Hey peeps. Time for another installment of Against the Wind! :3
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Cornelia gasped and sat up quickly in her bed. After a few moments of breathing normally again, she looked to her alarm clock with a groan. It was five in the morning, way too early for a Sunday morning. She glanced at the dog sized dragon next to her and sighed. At least she hadn't woken-
"Are you alright young Guardian?" came the soothing voice of her new companion. Although Cornelia was a bit surprised, she nodded in response to the question. Terra was gentle and loving- just as she expected Mother Earth to be.
"Sort of. Everything's so hectic right now... and we all miss Hay Lin." the blond admitted. She was worried about their team's youngest member just as much as the others, but she couldn't help but feel dread towards meeting the usually cheerful girl again.
"That is alright. I too, miss Feng. I wish he had waited instead of acting rashly. But, much like the wind itself, there is little one can do to change his course. A strong wind cannot be stopped by a single tree." Terra said. She lay her head down on Cornelia's lap and looked up at her with a smile.
"I will do everything in my power to bring them back." she promised. Cornelia smiled and patted the head of her dragon.
"Thank you." she whispered back. Terra closed her eyes before continuing.
"So do you have a boyfriend?" she asked. Cornelia coughed once before holding her head up high.
"Yes I do. His name is Caleb, and he's a warrior from Meridian." she said proudly. Terra let out a small laugh.
"Very well. He'll do nicely." Terra said. Cornelia gave her an odd look before sighing.
"I can't be with you all the time, so I choose someone to watch after you. They'll get your secondary powers and somewhat of an affinity over earth until I should decide to remove his powers." Terra explained. In a low voice, she whispered to herself, "And I won't be able to stay much longer after we save Feng anyway..."
"What was that?" Cornelia questioned.
"Nothing. Go back to sleep dear." Terra said, nosing her Guardian down into her bed once more. They both closed their eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.
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The next day, a Sunday, the Guardians and dragons, along with Matt, Eric and Nigel met up again in the forest.
"So, guys... been experiencing any weird powers lately?" Will asked as nonchalantly as she could. Matt rubbed his temples before glaring at Will and Essence, who was currently draped around her guardians neck like a scarf.
"Are you kidding me? The stupid electrical appliances won't shut up! They've been at it all night... I barely got any sleep between the fridge and the microwave. Something must have gone on between them... What am I saying? Augh!" Matt yelled. Will quickly tried her best to calm him down. As they walked off to the side, Nigel beamed at Phyrros and Taranee.
"You guys are awesome! Now I can help you guys out on missions, and communicate with the guys- no more cellphones!" he joked, punching Taranee's arm.
"I can take your powers away just as quickly as I gave them to you, boy! Don't hurt my Guardian." the fire dragon snarled, smoke rising from his nostrils.
"I was just joking!" Nigel said defensively. As the group of fire powered beings fought, Irma and Cornelia looked at each other with a sigh. Naida was looking at Eric thoughtfully.
"So, are you Irma's boyfriend?" the lazy water beast asked. Irma quickly picked her dragon up and covered her mouth. Eric looked at the blue dragon with an incredulous look on his face.
"Lets just say this guy here's taken by windy, 'kay?" she whispered. Naida nodded and Irma put Naida back down. Eric sighed and regained his composure before looking back at the water dragon.
"Yeah, sorry. Although it would be nice to have powers, I'm just going to wait... for the right time." he said. He hoped that it would be soon.
"So can we get going to Meridian already? If we're going to pull off a rescue we're gonna need all the firepower we can get." Cornelia said. Irma smirked.
"Oh, I just thought you wanted to go to see your boyfriend Corny!" The water guardian teased.
"Don't call me Corny!" the angered earth guardian yelled. Will sighed and opened a fold before the two could really get into their fight. She grabbed Irma and shoved her wordlessly into the portal before glaring at the others. They followed soon after the water guardian while avoiding Will's death glare. Matt was the last to walk through, and the couple laughed at how serious they had been before walking through after their friends.
The group arrived in a field near the castle, and soon set off to find Elyon. It wasn't that difficult, seeing as she had probably sensed the fold open as soon as it had been done, and soon she along with Caleb and a few others had teletransported in front of them.
"Hey guys! What brings you all here?" Elyon asked. She saw the dragons and raised her eyebrow, but allowed them to explain before asking questions.
"We're in a bit of a bind here... Hay Lin's been captured by the government." Will started.
"You left out the part that she's being possessed by a dragon and tortured for information." Eric growled. Elyon and her guards looked shocked at the news, having seen the cheerful air guardian on more than one occasion.
"How long has she been... you know." Elyon asked.
"A few days. She slips in and out of control every once in a while, but whenever we contact her Feng shuts us out." Will paused for a moment before seeing the confused looks on the Meridian people's faces. "Feng is the dragon."
"Well, if this Feng is evil, why don't you just take him out?" one of the guards asked. Essence jumped off of Will's shoulder and stood angrily in front of the offending guard.
"Feng is not merely a dragon- he is the Air Auremere in physical form! Do you like breathing?" she hissed. Eric, Elyon and the guards all looked confusedly at the pink dragon. All they heard was her growling and hissing. Essence finally lost her temper and roared loudly.
"Insolent beings! There are five Aurameres! If even one is destroyed, the entire universe will be destroyed! Can none of you understand?" as the dragon ranted, she grew bigger and began to spark with Quintessence. Will and Matt approached their angry dragon while the remaining three shrank back in fear. Nigel and Taranee heard the dragons speaking in their minds through Phyrros.
"Essence, this is not the time to start attacking innocents, even if they are somewhat stupid." Terra said. There were murmurs of agreement from Naida and Phyrros.
"They deserve it! They have no respect for those with more authority than them!" Essence argued.
"The time of dragons has come and gone friend. All creatures no longer speak the same language. We have become nothing more than a bedtime story, legends and myths passed down and forgotten, remembered by few. Our names have been lost to the wind, all except your own, Shin Jin." came a new, but familiar voice. Taranee gasped aloud and everyone turned to look at the telepathic teen.
"Taranee? What-" Irma began, but cut off as Taranee held up her hand. She closed her eyes and focused on the new voice.
"You have grown harsh with age Feng. Perhaps you are still asleep after all this time. Our job is being carried on by the Guardians now. And even though they do it in secret, it still makes a difference." Terra said.
"Whatever the rest of you may think, I got into contact with you for a different reason. To put it in the words of... one of the humans here, we are in deep shit." Feng admitted reluctantly.
"Um, sorry to butt in, but where is Hay Lin?" Taranee asked in. Feng snorted.
"Hay Lin is fine. I allowed her to take control again so she could speak with the humans, but only as long as she would not contact you. The humans are scared- they need us to fight an invading army. Phobos is back- and he's going to try and take over Earth this time. Hay Lin has managed to convince the humans that you will be able to stop him, but... they are going to do something to us. Something that scared Hay Lin a lot." Feng relayed.
"Feng, we need to know where you guys are. We can get you out of there- then we can save Hay Lin. Okay?" Taranee said as calmly as she could.
"I don't know where. Hay Lin does... I guess I will allow you to speak with her for a moment." Feng grumbled and broke the telepathic link for a moment. Then, for the first time in what seemed like years,Taranee heard the fifth and final member of the guardians.
"Taranee! Oh, I'm so sorry I got into this mess... Can you guys forgive me?" the air guardian said in a rush.
"Of course! But you need to tell us where you are so we can do it in person!" Taranee said. She let the other girls into the conversation and Nigel, getting the idea, let Eric, Matt and Caleb in also.
"We're in a facility called Witch Mountain- ironic, huh? It's mostly underground from what I can tell. But you guys need to hurry- they're sending FBI agents after you today! They've been monitoring you- and frankly you could all be a little more sneaky about having powers!" Hay Lin scolded.
"Hay Lin!" exclaimed multiple voices at the same time. Naida sighed over the link.
"So much for a private conversation!" the water dragon mumbled.
"Guys! You're all okay!" Hay Lin squealed happily.
"We're fine Hay-Hay! It's you that's got us all worried sick! You are never allowed to go to school early again!" Irma joked. Hay Lin laughed before trying to become serious again.
"The FBI aren't all that bad- they're just worried for the country. Phobos is building an army here- I don't know how or why, but he's going to go after our families to try and use them as bait! He's already made demands to the government, but they haven't answered him yet. I think... I think they're going to hand Cassidy, Angelo and I over to him." Hay Lin said nervously.
"We won't let that happen." Eric said.
"Eric? You're with the girls? Oh my gosh! I'm soooo sorry that I ran off after our date, but I was-"
"Don't worry about it. I know about everything. Or, mostly everything." he said.
"Don't forget about me!" Nigel put in. Hay Lin's voice became fuzzy for a moment, and no one could understand what she was saying.
"Hay-Hay? What's going on?" Irma asked worriedly.
"We have to go now, Phobos has come to collect!" said Hay Lin and Feng together. "We're sorry to go, but we leave with a gift and some advice! Assemble the Guards and tell your families what is going to happen- take them somewhere safe!" With that, the two air wielders severed the connection and the group was brought back to reality.
"Are you guys alright? You all went out of it for a while." Elyon asked. The group slowly got up and faced the Meridian queen. All except one person, that is.
"Oh god. Eric's out for the count guys!" Nigel said as he helped Matt lift the unconscious boy up.
"Feng and Hay Lin are still speaking with him. Give him a few moments." Essence said. She still looked annoyed, but had seemed to regained control over her anger.
"The dragon talks?" said Caleb, who seemed alarmed. Cornelia laughed and pulled him aside to explain.
"Well, sorry about all that Elyon. We were contacted by Hay Lin, and she gave us a couple of ideas on what we should do. We'll need to borrow Caleb for a while though." Will said to the confused ruler. She gave a weak smile and rolled her eyes.
"It's alright. I'm used to these strange things by now." she said. Will bit her lip before whispering to Elyon.
"Is Phobos still in his prison?"
"Why wouldn't he be? No one has escaped the prison as far as I know..." Elyon paused, and disappeared a moment later. Will looked back to the guards an they just shrugged. Eric groaned and rubbed his head.
"Woah. Hey guys. You can put me down now." Eric said. He stood up on his own and looked at the other guys with a grin.
"Well, seems I'm part of the club now. So, when are we going to go save my girlfriend?" he asked with a grin. Before anyone could say anything, Elyon appeared again.
"Phobos has escaped, he left an astral drop in his place!" she exclaimed. Her guards immediately surrounded her and glared at the guardians.
"We know. He's on earth, probably trying to get Hay Lin, Cassidy and Angelo. Sorry to run out like this, but bye!" Will said as she opened a fold. It opened back into the park, where everyone was met by quite a surprise.
"Martin?"
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Help me gain levels by reviewing. Muuuuuuurr. Next chapter will appear sometime next week probably! Until then, REVIEW MY SUBJECTS- I mean, readers!