Thanks to The Crazy Talk Kid (thanks for the ideas), minipower (hope this chapter is full of surprises), the mysterious xm, and of course CCRox4Eva (Caleb has his own seen) for all your reviews and support, and thank you to all the people that are reading this here story of mine.
Before I begin the chapter I'd like to do some advertising, but not for my other stories. No, actually I would like to inform you lovely readers out there of a fic out there call The Shadow of Evil by The Crazy Talk Kid. It is a good story and I encourage you all to check it out, and hey at least it isn't placement advertising.
Well, enough of that. Onto Chapter Twelve.
"Mizu," Cyan says appearing behind Mizu as she watches the Silver Dragon from the roof across the street.
"Why are you here," Mizu asks while dangling her feet over the edge. The Guardians had entered the restaurant just minutes before her arrival, and the Air Guardian appeared very distraught about something. What though, was the thing she wanted to know?
"Lord Mitsunari's informant told him of Morphea's…injury," Cyan responds watching her superior look a little distracted as she did her mission. "I've been sent here to help."
"Good," Mizu happily says hopping up to a standing position, "you can take over look out duty." Mizu stretches. "I have some matters to deal with." The brown haired woman then quickly disappears before Cyan has a chance to respond.
"What was that about," Cyan asks puzzled as she walks over to the part of the roof overlooking the Silver Dragon.
"It is the anniversary," Morphea whispers from the shadows but doesn't appear, "of their deaths."
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"Why would Irma do it," Will asks calmly. "Why would she turn evil?"
"Listen," Cornelia says as she patted a very quiet Hay Lin on the shoulder, "let's talk about something else. Namely you Will."
"What about me," the red haired guardian says with a grin.
"Like what was that snake thing," Taranee asks pushing her glasses up her nose. "That would be a good start."
"First his name is Quint," Will begins to explain, "and from how he described it he's the manifestation of my spiritual energy."
"So he's a giant snake," Cornelia says calmly, "I would have thought you would pick a frog or something."
"Well, technically he's supposed to have wings," Will says rubbing the back of her head. She enjoyed being able to talk to her friends normally again, now it was just returning her vision to normal.
"Oh, like Quetzalcoatl," Taranee says as Hay Lin gets up and walks to her room.
"Who," the two look at the smart one inquisitively.
"Quetzalcoatl," Taranee explains, "was an Aztec god that was said to take the shape of a feathered serpent, and was the god of the morning star."
"Wow," Will says, "I didn't know Quint was a god."
"I am not, Lady Will," Quint responds telepathically to the three girls, "though I do seem to share in that beings appearance. Remember I am actually just a part of you."
"It's able to respond to us," Cornelia responds in surprise.
"Of course, Lady Cornelia," Quint explains, "like I said I am a part of Lady Will, therefore I am capable of utilizing her abilities. This would also explain why I appear to be made of electricity when I am summoned."
"Well," Taranee says, "that explains Quint, but the second thing is how did you find us?"
"I was admitted out of the hospital around noon," Will says, "but I didn't want you guys to just hear that over the phone so I snuck out of the house and ran to school. I didn't expect you guys to be under attack and that's when Quint showed me how to summon him to this plane."
"How were you able to see your way to school in the first place," Cornelia asks.
"Well," Will sighs and closes her eyes, "it's better to just show you." She then opens her eyes to reveal the technique that allowed her to see.
"What the…what is it?" Taranee asks looking into the circles of lightning.
"Quint calls it the Raijoukei," Will says, "it allows me to see by seeing the electrical impulses of a nervous system, and it can let me see electrical currents." She deactivates the technique and her eyes return to solid black.
"But the Kokuangyou is still active," Cornelia responds only to get a nod from Will.
"Well at least there still are four of us," Taranee says as Yan Lin enters the room.
"Where is Hay Lin," Yan Lin asks in a worried tone.
"In her room…" Taranee answers. "Oh no."
"She must have gone to find Irma," Cornelia says standing.
"We have to find her," Will says as the three get ready to leave, "before something bad happens." With those words the three quickly leave to find the Air Guardian.
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Hay Lin was running to the beach. It was stupid to have tried her house but she did anyway. Then her father said that they hadn't seen her for two days. That's when she knew exactly where her best friend would be. It would be the one place, no matter what, that she would go to be alone.
The Air Guardian slows to a stop as she looks out over the bay. She took a deep breath and put a determined look on her face before screaming, "Irma are you here?"
"Man you're dense," Irma growls as she rises out of the water and stands on it. Her large wings wrap her shoulders to appear like a cloak as she stares at Hay Lin with piercing yellow eyes. "Have you come on some sort of noble suicide mission to save me?" She mocks with a malevolent smirk.
"Irma," Hay Lin gulps stepping into the water, "I don't understand what's going on. We're…I'm your friend." Water wraps the small girl until only her head isn't covered. She is then forcefully evicted from Irma's domain and lands hard on the beach, the impact causing her right shoulder to dislocate.
"And I'm your friend," Irma chuckles walking up the beach until she is standing above the frightened girl. Irma's gauntlet then morphs into a barbed blade. "So, I'm going to put you out of my misery." She smiles as she raises the blade above her head.
Hay Lin squeezes her eyes shut, ready to accept death over a life without her best friend, but the blade never seemed to come.
"Hay Lin," Irma says but her voice sounded more peaceful and happy. Like the Irma Hay Lin knew. "What are you doing here? You need to run away. I don't want you to die, so just forget about me and go home." Hay Lin opened her eyes and saw the demon appeared to be paralyzed and was looking at her through friendly blue eyes, but the eyes shut quickly as a tear escaped them.
"Irma," Hay Lin said as a hopeful smile spread across her face.
"Die," Irma screamed as fierce yellow eyes shot open and the blade came barreling down at Hay Lin, but the sound of gunfire is heard and a beam of light slams into and shatters the ice blade before it can do anything to the Asian girl below it.
"Enough nymph," Cyan yells as her hand goes from an elaborate looking gun and back into a hand. "Lord Mitsunari would be very unhappy if you damaged his prize," she and Irma's eyes locked as she said this.
She then grabs her coat and quickly throws it off. Her body is covered in a Cyan colored armor with arm and leg pieces that looked similar to the ones that adorned Oak's body, but hers were definitely more streamlined. She was thin, almost as thin as Hay Lin, and the armor seemed to fit her flawlessly, almost as if it were her own skin. The shocking part was the equipment that seemed to be strapped to her back. What looked to be two massive riffles extended from her shoulders and looked to be folded in half so they would fit her five foot five body, also there appeared to be other forms of long ranged weapons tucked onto her back. It made one wonder how her thin elegant frame was able to support it.
"But he will be overwhelmed with joy once I take your head," Cyan says taking a defiant stance.
"You can try," Irma giggles as water wraps Hay Lin once again and freezes her to the ground. She then spreads her wings and stands in front of Cyan. "I'll enjoy killing both of you."
Cyan just smirked at this as clamps from her leg pieces slam into the ground. The two large cannons on her back then flip up and rest on her shoulders. Red energy seems to gather in the barrels, "Hybrid Cannon, Fire."
Two large red beams jettison from the barrels of the weapons that she fired. The kickback was intense and if not for the clamps in the ground the armored maiden probably would have been sent flying.
Irma jumps quickly into the air to avoid the beams that careen over Hay Lin, thankfully melting her icy prison, and into a rock formation not too far away. Well now it was what used to be a beach and rock formation not too far away, as glass half pipes were cut into the sand dune that was behind the rocks. The cannons then return to their position as Irma dive bombs the woman.
Cyan moves out of the way quickly, she shared her sister Oak's speed and strength; unfortunately she didn't have any of the other features that her sister seemed to have. Irma stood in the small crater that she had made with her fist as panels in Cyan's arms and legs popped out. Her chest plate and shoulder guards do this as well, before she launches a barrage of missiles at Irma.
Irma snarls at the attack before backhanding the air and unleashing an equal number of shuriken size snowflakes fly at the barrage. Once they collide she flies through the dust left by it to get in close to Cyan. The armored woman puts her arms in the way of her body as Irma begins rapidly slashing the armored form with blades of ice.
The folding cannons, reacting to the main body in danger, unfold to pop out near Cyan's hip. Then a quick burst of energy separates the two. Cyan slides back on her feet while Irma roles on the ground a little before standing, clutching a bleeding side, but before Cyan could ready another attack Irma takes to the skies and flies away. The cannons then fully retract and then sink into her back as she turns to look at Hay Lin.
"Are you alright Guardian?" Cyan asks, but in a way that made Hay Lin feel that she didn't really care what happened to another living being.
"What did you mean when you called me Mitsunari's prize," Hay Lin asks staring angrily at the woman.
"Why not ask your grandmother," Cyan says cockily as the other three Guardians approach. She then grins and vanishes.
"Hay Lin," Taranee screams, "are you okay? What happened here? Who hurt you?"
"Was it that girl who was just here," Will asks surveying the area with her Raijoukei.
"No," Hay Lin responds as she starts to cry. A great pain entered her heart as she finally realized what happened. "Irma did this. The Dark Enigma member saved my life."
"What," the three girls respond in shock. Hay Lin then goes on to tell them the events that transpired until their arrival. Cornelia then takes off her jacket to put Hay Lin's arm in a sling after it's popped back into place. Then the four take Hay Lin back to the Silver Dragon.
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"You little whelp," nymph Irma says slamming a clawed fist into human Irma. "What did I tell you?"
Human Irma slowly rises and responds, "I won't let you hurt my friends, especially not Hay Lin. You monster"
Nymph Irma snarls and brings a heavy foot down on human Irma's back. "If I am a monster then so are you. I am you. I have been you since before you were born, and I don't know how a filthy vermin like you survived, but I am tired of you trying to play hero." Nymph Irma walks away as a cage of ice surrounds human Irma.
"My friends will stop you," human Irma says while catching her breath.
"That is unlikely," nymph Irma responds, "it is true that good little Will has an above average spirit youkai, but once I am able to travel indefinitely without returning to the water to restore myself. None of that will matter, and all life shall bow to the power of the sea." She turns her reptilian eyes at the cage and it sinks into the water.
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"There," Will and says to the others as they leave Hay Lin's room, "Hay Lin is actually one hundred percent asleep."
"I think I understand now," Taranee says as the three walk down the stairs.
"About what," Cornelia asks.
"About Irma," Taranee begins to explain, "if Elyon is right and the demon Irma was telling the truth then all we've ever known about Irma was just an act perpetrated by a monster."
"Okay," Cornelia responds, "we figured that."
"Listen," Taranee continues, "acting like that is bound to have some kind of backlash. Maybe the persona Irma, since she's had to be around so long, isn't just a mask anymore."
"Split personality," Will says with a smile.
"Yes," Taranee explains, "that could explain why the 'evil Irma' hesitated in killing Hay Lin."
"Well," Will says calmly, "we'll have to think more about it later. Let's just get some rest." Taranee agrees and the two of them leave.
"Guess I'm spending the night here again," Cornelia yawns lying down in a booth.
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Caleb walked down the street. Elyon had taken Lillian to her parent's hotel room and then went over to Alchemy's so they could catch up. He would have preferred to stay by her side but she gave him direct orders to keep an eye out for Dark Enigma members, and that's when he saw one.
She was wearing a blue coat and looked to be staring at some gravestones in a graveyard. Caleb snuck in close, and thankfully wasn't noticed because he had no idea what this woman could do. Then he heard her crying as she looked at the ancient looking markers.
"I'm sorry," she says through sobs, "you guys are dead because of me and my want to make us unbeatable." She then crumples to her knees and wraps her arms across her chest. "I'm so…so…extremely…so...sorry."
