence sighed and walked over to a nearby bench and sat down. "How can I even fight with wings made out of clouds?" she muttered to herself.

"You'll learn at some point," Ben said loudly without even looking back. "And you're rather loud, even when muttering to yourself. You might want to work on that." Ben looked back and smiled, then paused. He turned around and looked at a bush close to Essence's bench. "Hmm..." He reached back with his right hand (as if he were scratching his back) and swiftly brought his hand down, releasing the sword so that it sailed beautifully straight into the bush, tip first. Essence jumped a tad, but nothing came from the bush. He jogged over and pulled out his sword and swished it around the bush, shrugged, and then ran toward the ensuing fight. I could have sworn I saw someone in there, but they couldn't have moved that fast... he thought to himself as he joined the onslaught. Oh well.

He cut through a goblin or two, and saw that Derrek and Keith had taken care of all of them but three - the large one and two regular ones. The leader let out an (angry) roar and charged at them, with the last two goblins following him. "Can I take the big guy?" Ben asked. It seems like I haven't done anything yet."

"Go ahead," replied Keith. "I would have suggested it if you didn't."
"I like the smaller ones anyway," Derrek said. He leapt high into the air and pounced on one of the subordinates as Keith was putting Twinkies onto his longsword. When it was fully covered, he pulled the sword back, and then mightily thrust it at the other subordinate. The Twinkies shot off, surrounded by an odd golden glow, and hit the goblin, their inertia overcoming its, and they pushed the goblin into the wall, where he promptly went splat.

The leader of the goblins was heavily armored, and had blades upon some wrist armor, which it used to slash at Ben. Easily dodging the slashes, Ben threw the goblin off-guard by swinging at his wrist blades to knock it back, until it had bumper into the wall it had been attempting to destroy. Ben then took a deep breath as he crossed his arms. The broadswords started to glow silver, and he breathed out and swiftly slashed his swords in an X in front of him, cutting the goblin leader to pieces, while leaving him unharmed. Derrek looked at him and Keith, about to make a comment about their silver and gold attacks, when a witch-like cackle emerged from the sky. A shadowy figure landed a short bit away from them. "That," said Derrek, with a bit of apprehension in his voice, "is definitely NOT a goblin."

TO BE CONTINUED...