A thick, disbelieving silence enveloped the Rock of Eternity. The only sound was the faint crackle of lightning energy still occasionally dancing around Shazam Tom's cloak. The Wizard Shazam was the first to recover from his shock, his ancient face flushed with immense fury.
"Despicable creature! Impostor! What have you done?!" roared the Wizard, his once majestic voice now trembling with rage. His ancient wooden staff slammed against the stone floor, creating a threatening echo. "The sacred power of the Gods, the legacy of Shazam, you have defiled with your filthy hands!"
Shazam Tom merely raised an eyebrow, completely unintimidated. He surveyed his new costume, flexing muscles that now felt significantly stronger. "Defiled? I actually think this is a significant upgrade. This red really suits me, don't you think?" He glanced at Billy Batson, who was still sitting on the floor with his mouth agape, eyes wide with a mix of confusion and fear.
"Return the power!" commanded the Wizard, raising his staff, which now glowed with powerful magical light. He began to chant ancient spells, words in a long-forgotten language flowing from his lips, aimed at reclaiming or neutralizing the stolen Shazam energy.
A burst of pure magical energy shot from the tip of the Wizard's staff, heading directly for Shazam Tom. However, Tom simply stood there, his smile widening. He casually raised one hand.
WHUUUSSSHHH!
With a slight effort from the Power of Zeus that was now a part of him, a retaliatory lightning bolt shot from Tom's hand, striking and obliterating the Wizard's magical attack in mid-air. Furthermore, Tom's lightning energy sent the old Wizard stumbling back several steps, his staff almost slipping from his grasp.
"Grandpa, Grandpa," Shazam Tom said in a mock-patronizing tone. "Your magic is outdated. Besides," he felt something new, an instant understanding thanks to the Wisdom of Solomon. "This power has merged with me. With my 'template,' if you want the technical term. It feels like superglue, can't be peeled off."
The Wizard Shazam tried again, this time with a stronger binding spell, attempting to shackle Tom with magical chains. But Shazam Tom, with the Strength of Hercules and the Speed of Mercury, easily shattered the chains. The cartoon immortality of "Tom's Template," now upgraded to "Shazam Tom's Template," made him immune to magical effects that might harm an ordinary champion.
After several futile and increasingly exhausting attempts, the Wizard Shazam finally stopped. His breath was ragged, the light in his eyes dimming to despair. He leaned his frail body on his staff.
"Impossible..." he whispered. "The power of Shazam... has found the wrong vessel, a vessel I cannot control." He looked at Tom with a mixture of anger, fear, and a hint of reluctant curiosity. "You... you are an anomaly. That power shouldn't be able to merge with a being like you."
"I am special," Shazam Tom replied with a wink.
The Wizard closed his eyes for a moment, as if bearing the burden of thousands of years. When he opened them again, there was a new, cold determination there. "If that power truly cannot be taken back from you, then you, Anomaly, now bear the responsibility of a Shazam Champion!"
He pointed towards the menacing statues of the Seven Deadly Sins. "Those ancient evils will soon rise again to terrorize the human world! Before, my task was to prepare a champion to face them. Now..." he stared intently at Tom, "...that task falls to you. You have taken his power, so you must also take its burden!"
Shazam Tom seemed to think for a moment, stroking his now more defined chin. He glanced at the creepy Sin statues, then at Billy, who still looked like he was about to cry.
"Fighting evil? Protecting the world?" Tom repeated, his tone sounding as if he had just been offered the most boring job in the universe. "Sounds like a lot of work. And here I am on vacation in your world." He continued casually, "I was just kidding when I shouted your name, Grandpa. I just wanted to see what would happen if I did it. I didn't expect it to become permanent and come with such a big package of responsibilities. It's a pretty good power upgrade though."
The Wizard Shazam could only stare in resignation. His last hope for the world now rested in the hands of the most chaotic and unpredictable entity he had ever encountered.
Shazam Tom looked at the desperate-looking Wizard Shazam, then turned to Billy Batson who was still sitting on the floor, his eyes red from holding back tears. A crazy idea, typical of Tom Jacker, began to form in his mind. This would be far better entertainment than simply fighting the Sin monsters alone.
"Alright, Grandpa Wizard," Shazam Tom said, his tone turning cheerful. "You're right. I took this kid's toy." He pointed at Billy. "And since I'm the new and much cooler 'Shazam Champion,' I have a moral responsibility... to make sure he doesn't cry too loudly and annoy me."
He walked over to Billy. "Get up, kid. Don't sulk. Losing god-like power sucks, but I have some 'consolation prizes' you might like."
Billy looked at him with a mix of fear and disbelief. "Consolation... prizes?"
"Of course!" Tom exclaimed. He snapped his fingers, and using Created Entity Customization (Mod Custom NPCs), four figures began to form from glowing block particles beside him. The process was fast, as if he was pulling characters from a game.
Four NPCs with highly diverse and slightly odd appearances now stood stiffly beside Tom:
NPC 1: A large, sturdy figure, his skin looking like granite stone, his face fierce but his eyes blank.
NPC 2: A slender woman with blazing fiery hair and a slightly unsettling manic smile.
NPC 3: A short, stocky creature with moss-green skin and small tentacles on its back.
NPC 4: A slender, cloaked shadow with a raven mask, radiating a mysterious aura.
"These are your new friends!" Tom said to Billy. "They might not be as sophisticated as Shazam's power, but they're reliable. At least, for making a ruckus."
The Wizard Shazam stared in horror. "What are you doing now?!"
"Giving compensation!" Tom replied. He then activated All For One. "The four of you," he said to the NPCs, "time for an upgrade!"
He touched the forehead of each NPC:
For NPC 1 (Tank): "You get the Bastion Formation Quirk! Be an unmovable wall! Or at least, a very big wall."
For NPC 2 (Ranged Attack): "For you, Kinetic Explosion Quirk! Blow up everything in your way! But don't hit me."
For NPC 3 (Crowd Control/Support): "You get the Slumber Mist and Elastic Reach Quirks! Put enemies to sleep or hug them from afar!"
For NPC 4 (Stealth/Scout): "And for you, Mr. Mysterious, Shadow Camouflage and Sharp Spikes Quirks! Be an invisible nightmare!"
The NPCs blinked slightly, as if their programs had just been updated. They now radiated different Quirk auras.
Then, Tom turned to Billy. "And for you, Failed Champion..." He thought for a moment, Browse his AFO "library" for the most "interesting" combination.
"You will receive: Brutal Surge Quirk! Be careful, this one likes to rampage on its own. Then, Chaotic Leap Quirk! Hopefully you land in the right place. And as a finishing touch... Sticky Shock Ball Quirk! This is very useful for making people slip or stick to walls!"
Billy felt a wave of strange energy flow into his body as Tom touched him. He tried to activate one of them, and a small sticky ball appeared in his hand, then accidentally stuck to the Wizard Shazam's beard.
The Wizard Shazam could only close his eyes, his entire body trembling from a mixture of horror and resignation. His millennia-long plan to find a worthy champion had now devolved into a cosmic circus.
"There!" Shazam Tom exclaimed proudly, looking at the bewildered Billy with the sticky ball in his hand and the four NPCs who looked ready to do... who knows what. "Now you have your own team of heroes! Call yourselves... 'Billy & The Quirkies'! You'll take care of all those boring 'responsibilities.' I'll... well, I'll watch you from afar. Very, very far. Maybe while eating popcorn."
He patted Billy's head. "Good luck, kid. You'll need it."
With that, Shazam Tom burst into laughter, a laugh that echoed throughout the Rock of Eternity. He then teleported away, leaving Billy Batson with strange new powers, an even stranger team of NPCs, and a Wizard Shazam who was now absolutely convinced that the end of the world was nigh, not because of the Seven Deadly Sins, but because of the sense of humor of a cross-dimensional anomaly.