AAN: Please R&R. Yep another chapter, did you figure out the riddle yet?

Riddle of the Phoenix

Genki woke worried about Holly. She seemed to be running a slight fever and was still asleep despite the sun already being up. Niki came over and placed a cool cloth on Holly's forehead and got out some medicine.

"Holly, you don't have to open your eyes but please take this medicine." He lifted her head and Niki placed it in her mouth. Holly indeed swallowed it with some water. He thanked his cousin then decided he needed time to think about the riddle. He kissed Holly's forehead and grabbed his CD player, decided to listen to some music to clear his thoughts. On the fourth song he came to a realization. The song was called 'Jesus Messiah' and it had one phrase that caught his attention. "All our hope is in You
All our hope is in You All the glory to You, God The light of the world" he spoke it out loud catching everyone by surprise. Even Holly looked up at him despite her illness. He turned off his CD Player and looked around at the others.

"Genki does that mean what I think it does?" Hare asked.

"I think so. It means that what ever all our hopes were in back then is the light of hope." Niki nodded in agreement with his statement.

"Then what was our hope in? We had most of our hopes in the phoenix."

"True Tiger but most of that hope lay in the magic stone. We couldn't find the phoenix with out it."

"Alright then now we know what the light of hope is that we have to present but how do we use it?" Hare pondered.

"Hope is found near the heart of the fire and moves to the heavens to over come the dark and the disillusioned army that awaits below." Genki spoke the rest of the riddle again hoping it would give them an idea.

"Hope comes from heart chi… just like love."

"Hope is sometimes considered a burning flame in the darkness." Tiger said following Mocchi's train of thought.

"The heart of the picture, there must be something there that the stone will react to." Niki smiled to Genki. He nodded agreeing the looking to Holly.

"We will test this when Holly is well enough to travel. For now we should rest." He lay back down next to Holly, "Just rest Holly. I will be with you." She smiled weakly before closing her eyes.


It took a few days for Holly to recover fully, her fever finally breaking on the second night. Genki stayed with her the whole time. He read his bible and prayed for her. He also spent time reading to her softly hoping to give her courage and hope. When she recovered she smiled to him and gave him a soft kiss.

"Thank you Genki. I heard your words and it helped me to fight to get well. You read from your holy book right?"

"Yes."

"I would like to know more about it later, for now we should finally get ready to set the phoenix free." He nodded agreeing with her whole-heartedly.

"Your pendant is the key." She nodded and took it off handing it to him. Genki accepted a lift from Golem to reach the pictograph. He placed the stone near the heart of the phoenix in the picture. Soon a red glow moved up from the dark portion of the picture to the sky above the phoenix. Then the massive rock door opened for them to enter. Genki took the lead and cautiously entered, he wasn't sure if there were any traps set in the corridor or not. Holly followed close behind him clutching her hands to her chest rather nervously. Genki noticed it but decided it would be better to have everyone be cautious rather then comfortable in a place that might be booby-trapped. Genki noticed a color-coded floor and stopped, he also noticed a skeleton of some creature further down. He grabbed a near by piece of stone and tossed it into the corridor. Flames shot out of the walls with great force startling the group; Genki noted the stone had landed on a blue marked stone. He tried again tossing it onto a red marked stone; the flames shot once again. Again he tried, this time the yellow stone. Nothing happened; he hit the yellow stone again to confirm. "Looks like we have to stay on the yellow stones; which means Golem will have to come through last cause he can stand the fire while we can't." Suezo looked like he might protest until Holly went first the started stepping on the yellow stones, Genki following her. The rest slowly followed with Golem going last when all were safely through. The next section seemed more ominous the Genki, he looked around carefully noticing marking on the wall on the far side then he noticed the markings on the floor. Using a stone to test again he hit and unmarked stone, three pendulums dropped and swung through. They didn't come back till Genki threw a second stone. Then he threw a stone on a marked tile, the pendulums appeared again. Next he hit a stone with the first letter of what was on the wall in the unknown language, nothing happened. Genki took a deep breath and stepped on the first symbol then the next, continuing across following the lettering on the wall. Once across he looked back and called back. "Follow the letters on the wall, which match with the stone on the floor, in the order on the wall." Holly was the next across; Golem had some trouble but ended up breaking the blades to get across.


They finally entered a rather large chamber there they saw the phoenix his feathers a dull charcoal color, he seemed to be bound by some sort of chains but they were not made like normal chains. They seemed to be made of some sort of energy. Holly seemed amazed that anything could hold the phoenix.

"Phoenix, are you alright? Do know who trapped you?" Genki spoke hoping the phoenix would respond. The phoenix looked over at the group he seemed very tired, probably from fighting for his freedom.

"I saw the creature who trapped me but it was not one that I recognized. I am ok for the moment but with out the sun I will not be able to recover."

"Do you have any idea on how to remove these chains?"

"It has to do with those panels over there" he indicated a far set of glowing panels; Genki wandered over to the panels and saw some symbols he recognized from the previous trap. Genki looked over the panels carefully. Hare came over pondering their meaning as well.

"There must be some sort of clue here in this room as to how these work. There was in all the other rooms…and it's probably in plain sight." Everyone spread out looking for some sort of clue. Holly found a panel that she thought might hold a clue.

"Genki over here I think I found something." Genki walked over looking at the inscriptions on the wall.

"Great job Holly, this is the key." Genki read it over temporarily memorizing the symbols and their order. Then he quickly jogged back to the panel and hit the symbol in order after they were all in he hit what he thought was an activation buttons. The panel dropped back revealing a second panel, this one had three buttons. Genki looked to the phoenix. "Which one did he hit?"

"The one at the right."

"Ok that activates the chains lets hope it also deactivates them." Genki pressed the button and heard a buzzing sound. Soon the chains lit up even brighter and then disappeared. The Phoenix rose stretching his wings. Genki walked to him and used the courage he always had to infuse the phoenix with enough power that he could get out of this place. The gang left threw the hole in the wall the Golem and the Phoenix created.


Outside the phoenix soar up high gathering the sun's rays, soon he was his normal color again and descended to talk with the others. Genki smiled to Holly as the phoenix landed before them.

"Thank you all for releasing me; but now I must restore the balance of this world."

"Phoenix, do you know how to defeat this new enemy?"

"No, he is different than any other I have ever faced. Even Moo was not a corrupt as he is."

"Then you will have our help." Tiger smirked, looking to the others who nodded.

"Thank you all, I will count on your courage to strengthen me."

"All we know of him is that he is called Lord Nivar, and he already commands an army of monsters."

"I know little more then you do"

"So how do we beat him?"

"There are legendary weapons that might be of help. The ancients created them so I am told."

"What are they?" Tiger asked now very interested.

"They appear to be a bracelet and a gauntlet but they some how can change into weapons. I know little more then that. They are called the warlock and witch blades."

* Witch blade? Could it be like the story in my world? * "Where can we find them?" Genki would talk to Niki about the story later.

"They can be found in the ruins north of Toble, they are located in the mountains near the summit of the mountain nicknamed Terra Lord. That is all I can tell you." With that the phoenix took flight and vanished from sight.

"So I guess we head to Toble then?" Hare posed the obvious question. The group nodded.


As the night came Genki couldn't shake the feeling that the story about the witch blade in his own world and the one in this one were closely connected. He waited till dinner was served to say anything though. Holly and Niki both knew he had something on his mind.

"Hey Niki I was thinking. Our own world has a story about the witch blade. Do you think it's connected some how?"

"Its possible. I thought of that too."

"Your world has a story about it too?" Holly asked, intrigued to know more about his world.

"Yeah, though in my world its only a fictional story. A comic book company created it. But here it seems to be real, and since a game in my world related to this world."

"You're thinking the story might as well?" Hare finished thinking about the suggestion.

"Its possible," Tiger stated flatly.

"Well I don't know about the warlock blade. But the witch blade is a weapon with magical abilities. The witch blade its self was actually a male entity, because of this only a woman could wield it. Any man attempting to do so would lose his arm in the process." Holly visibly cringed, "in addition the woman in question had to be chosen by the witch blade. Anyone not chosen could suffer the same fate. Once chosen though, the user could freely communication with the witch blade its self."

"Ok so if the witch blade is like that then the warlock blade…"

"Would have to be a female entity that could only be used by men. According to the story the witch blade was crafted form the Tree of Good and Evil, thus the witch blade its self is a balance between the two. It can be used for either good or evil, it doesn't care which."

"Then why is it so picky?" Tiger sounded annoyed making Genki roll his eyes.

"It only works for those it deems worthy of its powers. I'm not sure what it uses to determine that though. The lineage they gave it indicated women of either royalty or military prowess. Though the last person in the story was neither of those." He noticed Holly seemed worried but continued on. " Anyway the witch blade is more then a weapon though. It also has the ability to heal wound, even mortal ones. It can even bring someone who just died back to life. Someone who has been dead longer can be temporarily reanimated so the witch blade can show its user what happened using the person memories. As a weapon it can give the person armor, even a fully body suit of armor if needed. It can make a sword or other weapons. It can also shot projectiles and energy blasts. From what I read it's very temperamental though, and will become a problem if the user refuses to use it in a fight."

"You remembered all that?"

"Yeah why?"

"But you only saw the TV show season once… and a lot of that was never used in the TV show."

"I read some online scans of the comics."

"I see… so do you think the comic version of the armor is more accurate?"

"Probably… if it is then we better get some extra sets of clothes." He laughed while Niki giggled and shook her head.

"What do you mean?" Holly was completely confused.

"Well in the comic the users clothes would often get shredded by the witch blade when it gave them armor. They didn't use that attribute in the TV version though."

"Wait… Genki does that mean that Sara was running around…"

"No Niki. The comic designers didn't have her naked. The witch blade had armor coverings for her. Though skimpy at times they were covering what needed to be."

"Guys and comics…."

"Hey have you ever found a comic that doesn't do that?"

"No you are right…" Genki decided to leave it be rather then defend himself. He'd just make it worse for himself in front of Holly.

"I'm not sure if all the information is accurate but if it is then we better hope we are chosen." With that he yawned; he really was tired. "I think I'm going to turn in soon." He rose and took his bible to read and pray. Though shorter tonight he did get some of both in. when he came back he went to bed. Holly joined him smiling and shaking her head when she found him already asleep. She would have to find out the answer to her questions in the morning it seemed.


When morning came, Holly was the first awake. Kissing Genki she woke him up, his hands moving to her back to hold her gently.

"That was some good morning" he whispered when they finally broke the kiss. She just giggled at him.

"Genki, I had some questions." He raised a brow but nodded.

"Go ahead."

"Well did you like seeing… the witch blade user in those comics dressed like that?"

"Apart of me did but I didn't care for it that much. My world has the idea that 'sex sells'; it's been a slogan for years. So to get guys or girls to buy, read or watch something they usually use something sexy or sexual in nature. It's not something I can escape in my world. Which is why I like it here better. It's harder to control myself in my world with all those provocative images but here I don't have to worry about that. I was honestly more interested in the witch blade story then some fictional character running around in a skimpy armor outfit… in the middle of battles." He knew by the strange look on her face that Holly didn't understand his world at all. He pulled her close whispering to her, "its alright. I know you probably don't understand my world. Just know that I love you and I won't do anything you don't want me to." He knew his words had hit home and helped. He felt her arms round him and she whispered back.

"Thank you so much Genki. It must have been hard for you to stay a virgin in your world then. I'm glad you did though."

"So am I. You are worth the wait." She blushed profusely and could only smile. It was still early and the couple decided they should get some extra rest. Genki knew holly would still be tired form her illness and he felt drained from using his energy to infuse the phoenix with courage that day before. Giving her a gentle kiss he smiled to her, "I'll answer more of your questions once we are both well rested alright?"

"Sounds great Genki." She snuggled against him enjoying the comfort of being in his arms. He smiled before closing his eyes to go back to sleep.


AAN: yeah shorter then some of the others but it was fast paced. Yeah decided to do a partial cross over with this one. Though some of it I will make up on the fly. Like though the witch blade did split into two pieces a male and a female it still was called the same thing. And it didn't happen till a later event involve Sara almost dying. So don't expect it to exactly match the story of the witch blade… if you know the comic or TV series lol.btw I don't own any part of the witch blade series or its characters.