Chapter 21 Friendly Rivals?
Disclaimer: I do NOT own CCS or BoF, so don't sue
me. I'm a poor student.
Lei's story…
"If you want to know about Worens, the first thing we
have to talk about is our history, of course." Lei began.
"Ugh, didn't I mention to you that I HATE history?"
Meiling replied.
"Yea, you already told me that, now if you'll allow
me to continue…" he said. "Well, we once were a clan, quite big if I might add.
Our clan, as you seen, is very skilled in combat of all kinds. Plus, we also
have the agility of a tiger, and the strength of one. The problem was, after
all, other people feared, and having a arrogant leader wasn't the best
combination you can hope for."
"What happened?" Meiling asked in curiosity.
"Well, the leader declared all out war against three
other different clans, not the smartest thing to do mind you." Lei replied.
"Before we knew it we were at war with three clans, at first we were winning
because of our superior strength and use of it."
Meiling nodded. "History never been so
interesting before." She thought to herself.
"Then of course, they began to take advantage of us,
since it was a three on one battle. Plus, Woren's are known to be hotheads."
Meiling growled. "Is that where I got my temper
from?"
"Quickly, we were getting beat, and our land kept
decreasing, soon enough, we had to go with unconditional surrender. Then we became
a very small tribe, we tried to lay as low profile as we could."
"Oh…" Was all Meiling could reply.
"Until of course, Katt the great feline Woren
warrior appeared and changed that. She assisted in the ultimate defeat of the
demon Deathevens. Then our clan was starting to shape up more."
"Really?" Meiling said wide eyed with excitement.
"Oh yes, then the Woren tribe leader Cray, has also
assisted in helping the destined ones out, also made the new alliance of the
Woren and Wing (Wynida), and Woren and Brood (Dragon clan). Then it seemed like
our clan finally shaped up." Lei continued.
Meiling nodded again. "So, what was this 'were
tiger' thing you were talking about?" She asked a little confused.
"It's an inner ability. When you get really angry,
all the energy in you release makes you stronger and faster. Only problem, you
go berserk after staying in that form too long, and pretty soon you will attack
the first thing that you see that's moving."
"And you awoke me to transform me into THAT? You
know how dangerous that would be?" Meiling yelled.
"I wasn't expecting THAT to happen. I'm not STUPID!
I was trying to make sure the info my friend gave me was correct."
"What info, what friend? You tried to KILL be back
there!" She responded yelling.
"Well, my friend told me a Woren female was coming
to visit! I suspected it was you, so I wanted to make sure." He shouted back.
"By trying to KILL me, you could have asked!" She shouted back.
"Did it LOOK like you knew?" He shot back
angrily.
"Well…er…" Meiling searched frantically for a
comeback she found none.
"Well, well…" a playful sound
rang in both of the arguing duo's mind. "Looks like Woren's DO have a hard
time keeping they're temper."
They both turned back and said the same thing at the
same time. "CHAOS??"
* * *
"So, what are you doing around here, Chaos?" Lei
asked.
"Wait, wait, wait. You know Chaos?" Meiling asked.
"Yea, he was the 'friend' I told you about." He
replied. "You know him too?"
Meiling nodded affirmative.
"Well, I was just in the neighborhood, but I'm not
the only one who's here…" The dragon replied.
"Huh?" Lei asked.
Just then Sakura, Tomoyo and Eriol walked in.
"Chaos, don't you ever knock?" Sakura asked when she came in.
Lei chucked. "He never learns, I wasn't expecting
you old friend."
"I figured we can use all the help we can get plus I came
if our friend Meiling has found you yet." Chaos
said.
"It took some time, but I
managed to find her just in time." Lei
said.
Sakura shirked as she saw
Meiling "Meiling what happened to you? You have fur all over you!"
"Well…" Meiling mumbled.
"I found out just now that I was a Woren."
"Do I have any normal
friends?" Sakura grumbled to herself.
"Obviously not. But that goes
for all of us." Meiling replied simply. "By the way, why did you dye your hair
blue, Sakura?"
"I didn't dye it, it
changed to blue." She replied. "You think I would be dumb enough to dye it?"
Meiling decided not to
answer that question, it seemed like a good idea at that time not to. "How did
it 'change' blue?"
"Long story, basically, I learned more about my
destiny…" Sakura trailed off.
Meiling nodded.
"If you're all ready, we should get going." Lei
said.
"Another thing that hasn't changed… is your
impatience, Lei." Chaos chuckled.
"Shut up, Chaos." Lei responded.
Meiling jumped out of bed "At least let me prepare,
Lei." She said.
"I might as well get ready too." He responded as he
gave Meiling a slight nod.
"You mean you're NOT ready?" Meiling growled.
Lei nodded. "Then why in heaven's name are you
rushing us for???" Meiling screamed.
"Uh, yea, that's right I should get ready too, eh?"
Lei said, feeling really dumb at the moment. The others shook they're heads in
disbelief all slightly amused by the turn of events.
Chaos sighed. "Everyone else ready?"
Meiling took a second to glance in her bag to see if
she missing anything, and she was not. Satisfied, she gave a little nod and threw
the bag over her shoulders. "I'm ready." She said.
Sakura shrugged, she never got the chance to settle
down so there was no reason for her to get ready, she was already good to go.
Tomoyo and Eriol also looked at the whole scene with
confusion. Chaos told them this was going to be a 'quick' visit. Well, so much
for quick. However, it was also nice to see Meiling again.
Finally, Lei was ready. Chaos made a silent motion
that they should get going, none of them argued and started to head back to the
'base'.
* * *
Things were not going well, at least not this time. The enemy must have been holding back all those time. This attack was much more fierce. Ylsa sighed, the enemy was pushing them back further then they wanted, forcing them to give them the upper hand.
Ylsa was fighting off a three skilled swordsman, normally it wouldn't give her too much trouble, but these guys were fighting like they shared one mind. She gave Li a quick glance making sure he was okay.
Li on the other hand faced only one opponent. She wore a black robe with bat wings sticking out of them. She looked very frail but appearances can be very deceiving. Her skill with the Chinese long sword was beyond good. Li found himself in quite evenly matched.
Kero and his brother Kerus, found themselves in quite a mess also. Although Kerus had great skill, and Kero unbelievable strength, they were hopelessly outnumbered. The sheer number of opponents were enough to keep them at bay.
Yue and Touya weren't doing much better, whoever these attackers were they knew what they were doing.
Ylsa finally killed her opponents and proceeded to help Li. She thrust her energy sword at the opponent only to have it parried away skillfully. Ylsa gasped at the enemy, she hasn't seen anyone that can parry with such skill.
With two on one odds the girl was holding out pretty well. She was forced into the defensive but it didn't seem that they were getting any hits in. She did a back flip and then with a swift motion shot a few quick projectiles at them.
Li quickly dodged out of the way. One of them bounced off the ground and toward Ylsa. Ylsa caught it in between her fingers. It was a sewing needle, long and thin. "The flower needle?? Oh no!"
"LI! BE CAREFUL!! DON'T GET HIT BY THE NEEDLES!! THEY COULD KILL YOU!!" Ylsa yelled.
Li dodged another needle, just to find another one coming straight at him… he quickly picked up a vase to block, just to discover that it went through the vase and grazed his arm. Li winced in pain.
"What the heck is that?" He mumbled.
"It's a secret technique, the flower needle." Ylsa explain panting. "The user can easily put a lot of force inside sewing needle making it hit vital pressure points. It was at first used for assassination, but this is a modified version of it."
The winged lady gave a sly smile. "So, you know recognize it. Good, now the real fun can begin." She shot out another barrage of needles, this time with threads attached to them. Li and Ylsa quickly dodged most of it, but the lady taking this opportunity lashed her sword out at Li, injuring his leg.
Ylsa held her sword up. This wasn't easy, this opponent was like no other. She was very skilled.
On the other side of the battle field, Kerus plugged his spear into another enemy, killing it, but it seem no matter how much he killed more happen to appear. Kerus sighed as he lashed out at another enemy sending him flying. "I could use my magic, but I would be overwhelmed right after it."
Kero clawed his way out trying to get an opening. They were seriously outnumbered. He didn't know how much longer this could hold out. Yue already carried an unconscious Touya out safely tending his wounds and struggling to protect him.
Li backed away from another attack, turning into a dragon wasn't the best option right now since he needed to reserve as much strength as possible. Ylsa on the other hand was getting tired also, the winged female however wasn't even close to tired.
"Is she made out of steel or something?" Li thought to himself.
The bat winged lady laughed. "Well, looks like this is it… any final words?"
"YES!" A voice said from nowhere a blur came by and knocked the sword out of her.
A tiger like human stood in front of Li and Ylsa, wearing a Chinese Tai Chi outfit.
"Miss me?" She said to Li.
"Meiling??" Li gasped as he saw Meiling.
"Long time no see cousin, and when I finally do see you, you're trying to get yourself killed! I can't leave you alone for a moment." Meiling replied smiling.
Li gulped. "When did you arrive?" He asked, looking at the semi-familiar figure.
"Well, just now. And it looks like I come just in time too…" Meiling responded. "However, I'm not the only one that's back."
As in cue, a storm of Cherry Blossoms rained down slashing at the unexpected enemies. Within them, the rest of the group was standing there, Sakura, Chaos, Tomoyo, Lei and Eriol were standing there.
"That's some fancy entrance…" Kero said to himself.
"Well, looks like you have that technique under control." Eriol scoffed.
"Still can use some improvement, I took some time to practice it." Sakura responded. "Anyways, let's deal with this mess first eh?"
Everyone else responded with a silent nod. And fanned out to assist there friends.
Chaos distinctively went toward the group that needed the most 'help' as he rushed to Yue's aid. He felt something unlock within himself while the wind orb glow bright green. He found out suddenly that he could use his wind elemental magic. It wasn't something his area of mastery but he knew enough of it. He silently summoned a savage twister that blew many of the attackers away.
Lei rushed through a bunch of enemies swing his twin daggers wildly. Destruction grew as he dashed through another group of unsuspecting foes.
Eriol quickly summoned his staff and started to help out Kero and Kerus. Throwing a bunch of mid level spells at the enemies. Now that the rest of the group has come back it was a much more even match.
Meiling, Li and Ylsa seem to fair pretty well against the bat winged girl. However, it seemed that they could only barely match the enemy. Her flower needle was also something that was keeping them at bay. The mastery of this particular technique seemed to make her near invincible.
Tomoyo opened up her fan with great skill. Covering it with a few charges of water magic, which she recently learned through Eriol she caused a wave of ice that engulfed a group of foes.
Sakura summoned her rapier and started to use the "Sakura Slash", she was much better at the technique but she could use the practice. Enemies flew everywhere while thousand of Sakura petals hit they're mark.
* * *
Yue and Chaos looked at their 'work or art' it seemed that most of the enemies were fleeing. Chaos tilted his head in deep thought, something was coming whether he liked it or not. He tired to shake off the feeling but it was doing no good.
"Chaos…" A dangerous voice said. Chaos felt a chill go up his spine. He didn't even need to turn back he already knew who it was. He can be half asleep and still recognize that voice.
Chaos slowly turned toward the speaker, a massive (Compared to Chaos) black dragon stood there. He had massive black wings and an evil glint in his eyes. He had a look of arrogance in him. He held a huge sword that was even bigger than Chaos himself.
Chaos gritted his teeth "Why now??" he thought to himself. "Look here, can we forget about this? I mean holding a grudge for a hundred years isn't going to get us anywhere." He 'said'.
The big figured laughed. It was a loud hoarse laugh. "Forget about it? Why that wouldn't be fun anymore. Plus, is that anyway to treat your best friend?" He swung his sword a few times to 'prove' his point.
"Still hung up on that, eh? However, I know you do not attack on that is in a handicap situation, what was the word you used…ah yes, it wouldn't be honorable." There was a hint of mockery in his voice.
"I don't see how you're handicapped, young one. So, the rules of honor won't affect this match. Defend yourself!" The dragon said.
"Why do I always get myself into this mess?" Chaos wondered. "First, Funagni and now him! Everyone's out to kill me these days." He didn't have time to finish his thoughts when a slice of the opponent's sword cut him off.
The Black dragon continued to attack, slice after slice after slice. Chaos dodge all of them while trying to find a way to get out of the mess he got himself in.
"Why aren't you fighting back? Or are you too much of a coward to do so?" he taunted.
Chaos dodged another blow that the dragon launched. He was about to dodge but instead the sword hit pure metal, a loud clang was hear in result of this. Chaos quickly looked who had blocked the blow.
It was Sakura, she was holding her rapier with great mastery. "Guess the death card affected her more than I thought it would." Chaos thought to himself.
"If you think you'll get away from hurting my familiar you are sadly mistaken." Sakura said firmly.
"How dare you interfere with my revenge young women. I will have your blood…" The dragon growled.
"No, leave my mistress out of this, it's just between you and me, you worthless pile of dung." Chaos tried to get him to focus more at him, therefore making him forget about Sakura.
Unfortunately, he didn't budge, and was still attack Sakura, who was fairing well against him. Chaos sighed, he didn't want to do this but he had no choice now. He proceeded in taking out a sword, he prayed that this would work and lashed out. A razor like wind head straight to the beast slicing a part of his claw. The dragon howled in pain and dropped his sword. Sakura used this opportunity to give him a deep cut in his chest.
The dragon backed down. His eyes flared with anger. "That was low, even for you old friend."
"You left me no
choice, I wasn't about to let a third party get involved, much less my
mistress. This is only between you and me." He tried to put an emphasis on
YOU and ME.
"How did you
learn how to use a sword, for all your life your mastery was always the art of
magic and sorcery." He snarled.
"I was watching
someone fight, and when I did I discover they rely on Chi a great deal to
manipulate the ways of they're battle. I figured if I could use my magic the
same way, I probably can at least defend myself if need be. Then after that it
just kept on developing. Of course, it still can't compare to using Chi but it
works." Chaos explained "Now, heed my warning if you do as much as
touch my mistress I will tear you apart if it's the last thing I do… do you
understand?"
"Yes, I will
keep my word for not hurting her however this is NOT over. I have overstayed my
welcome or so it seems. I will retreat for now, but you can count on me coming
back." He said.
"EVERYONE
RETREAT!!" The enemies all perked up and then everyone ran.
* * *
Later…
Sakura sighed. The whole group was cleaning up the mess since the long battle.
"Ylsa, is there a way I can learn that 'flower needle' that we saw today?" Li asked Ylsa as he scrubbed some blood off the floor. Suddenly, a few sounds of laughter could be heard in the background. Li turned to see Eriol, Chaos, Kerus all unable to hold they're laughter.
"What??" He asked annoyed.
Ylsa smiled. "That technique is for women. Plus, you'll have to be really good at sewing and other things. Still want to try?"
Li's face became red as a beat. "Uh…er…"
Sakura looked in confusion "What is this about 'flower needles'?"
"It's a deadly technique which uses sewing needles as little darts that hit you in various pressure points." Ylsa explained. "A master of it can easily kill some one with one flick with they're fingers."
"But, how did she manage to make it that powerful? That needle went through a vase for heavens sake!" Li exclaimed.
"Yes, it did… that's nothing new. I once saw one that went through steel. It's a Chi empowered move. In one hand you have the people who use mage, like Chaos and myself. Then there are the warriors that use brute strength, which is least of our worries. Then there are the warriors that use 'Chi' it's a way to make your attacks stronger. However, the dark dragons figured a way to use magic in place of Chi, which is what you saw Chaos do. In any case, we have to be careful now that we know that there are power warriors in the opponents side." Ylsa explained.
"Chi eh? So, how are we going to counter such a move then?" Li asked.
Ylsa chuckled. "Well, that would be the least of our worries if they know where we are." She dragged another body to Sakura.
Sakura sighed. "Yea, any ideas Chaos?" She asked as she used some holy magic to dispel the souls to rest."
"Not really, Sakura-san. But, I'll come up with something, soon." He replied confidently.
Tomoyo grimaced. "Choas-kun, what's wrong? You something seems to bothering you." She asked as she cast a water spell to clean the walls.
"Nothing, Tomoyo-san." Chaos said shrugging.
"Your not convincing me Chaos-kun. I know there's something wrong." She said a little more firm tone.
Chaos smiled. "I'm fine, I just remembered where to find the Oracle of Water. I think we should pay her a visit sometime."
"Hmmph." Tomoyo grumbled. She just knew there was something else, however, it didn't seem like Chaos was willing to share. She let out a deep sigh. "Better talk to Sakura-chan about this sometime." She thought to herself.
* * *
Sakura's Room…
Sakura plopped on her bed. She was totally exhausted after the 'unexpected visitors'. She slowly closed her eyes and immediately fell asleep.
Sakura's Dream…
I was crying again. I don't quite remember why I was crying but it was cause of a decision that my parents made. I made a quiet decision to eavesdrop on my parents tonight. Something told me that they were going to talk about something important, so as quiet as a mouse I sneaked up to they're bedroom and listened.
"What are we going to do about the curse?" A masculine voice asked.
"I don't know dear, but one thing is clear, we have to think about the best for Nina." Her mother replied.
"Yes, I agree. However, I'm not sure what we can do to stop this nonsense. Maybe we should ask Eriol tomorrow and see what he can come up with." The King replied.
"Good idea, if there's anyone who knows about curses, it'll be him." The Queen responded.
Cursed? I'm cursed?? I thought to myself quickly. No wonder they forbade me to see anyone. I'm cooped up in this darn castle because I'm cursed? It's not fair! I didn't asked to be cursed, why should I be the one to suffer because of it?
She silently made a decision. She would talk to Eriol before her parents get a chance to. She would ask him about this curse herself.
End Dream
Sakura woke up suddenly. She shook her head. "I have
to stop having these dreams. It's going to affect me too much."
Chaos perked up, "Don't say that, Sakura-san. Dreams often reminds us about things that we don't remember. It's like a diary, just that it never answers in a direct way."
Sakura mentally slapped herself. Having someone that can partially read your mind around is going to take some getting used to.
Chaos gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I can only read things that you want me to read, as weird as that sounds. So, I don't think that you have to worry about me knowing about your secrets." He said.
Sakura nodded slowly. "So, Tomoyo-chan tells me something is bothering you. Chaos, I want you to be honest with me, because if you are not, I can't help you."
Chaos sighed. One of the first rules of being a familiar is that you can't lie to your master. So, he couldn't exactly say "Nothing is wrong." Anymore, that would be a flat out lie. "It's just about that black dragon we faced today."
"What about him?" Sakura looked very concerned.
"He, was my best friend, at least at one time…" Chaos 'said' sadly.
"Best friend? Then why the heck was he attacking you?" She asked.
"Was, Sakura-san, he was my best friend until the incident." He responded.
"Incident?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Yea, an incident that can end a friendship forever." Chaos replied.
"What kind of incident?" Sakura pressed on. I'm going to get to the bottom of this if it's the last thing I do.
"Long story, I'll tell it to you sometime if you like." Chaos avoided the question.
"Why not now?" Sakura asked.
"Cause, now we better get ready for Tomoyo-san to met the Water Oracle." Chaos replied.
"Why Tomoyo?" Sakura asked.
"Because, Tomoyo is probably the best attuned to water than most of us. She probably has the best chance against the Water Oracle." He explained.
"Very well, let's get the move on then." Sakura said smiling.
End of Chapter 21
Addition Disclaimer: The flower needle was a technique borrowed from kung-fu novels that I know of.
A word from the author:
Well, first of all I would like to thank all my friends that helped me through this project. It come a long way ever since I got that slight idea of making the X over. So, again thanks for helping me out. I would also like to thank all the people who review this fic, it helps me go in the right direction. If you have any addition question, comments, feel free to email me at Dragonofkhaos@yahoo.com. Thanks!