Halloween in Cephiro
It was Halloween in Tokyo, and the streets were packed with children trick-or-treating. Three of those children were Hikaru Shidou, Fuu Hououji, and Umi Ryuuzaki, better known as the Legendary Magic Knights of Cephiro. After the three saved the magic world of Cephiro from high priest Zagato a few months earlier, they had become inseparable.
"Hurry up, Umi!" Hikaru shouted to the girl behind her.
"I'm coming!" Umi shouted through gritted teeth. She dragged a full pillowcase behind her as she watched Hikaru run down the crowded street, her felt cat-tail bobbing behind her.
How can she run that fast carrying that heavy sack?
Umi thought as she stopped to fix her black witch's hat, which had fallen over her face in the rush."Hikaru, maybe we should go back home soon," Fuu advised. "It's getting late."
"Aww! Can we just do a little more?" Hikaru whined.
By now, Umi had caught up with the other girls. She grunted. "Please, Hikaru! My bag's overflowing enough already!"
Hikaru thought for a moment before answering. "Alright, I guess we can go…"
The three girls began to head in the direction of their houses. A few minutes after they started walking, they came upon the Tokyo Tower. "Hey guys!" Umi exclaimed, the wind blowing her long, blue hair.
"What?" the other two asked. "Remember how, only a few months ago, we met for the first time here?"
"Yeah," Fuu said, her gold, plastic halo bouncing over her head.
All of a sudden, a bright light shone from the tower, and the girls began to fall. They fell past volcanoes and mountains before landing with a THUD on the ground. It didn't take the girls more than five seconds before they finally figured it out. They were in Cephiro again!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, in an old, abandoned house just outside the Forest of Silence, evil was brewing.
"Lord Zagato," a green haired woman said. "The Magic Knights have arrived again in Cephiro, just like you predicted. Now what do we do?"
"We wait," the dark haired priest said. "Once they see this place, they'll most likely come in. Mirai."
"Yes sir?" "Wait for them in the dining room. Destroy them there."
"As you wish, your Excellency."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How did we get here again?" Umi asked as she brushed the dirt off her black cape.
"Someone must have summoned us," Hikaru said as she handed Fuu her glasses. "But who? Princess Emeraude…" her voice trailed off. Princess Emeraude was the first person to summon them to be the Knights, but sadly, the girls were forced to kill her.
"Hey! Long time, no see!" a voice called out. The girls turned around to see two familiar people: Guru Clef, the 745 year old sorcerer who gave the girls their magic, and Presea, a woman who helped them many times on their journey. With them, was a tiny, big eared creature known as Mokona.
"How have you been Mr. Clef? Miss Presea?" Fuu asked.
"Just fine," Clef said.
"Me too," Presea replied. "Now that Zagato has been defeated, I think everyone in Cephiro can say the same too."
"Have there been any problems here lately?" Hikaru asked.
"Not really," Clef answered. "However, we have been hearing strange noises coming from an abandoned house near the Forest of Silence."
"Would you like us to check it out, Mr. Clef?" Fuu asked.
"Wait a minute!" Umi exclaimed, grabbing a lock of Fuu's blond hair. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"Well, we defeated Zagato, so checking out a spooky house should be no problem for us!" Fuu responded.
"OK! We'll do it!" Hikaru said.
"Oh no!" Umi groaned.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In the creaky old house, Zagato watched the girls. "They won't be able to beat me again," he declared. "Now that I'm stronger, I WILL TRIUMPH!" He began to chuckle softly, and then laugh maniacally. "The Magic Knights have met their match!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"This must be the place," Hikaru observed.
"Puu!" Mokona said happily.
Fuu looked up at the huge house. "Well, what do we do now?" she asked.
"I guess we go in," Hikaru responded. The three walked up to the door. Just as Hikaru put her hand near the door, it swung open in a rather eerie manner. Umi hid behind Hikaru and covered her eyes.
"A-are we really going into that weirdo place?" she sputtered. Hikaru, Fuu, and Mokona went into the house, while Umi still had her eyes covered. She looked up, noticing her companions had left. "Hey guys! Don't leave me out here!"
Umi ran inside the house just as the door shut. It missed her by inches and caught her cape instead. She grunted and tugged at it furiously trying to free it. For a split second, the door opened, releasing the cape, and causing Umi to fall on the floor. "HIKARU!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hikaru and the rest of the party had rejoined Umi, and they began to explore the house. The first room they came across was a dining room, with food on the table.
"Food? Why is there food in an abandoned house?" Umi said, obviously not too thrilled.
"If there's food here, it must not really be abandoned," Fuu concluded. "We've been waiting for you, little Magic Knights!" a voice said.
"Who's there?" Hikaru asked.
"My name is Mirai. I serve Lord Zagato," the woman said.
"Did she say" Fuu began.
"-Zagato?!" Umi finished.
"Yes," she said. "And now it's time for you to say goodbye! ICE SPEAR!" She cast her spell, aiming towards them.
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Hikaru shouted. "FIRE ARROW!" Mirai jumped sideways to avoid the attack. Hikaru tried her attack again, this time hitting the woman.
"No!" she gasped.
"I might be dead, but his Excellency has many more supporters! Hahaha!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"That was disturbing," Fuu bluntly stated.
"Hello, are you totally stupid? That fruitcake was trying to tell us that Zagato is back and more powerful now!" Umi shrieked.
"Oh dear. That may be a problem." Fuu said.
"Hey Umi, Fuu," Hikaru said. "Have you seen Mokona?"
"Not since before that battle," Fuu answered.
"We've got to find Mokona! Otherwise, we won't be able to leave this creepy place!" Umi screamed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In the attic, Zagato had watched every part of the battle, including the victory of the Knights. "Pathetic," he said. "I didn't train her to be a pathetic loser. Yet somehow she managed to be even lower than that."
"Shall I go and wait for them in the library?" a man with dark hair asked. "Please do," Zagato said as emotionless as ever. "Oh, Moeru?"
"Yes?"
"Try not to mess up."
"I'll do my best, sir."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"MOKONA!" everyone yelled. They had left the dining room and were now in what appeared to be an old bedroom. Hikaru went to search under the bed, Fuu to the desk and chair, and Umi to the closet. As Umi neared the huge closet, a strange odor drifted through the air.
"Eww! What's that funky smell?" Umi said as she held her nose. "It smells like something died in there!"
"Well, open it and see if something did," Hikaru advised. Umi hesitantly opened the door to get the shock of her life. In addition to a few bats, there were about five skeletons covered in dried-up blood sitting in the closet. She screamed.
"Wow," Fuu said. "Look's like you were right, Umi." While the girls peered in at the rotting skeletons, they heard the floorboards of the old house creak under the weight of an unknown creature.
"Wh-who's there?" Hikaru asked nervously. They turned around to see a shadowy figure coming towards them. They stayed frozen in place. When the creature stepped into view, the girls were embarrassed to see that what they were so afraid of was only Mokona.
"Alright! Where were you?" Umi angrily asked Mokona.
"Puu, puu!" Mokona said, pointing to a set of stairs leading up.
"Ok! Let's go!" Hikaru said as she watched Mokona bounce up the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When the three got to the top of the stairs, they saw a long hallway with doors leading to several different rooms. "Puu!" Mokona ran into one room. It was packed with dusty books.
"Oh wow!" Fuu gasped. "Look at all these books!" They each went in a different direction to look at what was in the room. Hikaru had walked of to one shelf and picked up a book entitled The Universe of the Four Gods. She was about to open it when she felt something burning her back.
"Ah!" she screamed as she fell to the cold floor.
Umi and Fuu rushed to her side, barely missing another spell that was meant for them. "Come out whoever you are!" Umi yelled. She saw a shadowy figure do a flip of one of the bookcases.
"My name is Moeru," the man said upon landing, "and I have orders from Zagato to destroy you all! FLAME SHOT!" A huge ball of fire left Moeru's hand and headed straight towards Umi.
"WATER DRAGON!" she countered. The spout of water enveloped the flame, extinguishing it.
Moeru smirked. "Impressive. But you still won't be able to beat me! PYRO PILLAR!" This time, a tornado of fire spiraled toward her.
"WATER SPOUT!" Umi's waterspout spiraled too, putting out the flames and killing Moeru. As his body began to disappear, she let out in a hoarse whisper,
"That'll teach you to mess with my friends." Fuu looked at Hikaru's beat up body.
"HEALING WIND!" she chanted, the wind sweeping Hikaru onto her feet and healing her wounds.
"Thank you." Hikaru said. "That was another one of Zagato's henchmen, wasn't it?"
"Yeah," Umi responded, "but I still don't get how Zagato can be doing all this. I thought we killed him. This is really weird."
"Puu!" Mokona leapt out from behind a bookcase.
"Ugh!" Umi groaned. "Why do you always run when there's a battle?" "Puu…" Mokona said apologetically.
"Well, let's head to the next room," Hikaru said, pointing in the direction of the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The crew had come to a few more rooms, without the discovery of anything too significant. After awhile they followed Mokona to a rusty door which was covered in cobwebs. Before they opened it, they carefully checked it for any signs of evil alterations to it. When they turned the knob and opened it, they saw a set of spiral stairs that led up to the final destination-the attic!
After much hesitation, the girls climbed the long flight of stairs. When they reached the top, their Halloween costumes disappeared, and they became fully dressed in their magic armor, weapons and all. "Well, well," the all-too-familiar voice of Zagato said. The girls grasped their swords tightly, ready to strike if necessary. "I'm surprised you made it this far, considering the circumstances," he declared, stepping out of the dark shadow that shielded his face from them.
"What are you doing here, Zagato? I thought we killed you." Hikaru said, a stern expression on her face.
"Defeated, yes. Killed, no," he responded. The three looked at him, obviously puzzled by his response. "Let me explain it to you this way.
"When I first became able to use magic, one of my abilities was to be able to revive myself once after death. I had a feeling that you would be summoned again soon, so I used that then. Ever since, I've been waiting in this house for you and you alone, Magic Knights."
"So," Hikaru said. "If we defeat you today, you can't come back, correct?" "Yes, but unfortunately, you won't!" Zagato said. "I will triumph! NIGHT STRIKE!" The ball of lightning headed towards the Knights, weakening them.
Together, they called out their attacks. "RED LIGHTNING!"
"BLUE WATERSPOUT!"
"GREEN WHIRLWIND!" The combined power of their attacks was enough to temporarily knock Zagato to his feet, but it didn't take long for him to get up again.
"You will pay for that! DARK BLIZZARD!" This time, he had done some severe damage to the Magic Knights. Although things looked grim, they were able to sputter one last spell in unison.
"LIGHT SPIRAL!" It swirled around Zagato, slowly draining him of his power. "Someday, Magic Knights!" he shouted. "Someday!"
As the light grew brighter, both Zagato and the house disappeared, leaving Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, and Mokona lying on the ground near Presea and Clef.
"What happened?" Presea said her face pale with horror. Clef cast a spell to heal them so they could explain what happened. When they finished Presea and Clef fell silent. Presea looked at the girls and handed them each a piece of candy. "That is your gift for defeating Zagato again," she said, "thank you."
"Do you wish to go home now?" Clef asked.
"Could we please?" Umi asked.
"Yeah. Our parents must be worried sick." Hikaru said.
"Alright," Clef said as he began to wish them back to their own world. Presea, Mokona, and Clef waved goodbye as the Magic Knights were whisked back to Tokyo.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they were back in Tokyo, they noticed that their armor has been replaced by their costumes. Instead of swords, they held pillowcases full of sweets. They stood up, both glad and sad to be out of Cephiro again.
"Well, I guess we better head home. I'll race you!" Hikaru said as she ran down the half empty street, her pink braid flying behind her. The two others chased after her, not even noticing that they still held the candies Presea had given them.
The End!
NOTE: I know this stinks, and I'm sorry. I wrote it for a creative writing assignment, so… Don't flame me too badly!