Disclaimer: If I owned either of these two franchises, would I really be sitting here writing fanfiction?
The situation was not looking good, Will thought to herself, as she surveyed the battle going on beneath her. That Shagon creature had taken out Corny and Elyon and as if Shagon wasn't enough to contend with, there was also the small matter of the other members of Phobos's loyal followers. Irma had been knocked out cold by a charge from Crimson, while she'd been concentrating on fighting Raythor, while Hay Lin had been forced back by the Trackers bats.
"Taranee, pick up Cornelia. Hay Lin, get Irma. I'll get Elyon. Then we'll get out ASAP." Will transmitted to her two friends, telepathically. The other two nodded in mute agreement, their trust in Will's skills as a leader proven in countless skirmishes over the past two weeks.
Diving towards their friends, Hay Lin let out a shriek of surprise as she suddenly ran into a giant web and found herself stuck fast. Taranee fared little better, her flames failed to so much as singe Miranda's webbing. Pulling up, Will found herself being rapidly surrounded by Phobos and his troops. Phobos stepped up towards her, a triumphant gleam in his eyes as he leered at her in a way that made her feel as though she was practically naked.
"Give me the Heart of Candracar girl and I will allow you and your friends to live." He told her, in a conversational tone of voice, almost as if he were asking for a cigarette and not a highly potent magical artefact. Will paused for a second, hesitant as to which choice she should make. But it was Taranee's next words that decided it for her.
"GO TO HELL PHOBOS!" Taranee yelled in a way that seemed hard to equate to the timid, practically Omni-phobic girl Will and her friends knew at Heatherfield.
"Will, get out of HERE! We can't let him win!" Hay Lin added, as she struggled even harder against the webbing.
Tears glistening in her eyes, Will smashed her way through a castle wall, hating herself for having to do this.
"After her!" Phobos bellowed to Shagon, who followed without question. He then turned to face Taranee and Hay Lin, his face a picture of pure anger. If looks could kill, Taranee and Hay Lin would've been nothing more than scorch marks.
"So" he growled, "You think that it's a good thing to deny me my prize, do you?"
A globule of spit landed on Phobos's face as Taranee spat at Phobos and glared. "Do your worse, Phobos! We're ready for you."
Phobos looked into the eyes of both girls and realised that they were not afraid to die. In fact, it seemed like they expected it. As he turned his head away to ponder how best to punish them, he saw Cornelia lying there, still out cold and in her normal human form and an idea formed at the back of his mind. He turned to face the other two, with an evil looking little smile on his face.
"You're so prepared to experience the consequences of your own actions, perhaps I shouldn't really be making you pay for them. Oh you will die at our hands." he nodded towards them. "Just not today." He grabbed Cornelia by the wrists and hurled her out of the window. It was a fifty-foot drop. "Your friend will pay instead. Never again will the Earth Guardian threaten my rule again!" and with a slashing motion, he sent a tower down after her.
Feeling the rush of air past her face, Cornelia steadily started to come to. Seeing the ground rushing up towards her, she started to wave her arms in a kind of panic. True, Cornelia wasn't a coward by any stretch of the imagination, but that didn't mean she actively sought death.
Her last thought, before she hit the ground was 'I didn't think it would end this way.'
There was an almighty crash as the tower smashed into the ground. Hay Lin turned her head away and started so to sob, while Taranee screamed a series of colourful curses towards Phobos, who simply chuckled.
"Oh I'm sorry. Was the girl dear to you?" Phobos asked sarcastically. "You really should consider not crossing me in future, or oth…" Phobos's voice trailed off as the roof of the tower he'd sent down after Cornelia came flying back up to smash into the tower and freed Taranee and Hay Lin. And then they all heard a voice they'd thought they'd never hear again.
"Corny smash!"
Phobos turned an unhealthy shade of green. With Shagon off chasing down Will, there was no one who could come close to beating Corny at all and they all knew it.
As the tower started to shudder as Corny started to climb, Phobos rapidly regained his wits. Grabbing the still unconscious Elyon, Phobos teletransported away in the blink of an eye.
Cedric and the others left behind looked at each other. Then they started to flee as fast as they possibly could. Unfortunately for Miranda, she was the first enemy the newly freed Guardians decided to attack. A fireball exploded at Miranda's feet, sending her flying. Hay Lin then followed it up with a gust of wind that slammed Miranda into one of the few remaining walls and Miranda slumped to the ground unconscious and returned to her human form.
"Err, Taranee it strikes me that we should be somewhere else RIGHT ABOUT NOW!" Hay Lin said as the building started to collapse, as Corny started to smash her way up the building.
Grabbing Irma, Taranee flew for the window, but Hay Lin hesitated as she looked at the unconscious form of Miranda.
"Hay, we can't wait!" Taranee yelled, pulling Hay Lin out of her indecision. Grabbing Miranda (and silently grateful that Miranda was in her human form.) Hay Lin flew through the window, just as the entire building collapsed.
"Hay-Hay, is it me, or did you risk your life to save HER?" Taranee asked in a disgusted tone of voice.
"I couldn't just leave her there T!" Hay Lin argued back vehemently. Taranee gave her a glare, but decided to leave it.
"We need to regroup with the others anyway." Taranee said calmly determined to avoid an argument as they watched Corny storm off.
"Shouldn't we try to stop…" Hay Lin gestured in the direction of Corny, to which Taranee shook her head.
"Do you really think we'd make any difference?" Taranee replied. Hay Lin shook her head. "Right, let's find Will."
"Damn it all!" Will yelled as she slammed her fists onto the table. "What do you mean no? Cornelia smashed Phobos's rule, practically single handed and Elyon is your Queen!"
"Guardian, with all due respect, we'd love to try, but without the Guardians, it's simply not possible." Commander Seara replied calmly.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT POSSIBLE!" Will yelled and Commander Seara winced. "THAT'S MY FRIENDS YOU'RE WRITING OFF THERE!"
"Hey you might want to shout a little louder, I don't think there are a couple of people in Candracar who didn't hear you." A familiar voice said from behind Will. Will spun round to see the owner of the voice standing in the doorway.
"IRMA!" Will squealed as she pulled the water guardian into a very tight hug. Then she spotted the others standing behind Irma. "HAY LIN, TARANEE! YOU'RE OK!"
Then Will spotted two notable people missing. "Where's Cornelia and Elyon?"
"More importantly, how did you escape?" Caleb asked, more curious than hostile, but it was enough for him to earn a death glare from his girlfriend Will.
"Well, in a word. Corny. Phobos threw Cornelia, in her human form, out the window" Taranee started
"WHAT!?!?!"
"And somehow, it transformed her into Corny." Taranee finished.
"But…that's not possible, is it? I mean, Cornelia's never been able to transform into Corny without being in her guardian form." Will said in a stunned voice.
"Evidently not." Irma noted dryly.
Will pulled herself up to her full height and took in a deep breath.
"We need to regroup and start planning afresh." She said, her voice full of authority. "Let's hope that Yan Lin knows something, anything that will get our friends back."
Later, in the Silver Dragon.
"Girls, I have good news from Candracar." Yan Lin announced as Will and the others stepped into the back rooms of the Silver Dragon. "Where's Elyon and Cornelia?"
Will waved her hand. "You first. We could use some good news."
"We have a way for you to defeat the creature Shagon." A cold voice intoned from behind Yan Lin. A tall, ivory-white woman with no hair and some strange tattoos on her face stepped forward. Reaching into her robes, the woman pulled out a slim golden chain, with a glistening white crystal on the end. "This is a crayor crystal. Shagon's species cannot tolerate the slightest touch of this crystal. Wear it constantly. But when Shagon is defeated, I must ask for its return, for this is a dangerous tool."
"Good. That should help us rescue Elyon." Will said, grabbing the jewel.
"Rescue Elyon?" Yan Lin asked in surprise. The girls looked at each other and then started to tell Yan Lin about the events of the day. As they went on, Yan Lin went increasingly pale, before finally sitting down.
"That is bad news indeed." Yan Lin murmured. "Phobos will not drain Elyon of her powers right away. The power transfer would be too great. It would kill him in an instant."
"All the more reason for us to go now!" Will replied and they left the building at a run.