Chapter 25

I reposted this story because of major edits that needed to be done.

STAR SHIP LOADING DECK HAS BEEN COMPROMISED! NEARBY STAR WARRIORS REPORT AT THE LOADING DOCK! ALL OTHER WARRIORS STAND GUARD FOR INTRUDERS AND MONSTERS!

"Aw come on!" Jerca groaned in the mix of the alarms and red flashing lights. Since Jerca's room is right near the loading decks, Jerca, Nonsurat, Dragato, and Falspar was required to head toward the loading docks.

"Well, we better hurry!" Falspar hurriedly said and then he ran off. Jerca and the other two major generals followed right after him from the room and into the hallway. In no time, all four warriors reached the loading docks with a surprise; an irritable rest-deprived Sir Arthur barking orders at everyone, including the janitor. Not one warrior in that area was taking it easy nor enjoying themselves at the moment.

The four warriors looked at each with a nervous expression, wondering who Sir Arthur was going to call on. Then suddenly, the icy glare of Sir Arthur turned directly at the quartet, leaving the warriors to shudder in place. Sir Arthur, menacingly and slowly, mostly stomped his way up to them. Jerca could feel dread breathing on his neck and his palms sweating. The major generals were practically drenched in sweat and the Star Warriors around them were very worried. One warrior in the background was playing the Funeral March on the harmonica.

"FALSPAR!"

Falspar's eyes widened and then he looked at his three comrades, who nodded their heads in respect. Falspar gulped and walked up to Sir Arthur. Sir Arthur's expression was fierce and he asked quietly, "Why are you out of the hospital ward?"

"Well…in all honesty…Dr. Stork that some exercise would help heal my muscles as long as I didn't fight anyone…you have to admit that I healed a lot faster than my average normal!" Falspar replied as he attempted to help Sir Arthur feel better. It didn't work.

"Where is Blade and Meta Knight?"

Falspar quickly turned from scared to confuse and asked, "Why?"

"I WILL SHOW YOU WHY!"

Sir Arthur pointed at a solider at the computer system. This solider brought a laptop over to the duo. The solider pressed the play button and, despite the small distance between Nonsurat, Jerca, and Dragato and Falspar and Sir Arthur, all of them could see a ship abnormally operating itself and letting Blade enter it. Then, all the facilities started operating as if there was a whole crew working very well together. The Star Ship that Blade stole took off and went into space. The harbor door closed and not much longer did the harbor doors open again. This time, another figure went and operated the doors and another ship. He took much longer since he was doing all the work, but he finally open the harbor doors again and went into a ship. This ship took off but without someone else at the controls, the harbor doors stayed open, losing the precious oxygen that the Golden Angel had stored. Eventually the siren went off since the harbor doors were open without activity and that is when some of the alarms started going off for the tech warriors and for Sir Arthur.

The generals stood there in disbelief; however Jerca bit his lip with worry. Meta, what have you done now?

Blade's feet felt like they had been walked to death, however she kept going. Blade knew that the stone's light was leading her to the next tablet and the longer it took to get there, the sooner it will be before the Star Warriors will find out about her disappearance.

This is our final destination.

Blade looked ahead of her but only saw a wall with a large crack running down the wall.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Blade with a hint of distrust in her voice.

This is your destiny. You are required to enter.

"…No offense but-"

Enter. Now.

Well somebody is a little bossy right now…or something…oh nevermind! Blade walked towards the crack and found that it was a little too small to walk right in. Even though Blade was a little worried about the size of the opening, she wasn't sure of what else to do except obey the stone. Looking at the crack carefully, Blade decides to take her bag off her back and hold it to the side while turning sideways. She slowly slid her left side in first and, while it was a little snug, notices that she may be able to continue onward.

As Blade slid farther in the crack in the rock, she realized that it appeared more and more like a cave rather then-

"AAHHH!" Blade felt the ground disappear under her in an instant and without warning she fell through and landed on some sort of icy slide. Without a moment to spare, Blade found herself sliding on her back on a fast-moving slide that went down a steep hill. As Blade quieted down, the slide turned every way imaginable: spiral, diagonal, loop-a-loop, and even straight down!

"Yikes!" Blade yelled out loud when the drop commenced but she landing safely on her back. She began going faster and faster until a large wall suddenly appeared in front of Blade. Blade closed her eyes and expected to have a crash landing into the rock wall; instead, Blade's feet took most of the impact and hurt tremendously as they impacted the rock wall.

Hissing and painful cry, Blade sat up and tried hugging her chest to deal with the pain. Her shoes were definitely worn out from the walk and her feet felt damaged on the inside. Tears fell from her eyes as Blade examined her feet. They looked awful and give the impression of being broken. Blade slowly moved them and examined them. They barely moved and started swelling. Great! I'm going to be legless before this is over with!

Grabbing her bag that somehow conveniently followed her along the slide, Blade scooted over to the wall and tried to lean against it while standing. Slowly, Blade was able to stand but her feet screamed for her to stop! Gritting her teeth, Blade walked along the wall, using it for a balance. Looking ahead at the tunnel, the path lit up before her with small and very few crystals. Her bag dragged beside her as she held on, for Blade really didn't care about the bag. It really doesn't hurt, thought Blade as she walked on, if I keep walking on…if I keep telling myself that…it will help. It doesn't hurt…not like before-NO! I will keep walking! I can make it on my own. I've done it before! Nobody dared to help me before and I made it, so why shouldn't I make it now? Determined to keep fighting the pain away, Blade attempted to walk without the wall, but stayed near, just in case. Blade looked ahead and noticed more and more crystals that were appearing. These crystals were more bundled together and much larger. Continuing onward, Blade attempted to walk straight upward and more balanced. Her feet protested but she did not listen to them. I can do this. I can. After all, I did it the day Nana…no…I won't think about that. I will continue to move forward. There is only one way I can go.

The crystals appeared more and more, until the walls of the tunnel looked similar. The floor had fog covering it, moving as Blade took each temperature was much cooler under the rock then it was on the surface, which was not good since Blade's armor was wet with sweat and muddy water. Blade didn't want to look in the mirror, knowing that she was probably coated in mud. The pain continued in her feet, but she had gotten to the point where she didn't…no…couldn't care. Throwing the bag on her shoulders, the extra weight disagreed with her. Nevertheless of all obstacles or appearances, Blade walked on and soon noticed a hollow room appearing before her.

Inside, the room glittered with different crystals of all kinds. The floor dipped inwards, creating a pool of water that was formed by the four small waterfalls that were perfectly equal away from each other, in every corner of the round room. There was no indication of where the water was going to; to Blade, it appeared as though the water was escaping through the cracks of the water. As she entered, Blade felt the door close right behind her. This scared her and she turned, only revealing a wall of solid rock. Looking around, Blade saw no exit in sight and started panicking.

Your first test: Observation

Blade jerked when she heard the voice of the stone once more. It appeared much nicer before, but Blade natural assumed it was because she was obeying.

You are capable of solving this, despite the lack of education you have received.

"HEY!"

Find the crystal that does not belong. That is all.

The voice stopped, and Blade looked around. To her surprise, there were too many differences in the crystals to be seen immediately. Wading in the pool, she noticed that the water was icy and it help cool the heat in her feet. Sitting down in the water and leaning back, Blade let her feet rest in the water. Her body started cooling faster and she began a chill. Despite the freezing temperatures, Blade felt better as some of the mud washed off her armor. The water line rest right at her neck and the weight of the world on her back seemed to be lifted…oh NO!

"Shoot shoot shoot" Blade repeated as she stood up and took off her bag. Wading over to a large yellow crystal over the water, she put her bag securely on top of the crystal to dry off. Perhaps the stone was right about my intelligence…especially now the bandages got wet…

The figure stood behind a large rock that stood a little way from the large crack as Blade slid in. Waiting patiently, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary. Wondering what in the world was going on with Blade, the figure turned behind and hand signal "Any ideas?" The two warriors behind him shook their heads; one of them was leaning on the smaller one for balance since he was still recovering.

A yell came from the crack, and the figure immediately turned to face the direction of the crack once more. It was the girl's cry, no doubt. What happened in there? As he thought, a familiar face showed his face near the entrance. It was Meta Knight!

Meta Knight peered in the large crack, looking it over for any clues. Finally thinking it over, Meta Knight messed with his watch and dropped it near the entrance of the crack. Then, Meta Knight slid in the crack, which conveniently Meta Knight was able to fit in well. Watching Meta Knight slide in made the trio want to crawl in as well.

I'm starting to think this was a bad idea. Meta Knight walked in and found it difficult to perform other movement. Good thing that I'm small enough to fit in this-I'M NOT SMALL! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!

Hearing another cry from below, Meta Knight panicked and thought about Blade's safety. Moving more hastily inward, Meta Knight was took by surprise when his feet felt nothing underneath. Falling down, Meta Knight attempted to fly but the wall surrounding his drop only scrapped his wings. The falling movement caused Meta Knight to fall on his stomach and go for a slide.

WHAT IS THIS! Twirling and swirling around on the icy slope while slipping along the path did not help Meta Knight's thinking. It was too bad that the metal mask he wore did not allow as much friction as he wanted. Practically falling deeper in the underground Ice Park Slide, it did not take long to reach the end where a wall stopped the traveler's descend…oh dear…

"Not the face not the face not the face-"repeated the poor knight who was facing the wall like a hyper speed sliding penguin. WHAM! In an instant, unfortunate Meta Knight collided in the wall face first.

"…" Meta Knight thought out loud as he attempted to pull his face out of the wall. When he finally did, Meta Knight heard a sound in the tunnel beside him, resembling a shutting or rising noise. Meta Knight pulled out a radio, but when he turned it on all he heard was static. Hmm…so I was right about leaving the tracker up there otherwise there would be no signal to send from down here. I hope that I made the right decision though.

Upon examining the crystals up close, Blade felt a little hopeless about this test. All I have to do is find the crystal that doesn't belong…but it looks harder than it actually is. First Blade attempted to find it by color, but a least two crystals had the same color. Next, she tried looking at the shape of the crystals but that was a little complicated to do since all the crystals looked unique that way. Then, Blade thought about placement, but it seemed too casually placed and hard to point out since all crystals either lined the wall and pointed in random directions or they were underwater and were above and below the water line. Finally, Blade stood in the middle of the room again to think once more.

What am I not thinking about? There must be a least one that does not belong…

The cool water that seemed reliving at one time now made her body numb with cold. Blade's body shook as her feet no longer swelled. I hope that my injury was not serious. Watching the walls all around her, Blade noted every crystal that she saw for the hundredth time. There must be something that is off around here! I can't believe that this is simple for someone like me! What am I overthinking? Then it clicked; Blade remembered what Dr. Stork once said in the Clock Tower. The Yin Family always caused us to second guess, so if this crystals all looked different…

"Every crystal belongs! There is no crystal here that does not belong!" Blade exclaimed with realization.

You are correct. You may now proceed.

Both doors opened: one that lead back to the surface and one tunnel that continued downward, not as steep as the slide but steep enough to notice. Blade grabbed her bag and headed deeper in the tunnel.

The door has finally risen!

Meta Knight watched as the door rose up, but upon seeing Blade in a water-like room caused Meta Knight to panic. Meta Knight darted up the wall and climbed above the doorway, hoping that she didn't spot him. After hearing some splashing in the room, Meta Knight heard footsteps leaving the room away from him. After a few moments, Meta Knight looked into the room from the ceiling and saw the door. Being careful, Meta Knight flew across the room with his wings and into the next door, hardly making a sound as he done so.

Walking through the cavern, Blade felt that her feet were perfectly fine. Perhaps it was just the shock of hitting the wall that may have hurt it. The tunnel still had a downward descent, but not that bad. However, going back up will be harder, especially with the tablet.

Blade was still wet from the room and shivered once in a while; one time she actually sneezed. The tunnel itself got darker, despite the bright crystals that lit the way. Soon, another room appeared before her eyes and had a complete contrast to the dark tunnel. As Blade entered, the area around the room was so bright that Blade had to squint her eyes for a few seconds as they adjust.

The room was very dry with lots of gray sand on the floor. Blade wandered in the middle of the room and noticed that boulders were surrounding the edges of the wall. Bright crystals lined only the top half of the room and the ceiling. After a few glances of the room, the doors behind and in front of Blade closed. The voice appeared once more, with a very frighten task for Blade.

Your second test: Skill

Defeat the Stone Giant to continue. That is all.

"You-you-you- don't actually mean that I have to fight-"

Before Blade could finish her sentence, the door in front opened before her. A giant statue that was about fifteen times her size appeared before her with two axes; one in each hand. It made a growling sound and began the fight.

25 Chapters! Yes! I'm celebrating with a lollipop!

I always look forward to reviews!

These chapters really need some more work done