AN: Only one person reviewed… I'm so sad ;;
Tell me if I have any facts mixed up. This is based entirely on the manga since I've only seen a single anime episode and that was in Japanese and on video. Takes place one year after the manga ends. If you think I've rated it too high or too low, tell me immediately! I'm trying to be as accurate as possible.
Italics mean extra emphasis or thoughts.
Disclaimer: If I've never seen the anime, I don't think I own Rayearth. Don't the authors get to see their creation being animated? I do own my OC, Samantha, who will appear in this story and be in it to the end and this claiming of her is placed here and it includes my ownership of her for every chapter so I don't have to put it down every time.
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blackmagic: Here it is! Glad you like it! Could you put some stories for us to read?
Summoned
Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu felt their own magic swirl around each of them as they were gently deposited a few inches above the tiled floor of the Throne Room. Umi giggled when she opened her eyes and saw their audience. Hikaru and Fuu opened their eyes at the giggle and realized that Guru Clef, Presea, Ferio, Lantis, and Ascot were there. Fuu and Umi smiled as their feet hit the floor and went to Ferio and Ascot, respectively. Hikaru hugged Presea, greeted Clef and the others, and went over to Lantis to discuss Eagle's health. Primera was mercifully elsewhere.
"Has Eagle changed at all since our last visit, Lantis?" she inquired.
"No, he's still the same and is glad of your company, though he wishes he could open his eyes again," Lantis told her with a smile.
"I'm glad everyone's so happy," Fuu told Ferio as they watched the others chatter.
"Thank you for coming," Ferio told her. Fuu looked surprised. The only time she had ever missed a visit was when she'd been so sick she couldn't stand. "You always brighten my day," he explained as he slipped one of his earrings off his ear and placed it on her hand, just as he did every time she came. Just like every time, she blushed as he kissed her hand. She didn't object, but it never ceased to surprise her.
"Fuu! Come with me and Ascot," Umi called from the floor. "We're going to fix the things we need for the party and we need your cookies!" Fuu nodded and left the dais to follow the two to the kitchen. Ferio and the rest watched them leave.
"Lantis and I are going to go see Eagle," Hikaru told them. Presea and Clef smiled warmly at her and nodded.
"It's so strange," Presea commented as Ferio walked over to stand with them. "Before, Hikaru was so happy and cheerful, but now…"
"She's even more so with such a weight on her shoulders," Ferio finished.
"You know that though she has the title and abilities of Pillar, she's let the people decide their own fate," Clef told Ferio.
"I know, and I know that wish will stand until she dies, no matter what she wishes for. I don't believe she's ever been stronger than when she wished for the people to own this country as much if not more than her herself. She drew power from Umi and Fuu and all of us to have the strength to make such a powerful wish and make it last," he responded. His two elder companions nodded in agreement.
²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²
"How are you doing, Eagle?" Hikaru asked as she and Lantis entered.
"I'm doing about the same. I'm glad that you believe so strongly in my health. I'm strong enough that I may be able to open my eyes before long." Hikaru grinned at the thought. That would be a major accomplishment for Eagle, who hadn't yet been able to see anything.
"That's wonderful!" she cried.
"Yes," Lantis agreed softly. Hikaru looked up at him. He didn't reveal his feelings often and then only in private around Eagle and her. It was wonderful that he was finally allowing people to see how he truly felt.
Suddenly, an alarm blared, shocking everyone.
"What is it?" Hikaru asked as Lantis began to rise. "What's going on? What do the alarms mean?"
Lantis sighed.
"They mean our new enemy is attacking," he told her. "Please stay with Eagle."
"No! Why didn't you tell us? We can help!" she shot back as her eyes flashed defiance.
"We didn't tell you entirely for this reason. You have no way to safely fight. In the Mashin, you can defend yourselves, but they are no longer here. We have very few craft and it is not wise to let you battle on them when you are only learning how to control them."
"Let us fight!"
"I'll summon a spirit animal for you each to ride that doesn't mind magic or battle," he gave in reluctantly. "But I am not enjoying letting you fight when I can't protect you." Hikaru smiled and ran to find the kitchen.
²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²
The picnic was all laid out on the kitchen table, ready to be taken outside.
"What are all these alarms, Ascot?" Fuu asked in worry.
"It means our new opponent is attacking," he told them.
"WHAT?!" they shrieked. Ascot winced, rubbing his ears.
"We have a new opponent who attacks this castle. They are not from anywhere near here and no one recognized them the first time. We don't even know what they really want."
"How did they get through the shield around the country?" Umi asked.
"There isn't one anymore, remember? Otherwise neither Autozam, Fahren, nor Chizeta could get here," he reminded them. Just then, Hikaru rushed in.
"Umi! Fuu! There's some new enemy," she panted.
"We know," they told her.
"Lantis said he'd summon some spirit animals for us to ride. I convinced him to let us fight," she told them. The other two cheered and all four raced out to the castle's entrance. Lantis and Primera on horseback and Clef and Ferio on foot were waiting for them, three birds with saddle platforms on their backs for the Knights.
The Knights clambered on and looked out. Everyone, all eight of them, gasped as they saw the opposition. The ships at the edge of Formerly Cephiro's airspace looked vaguely oval and were a strange mottled purple color. They appeared to be growths of some kind and were unbelievably ugly. They covered a good portion of the sky.
"Where are their weapons?" Fuu asked once she found her voice.
"Inside of the ships," Clef told them.
"Then how can they shoot?" Umi questioned.
"Holes open in the sides of the ships and the weapons stick out while they are being shot and then go back inside," Lantis replied as her searched the skies for something.
"Are we going to go?" Hikaru asked, her eyes glued on the approaching opposition. Lantis nodded and they set off.
"I'll use my magic to fight from here," Clef told them as the Knights hovered just inside the entrance. Their magic swarmed around them for a moment and when it vanished, they were in their typical, everyday, jewel-encrusted armor.
"Thanks," they called as they set off after Lantis.
When they reached a distance of sixty yards from the ships, they learned what Lantis had meant when he said the weapons stick out of holes in the ship only while shooting. They were shot at and Fuu had to use her Guardian Wind spell to shield them all. Hikaru gritted her teeth and used a Fire Arrow attack when the guns, for that was what the weapons appeared to be, opened fire again. The attack destroyed many of the oncoming missiles and took out two ships and blew up a few guns on another. The rest of the missiles never had a chance to reach their targets thanks to Umi's Ice Sword blasting them to oblivion.
"We'd be stronger and have more effect if we had Selece, Rayearth, and Windom here with us," she grumbled as she watched her attack demolish a few ships and the rest of the launched missiles.
"Well, Mokona took them with him when he left," Fuu reminded her as she launched a Green Tornado at an oncoming ship. It was destroyed but there were plenty more left. "We need a more effective way of taking them out. This isn't working." Hikaru and Umi agreed. Lantis was doing fairly well on his own but Clef's magic he was working from the castle wasn't taking any effect. The three Knights focused on their power for a moment and let loose one of their most powerful attacks.
"LIGHT SPIRAL!!" they shouted and the elements of fire, water, and wind wrapped around each other to attack the ships. There was only a small number destroyed, not many more than their separate attacks destroyed.
"That's not good," Umi noted in an only slightly panic-stricken voice.
"No, it's not," Hikaru and Fuu agreed in the same tone as they began to dodge the oncoming bullets. There were many less, so Fuu didn't need to shield them. Lantis and Primera were working together but were only managing to destroy only one ship at a time. They all were in big trouble.
The ships suddenly all opened fire at the same time. Fuu's Guardian Wind shielded them, but the force of the repercussions pushed them all back a great deal. Fuu was panting by the time the missiles had lessened enough for her to drop the shield. The commanders of the ships realized this advantage and repeated their last attack at double the force. Fuu repeated the spell. This time they were all thrown back into the castle as the spell broke from Fuu's draining energy. After pushing the Knights and Cail back so far, the ships suddenly turned and left, speeding away until they were out of Formerly Cephiro's airspace.
"Ow," Umi muttered as she crawled out from beneath the vanishing bird. "Those missiles hurt."
"Are you hurt?" Ascot asked as he rushed toward her and helped her up. She shook her head.
"I've got some bruises from our rough landing, but aside from that, just my pride." Ascot smiled in relief.
"Those missiles do hurt," Fuu agreed as she slid off her vanishing ride. "I'm sorry I couldn't hold the spell," she added as she swayed. Ferio caught her and held her steady.
"You should rest," he told her. She nodded.
Hikaru groaned as she slid off her bird. "That was bad. Getting beat like that so fast and being pushed back so far," she said as Lantis reclaimed his bird and came over to her. She allowed him to support her.
"Even one of our strongest attacks had almost no effect," Umi groused.
"Well," Clef said as he walked back out from the Throne Room where he'd been preforming his magic. "I'm afraid that leaves us only two options. I knew my spells would have little to no effect but I'd assumed that yours would have a much larger effect than they did in actuality, though you did take out many more than we have in the past. Our first option is to continue like this, which would almost definitely mean you would lose each time and you have to go home anyway so your folks don't worry. So that plan won't work.
"Our other option is that we summon another person, one who can help us. Possibly to become another Magic Knight in terms of power, magical and physical. If there were any other options, I'd tell you. But I'm afraid there aren't." He bowed his head.
"But I thought only the Pillar or Mokona could summon someone," Umi protested.
"I'm the Pillar, remember?"
"But I thought you got rid of the Pillar System," Fuu protested.
"Yes, in the way that I don't control everything, the people do. But I'm still Pillar in name," Hikaru explained.
The Knights looked at each other in dismay as the full extent of Clef's words sunk in. Summon another person? One who might not do any better than them and would not be able to leave until the enemy was defeated, when it was a distinct possibility that the enemy might never be defeated and the one summoned would die in a battle they had no true part in? But what was their other choice? To lose? They couldn't win this on their own. Without ever saying a word, they reached their decision. Hikaru took a deep breath and answered for them all, her hair and braid whipping around her in the sudden wind.
"We'll do it. We'll summon another person. We don't have another choice. The three of us won't leave until this enemy is defeated so we need a person who knows this enemy and has fought against them to help us. Otherwise, we'll all be killed and this country will fall." Umi and Fuu nodded to show they agreed.
Clef sighed as his white robes whipped around his child form. "All right. We will summon another person. Come with me to the Throne Room. Magic that reaches to places seems to work best from there. You three will need to use each other's power to do this." He began to walk off. They all followed.
Gardina, Lafarga, and Presea were waiting for them. Clef told Ferio he had to sit in his chair and watch. Nothing more. He couldn't do anything. Ascot he had Lafarga restrain to keep the grown-up boy from doing anything to interfere. Clef had the three Knights hold hands and form a circle in the center of the dais. As the three touched hands their power washed over them all, but harming none.
"Now make your wish and summon someone," Clef instructed. The three girls closed their eyes and focused on what they wanted. As Hikaru had made her wish for this country with their help, the other two could help her when she needed to summon someone.
"We wish for," Hikaru spoke slowly, "someone to help us defeat this opponent. Someone with the ability and skill to do so. That is our wish." Light of intermingled red, blue, and green flashed around them, nearly blinding those watching. They didn't notice Clef or the others cry out in shock for they were focused so strongly on their wish and bringing someone here.
²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²
A huge light flashed outside Tokyo Tower and everyone turned toward it. (Sound familiar?) One girl could see three figures in the globe of light, asking her for help. Asking her to fight again. She went cold, knowing what was about to happen. She hated it when this happened to her. She didn't scream or cry out as the ground turned to liquid beneath her. Screaming would be a waste of energy, she thought as she was pulled under. It's not like they can hear me anyways. She held her breath until the water released her and she was falling. Falling toward a floating castle above a sea and green land. So peaceful, she thought regretfully. Have I been summoned to destroy this peace and the Pillar who created it? She adjusted her body so the wind wasn't hitting her eyes dead on. She wanted to be able to see, not have her eyes forced closed by the tearing wind she was creating as she fell. The blonde felt amazingly calm and detached.
²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²°²
Back in the castle, the girls opened their eyes and looked toward Clef, letting go of each others hands and standing next to each other, destroying their circle.
"I'm pretty sure it worked," Hikaru told him as Lafarga released Ascot.
"It did," Umi and Fuu assured him. Clef nodded and the jewel on his staff glowed and a picture was formed in the air in front of him, much like when he had shown the Magic Knights of Cephiro and the countries surrounding it when Mokona had summoned them. This picture showed a teenage girl falling. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt and had a backpack on her back. Clef hadn't zoomed in too much, so she was fairly small and Formerly Cephiro was far beneath her.
"This is the girl you summoned," he told them. They leaned in for a closer look and they heard Hikaru make a strange noise and straightened up. Everyone looked at her closely.
"What is it?" Umi asked, her concern for her shorter friend evident on her face. Hikaru was white, though Umi and Fuu knew quite well that when they'd made their wish their energy had been replenished.
Hikaru just stared at the picture of the girl.
"Why don't you summon Fyula to bring her here?" Fuu questioned. Clef shook his head.
"If she doesn't do anything in the next thirty seconds, I'll do that. But right now I want to see if she does anything. That's what I did for you the first time you were summoned," he told them. At that moment, a shrill whistle echoed in the hall. It continued to echo for a good minute. They all scrunched up their eyes and covered their ears in an effort to block out the sound. Apparently, Clef had added sound features to this vision of his.
"That was loud," Umi commented as she took her hands from her ears. Hers ears rang in the silence. The others agreed and took a look at the picture. The girl was no longer falling, but riding a monster similar to Ascot's favorite! It had four limbs, an eagle's head with a purple jewel on its forehead, was furry, and had wings. Hikaru made some sort of indecipherable sputter as the others showed surprise if not shock to see this girl summoning a monster to help her.
"Do you recognize this girl, Hikaru?" Clef asked her. Hikaru nodded, still not taking her eyes off the image of the girl.
"She's landed," Lafarga noted. Clef turned his attention back to the picture. The girl had indeed landed in the castle entrance. She was petting the monster as she looked around with more sadness and resignation than curiosity or fear. As the monster shimmered and vanished, she began to walk down the hall straight toward the Throne Room, keeping her eyes on the tiled floor. It was almost as though she knew her way around. They heard her footsteps echo softly as though she were right next to them. No one offered to go fetch her; they were all too busy staring at her image.
She looked a lot like Emeraude in some ways. Something about her quiet manner and golden hair. She reminded Clef and Presea of someone they had met when they were very young; someone they couldn't quite remember who'd had to go away.
"Why does she remind me of someone?" Presea wondered aloud.
"I don't know," Clef replied without taking his eyes from the teenager. "But I have the same feeling." The others except Hikaru looked at each other. They didn't recognize her or were strongly reminded of anyone. Hikaru just stared at the image. When the girl's image stopped at the closed door, the picture vanished.
"Hey! What happened?" Gardina cried out. The others voiced similar outbursts. At least they did until the doors to the Throne Room swung open and the girl walked in, heading straight for the Knights and Clef. She stopped about five feet from the dais and bowed formerly.
Hikaru found her voice as the girl straightened up. "You're that new girl from school, Samantha," she choked out. "What are you doing here?" The girl shrugged, not seeming at all surprised that she had just been dragged into another world and now stood in front of a classmate. Everyone else stared in shock, their eyes going back and forth between the two as Samantha took off her backpack and set it on the floor beside her.
AN: Cliffy! I think. Next chapter comes soon! Promise!
