The Three Magic Knights.
Part 10
The magic knights' greatest crisis... or Dan gets some curry.
Umi Ryuzaki stood facing her opponent, a faceless fencing opponent in
full protective gear. She stared at the figure in confusion and gasped.
"A man? In an all women's competition? Who are you?"
The figure did not answer; it simply raised its foil and assumed a ready
position. Umi nodded and raised her own sword in defense. The battle was
short; Umi stabbed through a sloppy slash and hit him for an easy first
point. The figure stood silently for a moment and she looked over at the
scoring board.
Nothing happened, the faceless figure assumed the ready position again
and stepped forward aggressively. Umi could not believe she didn't get
credit for her point, the match was quickly forgotten though when the
figure slashed at her head.
"Hey! Watch it! I wasn't ready yet!" screamed Umi in shock as the judges
watched on silently. In fact, there was absolutely no noise from the
crowd.
The figure ignored her and continued its attack. She countered again
angrily and jabbed him in the chest. "Ha take that you jerk!"
This time, the figure did not pause. He relentlessly continued his
attack slashing wildly at her at very dangerous speeds. She barely
managed to block most of the strikes. "Hey! What are you doing!?" she
screamed as a well placed strike shattered her mask and cut down the
front of her chest padding.
The figure remained silent and charged again. Umi stepped back and
blocked another strike, this one even stronger than before. "He was just
playing with me!" she thought in desperation as she pushed herself away
from him and slashed up with her foil.
It was a reflex action, almost instinctual. The figure's head fell off
and rolled across the floor as Umi stepped back in horror as it finally
came to a stop at her feet. She watched in horror as the body fell to the
ground silently. The foil it had been using was latched onto its arm
where its hand should have been.
"What on earth?" gasped Umi as her eyes fell down to the head at her
feet. The outer screen on the mask exploded revealing a familiar face
staring back up at her. Dan stared her in the eyes with the most evil
looking grin on his face that she had ever seen. She screamed.
Umi opened her eyes and stared at the sleepy looking mug that stared her
in the face in shock.
"Could you quit screaming? Some of us are trying to sleep," muttered Dan
grumpily as he stood over her with his face directly in front of hers. He
looked half asleep.
Umi screamed again in terror. The girl's hand smacked him hard across
his cheek and he simply stared at her dumbly. "Don't do that you jerk!"
Dan shook his head and moved back to his place at the foot of the bed.
"Whatever, jus go back ta sleep."
Moments later he was rudely awakened again as the light from outside
shone directly on his face as the sun rose over the horizon. He sat
upright with the blanket he used draping over his shoulders and grumbled
as he walked over to the door and sat down next to Umi. She was watching
the world outside silently as her hair blew in the morning breeze
dramatically.
"Are you going to tell me what's wrong so you'll quit moping around? Or
do I have to slip something into your food tomorrow night just to make
sure this doesn't happen again?" he muttered as he looked away in
disgusted disinterest.
"Sorry if I woke you," she muttered half-heartedly.
"I don't believe you, but I'm up now so spill it," said the boy in
reply.
"I want to go back to Tokyo," said the girl quietly.
"Oh, -this- again," muttered the boy drearily.
"If you're going to be that way..." snapped Umi angrily as she started
to get up.
Dan grabbed her arm and forced her back down next to him. "There will be
other fencing tournaments you know."
"But, I have obligations..." started the girl with an embarrassed blush.
"Made a promise didn't you?" said Dan as he finally seemed to get it.
"Yeah," replied the girl.
"You Japanese are so weird. If you can't do it you can't. Stop beating
yourself up about it," snorted the boy.
"But, it's the championship! I could win it for the school, Captain
would be so proud!" exclaimed the girl.
Dan ignored her and shook his head. "Do you really think that after all
this combat experience you're getting that anyone will be able to stand
up to you in a match when you get back home? You'll win the next match
you're in. Your skills have improved ten times since you've come here.
Stop selling yourself short, I hate people who do that." With that said
he stood up and walked over to his spot at the foot of the bed and lay
back down after moving comfortably out of the sunlight.
Umi just stared at him in shock with her mouth hanging open. "What? He
said that..."
Umi and Hikaru simply watched the scene from the bed with equally
shocked expressions on their faces. "I can't believe it, he's never acted
this way before."
"I told you he was a great guy!" exclaimed Hikaru cheerfully.
"I told her that to shut her up so I could get some more sleep... and
you're ruining it!" cried a voice from the foot of the bed as a pillow
hit them both in the face.
"Puu..." whimpered Mokona nervously from his place in the bed.
Askot growled to himself as he walked by the waterfalls with Caldina.
"That's nothin to worry about. Don't let it bother you so much. I've got
to get back to my post now, so take care," said the woman as she walked
away.
The boy frowned to himself and punched at the ground as he ground his
teeth. "She doesn't know, she hasn't had to fight them yet I'll get those
magic knights for humiliating me that way!"
He paused and glanced around at where he was. Xellos was sitting inside
the waterfall that Alcione had once occupied and was watching the scene
with mild interest. He blinked and stared at the boy as he realized he
was also being watched. "What?"
"You're a strong sorcerer right?" asked the boy quietly.
Xellos smiled and winked at him. "Now that..."
"All right! All right! I get it, do you have anything that will help me
defeat those magic knights?" interrupted the boy impatiently.
"Possibly," replied the man with a sly smirk appearing on his face.
"Well?" asked the boy after a moment of silence.
Xellos blinked and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small sphere
and held it up to Askot. The boy grabbed for it greedily and he pulled
his hand away. "No guarantees boy. This will make your monster a hundred
times stronger; but there is always a price when dealing with me."
"I don't care!" snapped the boy angrily as he snatched the orb from the
mage's hand.
"Not even if it will cost the beast's life?" said Xellos with another
smirk appearing on his face again. He flashed his golden eyes for a
moment and stared the boy down.
Askot paused and stared at the object in his hands for a moment. He then
returned Xellos's stare with a firm look on his young face. "These are my
slaves, I'll do what I want with them."
"Excellent choice," said the mage with an odd look on his face. Askot
could not tell if he was being serious or not. The boy turned away and
walked towards the exit to the palace.
Xellos leaned against the wall and started to twirl a small knife in his
fingers. "That went well." He turned when a new figure entered the room
and smirked at him.
"I'm surprised, you actually turned out to be useful," commented Inova
as he walked to the center of the room and stopped. "To think you would
be so good at corrupting a small child. You must be so proud."
"No more than your master should be for involving such a young boy in
such a disgraceful act," replied the mage curtly.
"You dare!" snarled Inova angrily as he stepped forward. He stopped cold
when a cut appeared on his cheek as if by magic. He growled and slowly
turned to see the knife Xellos had been playing with embedded on the
opposite wall.
"I don't care about his dirty and sorted laundry, but involving people
who it doesn't concern is no more honorable than what I just did,"
continued Xellos calmly.
"Then why are you here?" snapped the other man bitterly.
Xellos smiled yet again. "It's a secret." He vanished into the shadows
leaving Inova alone once again.
Dan took a long drag off of his cigarette as he watched Mokona bounce
around cheerfully through the tall grass that surrounded them. He glanced
back and sighed as the three girls had become suddenly irritable for some
reason. It was odd, they all seemed to be in a fowl mood at one time, he
kind of wondered how that had happened. Shrugging his shoulders he hacked
at the grass in front of him with the blade on his arm again and trudged
forward as Mokona hopped around obliviously.
He paused when they reached a fork in the small path they where
traveling down. "So dirt rat...which way?" he glanced down and frowned as
the creature pulled up a flower and sniffed it cheerfully. His face fell
and he simply took a seat by the road.
"Sir Mokona, which way do we need to go?" asked Fuu vacantly.
"Yeah, tell us Mokona!" cried Hikaru cheerfully as she took a seat next
to Dan. She even seemed to hop in place while she was sitting down.
"Mental note, cut down sugar intake for Hikaru..." muttered Dan under
his breath.
"We have to hurry! Tell us which way to go Mokona!" cried Umi bitchily
as usual, even more so today than normal.
The creature Puu'ed and turned to face them with a flower in it's hands.
Something in Umi just snapped. "You stupid rat! We have to hurry! I need
to get back to Tokyo!" She pulled a wooden mallet out of her wrist gem
and began to chase the creature through the grass in a complicated game
of 'Whack-A-Mokona'.
"Hey, Squirt Gun just snapped," noted Dan lazily as he lay back and
puffed on his cigarette.
"It would seem that way," commented Fuu.
"Miss Umi! Please stop! You need to calm down!" called Hikaru.
"I get the feeling this trip is gonna feel longer than usual for the
next couple of days or so..." commented Dan as he furrowed his brow and
finished his smoke.
Umi stopped her attack and fell to her knees. "I wish I could be able to
enter that fencing tournament. I whish I could get back to Tokyo."
"Man, I thought I'd talked that out of her system," grumbled Dan as the
familiar complaint surfaced again. He wanted to kill her more than ever
now, just to shut her the hell up.
Ascot smiled as he stared coldly at the giant snail that towered over
him. "Your going to take this and avenge your friends aren't you?"
The creature blinked and stared at its master in confusion for a moment.
Its head slowly went up and down after a moment of thought.
"Good boy, now let's hurry up and get this over with," commented the boy
darkly. He floated up and fed the pill to the creature smiling to himself
as he watched its power work. He was thrown to the ground as a massive
shockwave of energy blasted in every direction away from the beast. He
stared up at the creature as it howled in pain and a horrified look
crossed his face. "No! What have I done?"
Overhead Xellos smiled to himself as he watched lazily from behind a low
cloud. "He's gonna do me proud, stupid kid."
The group was moving again, Dan stood next to Umi as she was the
quietest of the three girls at the moment and he smiled to himself as he
walked in relative silence.
To say that Umi Ryuzaki was sulking would be an understatement of
extreme proportions. She moped along behind the group hanging her head
low as she muttered to herself about going back to Tokyo. Every moment,
every step she took made her a little more upset with the situation she
found herself in.
The whole group turned as a strange sound rushed towards them, Umi and
Dan stared wide eyed as a strange light rushed along the ground towards
them and finally caught up before they could react. Then everything went
white.
Umi woke up staring at a staircase as she lay on her back. She slowly
sat up and whimpered slightly as she shook off the effects of whatever
had happened to her. "Where am I?"
"It's about time you woke up," said a familiar voice from beside her.
"What?!" Umi shot up like a bolt and found Dan staring in her face
again.
He had an armload of various foods and a large plate of curry in his
hands. "Thanks for the wish Squirt Gun, I've had a craving for this for a
while now."
Umi looked at him and blinked. "Where are we?"
"Looks like Tokyo tower to me," replied the boy with a shrug. He wasn't
optimistic enough to believe he had really returned to earth, Xellos
hadn't shown up and he was a long way from finishing up what needed to be
done in Cephero. "Everything is frozen though." He poked a nearby school
girl with his finger in her rear and she didn't move.
Umi jumped to her feet and glanced around angrily. "This has to be an
illusion!"
"Probably, but it tastes good," commented Dan as he took another bite of
his food and started to lift the frozen girl's dress up with his finger.
"What the hell are you doing you pervert?" screamed the girl angrily as
she slapped him.
Dan moved like a flash and pointed the tip of his blade at her throat.
"I never liked you much Umi, don't push it. If I killed you now no one
would ever know."
She froze in shock and stared at him. "What?"
"That wouldn't get us out of here though, and I've got a funny feeling
this is your fault," replied the boy reluctantly as he put his arm down
and lowered the blade.
"My fault?" said Umi in shock.
Meanwhile Fuu and Hikaru stood together in the frozen wasteland they had
found themselves in. "What happened?" said Hikaru. She turned towards
Fuu. "You don't suppose that the crumbling of Cephero has effected the
weather in strange ways do you?"
"I don't think so, it happened too quickly. It is most likely magic,"
said the other girl with a serious look crossing her face.
"An excellent deduction my dear. The question is, what do you plan to do
about it?" said a new voice from behind them.
The two girls spun around and gasped at the figure who watched them from
on top of the frozen Mokona. He smiled and tapped his staff on the ground
lightly.
"Xellos!" cried Hikaru.
"Of course, I'm interested to see how you get out of this mess," said
the mage calmly as he sat down and watched.
"You won't help us?" gasped Fuu.
"Not this time I'm afraid, this was partly my doing you see," said the
man coldly as he stared at them seriously for a moment.
"What?" gasped Hikaru.
"I gave Askot the means to do this, getting out of it will be quite
difficult you see. I have my reasons, but I won't tell what they are."
"But, why?" cried Hikaru in shock.
"Do I really have to answer that?" replied the mage coolly.
"It's probably a secret correct?" muttered Fuu.
"I'm glad someone has been paying attention. Now, what are you going to
do girls?" he sat and watched.
Hikaru paused and glanced around in shock. "Where are Umi, and Mr. Dan?"
"We have to find them!" cried Fuu.
"Hmm, that might be a good idea," commented Xellos. He stood up and
slowly drew the blade from inside his staff. "But... I'm afraid I can't
just let you wander around unsupervised. You'll have to beat me first."
Dan frowned as Umi walked around the frozen people with her sword drawn
in shock. "I've finally returned to Tokyo! I can compete in the
tournament! Why won't somebody move?!"
The boy snorted as he tossed the empty wrapper to a meat bread over his
shoulder. "What am I? Chopped liver?"
"It's not the same!" retorted the girl angrily.
Dan smiled and stood up from his place. "You want a fencing tournament
so badly do you? Let's go then."
"What?" cried Umi as she stared at him. He raised his blade up and
assumed a familiar stance. She spun around and held her blade up
defensively.
"Are you really that dense? Cephero is the land of the will. This is
just your stupid wish, you're here now. So let's have your stupid
tournament so we can get back." The grin that crossed his face bordered
on feral and he stalked forward slowly.
"You're out of your mind!" cried Umi as she backed into a wall.
"Maybe, but I'm the only one here who can move," replied the boy as he
hacked a boy in two with a casual swipe of his sword. "If you don't fight
me I'll kill everyone in the room one by one."
"You monster!" screamed Umi as she charged him. The blades met in a
shower of sparks and the echo from the clash resonated through the silent
building.
"Explosion array!"
Hikaru grunted as her blade contacted Xellos's sword again. She charged
forward again and screamed as he raised his hand and an explosion sent
Fuu flying across the ice from underneath her.
"Your skills are growing pup, but not enough just yet," snorted the man
arrogantly as he slashed down and stripped Hikaru of her sword. She
paused as he pointed his blade at her and waited. "Are you going to stand
there or are you going to go get it?"
Hikaru blinked in surprise and walked slowly and carefully around and
retrieved her sword. "Why are you doing this to us? What have we done to
you?"
"You'll understand soon enough," replied the man with a shrug. He paused
though and arched his back in pain. A blade protruded through his chest
with Fuu on the other end behind him.
"I have you!" she screamed. "Give back Mr. Dan and Miss Umi!"
Xellos laughed slightly and fell forward. "I don't have them." He
stepped forward and the sword slid out of his back. "Those magical swords
do hurt quite a bit though. I think you should cool off for a bit."
Fuu's eyes went wide. "How?"
Hikaru gasped as Fuu was encased in ice the moment he said this. "Fuu!
No!"
"Don't worry, she's safe...but you...how much longer do you think you
can fight in this temperature?" he smiled.
Hikaru growled, she knew he was right. She was freezing cold and getting
worse by the moment. "I'll defeat you and make you pay for what you did
to my friends!" She screamed again and charged forward.
Xellos avoided the strike and tapped the back of her head with his
finger. "Really, I thought you were smarter than that. You are the
'Knight of Fire' after all, why should you allow yourself to get cold in
the first place?"
Hikaru stopped and looked at him in shock. He was grinning dumbly and
waiting patiently for her to reply.
"Well?"
"Shut up!" screamed Hikaru as the gem on her wrist glowed and surrounded
her with flames. She charged forward again.
Dan parried another blow by Umi and slashed down cutting her armor
slightly. "Another point for me, eh?" He spun around and cleaved another
of the frozen people in two. Several of the bodies littered the floor
around them. "Oops."
Umi was beyond angry. She snarled and charged forward again slashing at
him over and over. He blocked each blow and smirked as she managed to
push him back. She was covered in sweat and he was barely even breathing
hard.
"Come on now Squirt Gun, I know you can do better," he chided.
He raised his blade towards a familiar girl and she gasped in shock as
recognition came to her face. "Captain!"
"Oh, is this the one who you made the promise too?" snorted the boy as
he paused and lifted her skirt up with his sword and mockingly looked up
her dress to assess her rear. "Not bad..."
"I've had enough! Water Dragon!" screamed the girl in rage.
"Freeze Arrow!" retorted Dan as he raised his hands. He paused to
consider the fact that the dragon was still moving towards him. "Oh
shit."
Umi was afraid for a split second. The water Dragon froze as it flew
forward, her fear was short lived as the giant ice creature crushed her
opponent into the wall shattering on impact. Dan slumped down dazed and
stayed motionless for a long moment. Broken pieces of ice littered the
ground around him.
She stood over him and pointed her sword at his neck. He looked up and
smiled at her softly. "Looks like you win. At least I have plenty of ice
for my injuries, ne?"
"I'll kill you!" she cried in a rage.
"You don't have it in you girl," he snorted lazily as he moved to his
feet. He froze in place when he felt a prick in his neck and realized
that she had stabbed him with the tip of the blade. A slight trickle of
blood ran down his neck and he narrowed his eyes.
"You aren't going to murder me are you?" his tone was almost mocking.
"You killed all these people!" screamed the girl.
"You really believe that these people are real? Let me ask you
something, where do you really want to be right now?" Dan chose his words
carefully and spoke slowly.
Umi paused and glanced around. "In Tokyo! The real one!"
"You really want to leave Hikaru and Fuu alone on Cephero?" He narrowed
his eyes and raised his hand up slowly. She didn't notice the ball of
orange light forming there.
"They're strong! They can...but I can't do that can I? I can't leave
them in Cephero alone can I?" She lowered her sword and Dan breathed a
sigh of relief. He pointed the ball of light at her head as she turned
away from him and smiled.
"You're right! We have to save Cephero! I can't leave until it's done! I
want to go back!" She started running forward as the illusion vanished
around her. Her sword flashed with a blue light and seemed to crack for a
moment before shattering at the hilt revealing another evolution.
Dan blinked and found himself in a dark looking forest. "What the?" He
shot the fireball into the woods and it exploded catching several trees
on fire.
"Hey! Damn it! I was so close!" he charged after her and was washed in a
white light.
Hikaru slashed wildly at Xellos and put him on the defensive. He smirked
and jumped away from a particularly powerful strike that slammed into the
ground. His smirk vanished when his sword fell into two pieces. "Well,
looks like you win."
Hikaru blinked and noticed something. She had subconsciously charged her
sword with magical energy and released it into the ground. Red cracks
began to form in the ice and the hilt burst into flames transforming the
blade.
Umi and Dan arrived just in time to see Hikaru break the ice spell as the
ice shattered all around them and vanished into thin air. "What the?"
muttered the boy as he stopped running.
"Hikaru!" cried Umi as she waved to her friend.
"Umi! Mr. Dan! You're all right!" cried the girl as she made a beeline
for Dan and threw herself into his arms. He stood in a sort of surprised
shock and said nothing until she released him. "Where did you go?"
Fuu walked up behind the group with Mokona on her shoulder. "We were
both extremely worried about you,".
Umi walked over to him and hung her head. "Mr. Dan... I'm sorry I
doubted you. I...I needed to hear what you had to say."
He blinked and looked at her for a moment before shrugging his shoulders
and popping a cigarette into his mouth.
"It appears as though both Miss Umi and Miss Hikaru's swords have
evolved!" said Fuu pleasantly
"Jeez, what are these things? Pokemon or something?" grumbled Dan.
"You never did explain what a pokemon was to us," commented Hikaru.
"You probably don't really want to know," muttered Dan half-heartedly as
he lit his cigarette.
"Oh. Then why did I ask?" said Hikaru with genuine confusion on her
face.
"I cannot return to Tokyo until Cephero is saved!" cried Umi.
"Yeah!" agreed Hikaru heartily.
"Brother," muttered Dan under his breath.
Inova stared at Askot with Zagato standing behind him with his back
turned on the boy. "It seems you two have failed."
Xellos appeared in the room between Zagato and Inova with his familiar
smirk. "Not really, I delivered what I promised. The beast was a hundred
times stronger than it was before."
"You failed to kill the magic knights!" snorted Inova indifferently.
"I never said I would," replied the mage calmly.
Askot stared at him in shock. "I did only what I promised to do, it's
not my fault the boy got squeamish at the last moment."
Zagato turned his head slightly. "Askot is just a boy. That is the only
reason he is still alive for his failure. We will not rely on him any
longer." He walked off into the shadows.
Inova smirked. "Looks like you're not as great as you make yourself out
to be Xellos."
He screamed in rage and pain as a blast from behind his back sent him
into the wall. He struggled to his knees while smoke rose off of the
scorched portion of his back. Xellos lowered his hand slowly, "Watch
yourself runt. You did not hear Zagato admonish me did you? I fulfilled
my part of the bargain." He turned away with a smile on his face.
Askot simply sat on the floor and punched it in anger. "Damn you magic
knights! I'll..." the words died in his mouth. There wasn't much he could
do, his most powerful beasts were dead now. "Damn you..." he uttered the
words with tears in his eyes.
TBC...
Next time: The revival of Celece, the legendary rune god!
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/