Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the plot line of
Escaflowne. I do own Narisia, Jewel, the new DS, Kat, Blue, and Rika. If
you'd like to use any of them, please ask me first.
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Yeah, yeah, the last chapter stunk, I know. But, what you all said about the power issues are fixed. Okay, so they weren't an issue in the first place. I just felt that I should give everyone a "sample" of the character's powers. Um, really the only super powerful people in this fic are Lacy, the Protectors, and of course, Jewel. Alright, the last of the characters have been added, and they are listed at the bottom. Have fun reading, and please review!
Chapter Twenty: Sources
Vince Draymar watched from the shadows of the window as his prey moved around inside. At the age of seventeen, he was the best mercenary that Zaibach had ever seen, let alone had. He pushed his short dark brown hair out of his icy blue eyes and slipped farther into the window. No one would be able to do that unless they had a sleek build, which-fortunately-he had.
Silently he made mental notes on how his prey acted, how she paced the room, how she moved, her stature, everything he could. It was very essential to him to gather everything he could on his prey before moving in. Only a novice would go in first thing. And he was no novice, at anything.
****
Jewel paced her room, sweet dripping from her brow. How long would it take them? How long would it take her? She sighed and rubbed her face tiredly. How long could she keep this up? Not very long, it was too stressful to keep everything silent. She couldn't keep it up; she had to brake…
Suddenly a spasm of pain washed over her, and she doubled over. "No, no…" she whispered weakly. God, where was Kat?! Hadn't she called her minutes ago? Another spasm of pain took Jewel away from her thoughts. "No," she said as a sudden blue ring was released from her body.
****
Kat's eyes flew open and she shot up into a sitting position. Her hand flew out and grabbed Dilandau's hand, which was by her. Dilandau, awoken by the sudden feeling of Kat's hand on his arm, shot up also. He turned and looked at Kat beside him. "What's the matter?" He asked her. "They're alive," she whispered.
****
The next morning everyone crawled into the mess hall. It was early in the morning, and they had a mission to do. It seemed like only yesterday they had two days off, but it had really been two weeks. "Oh man, what's WRONG WITH MY POWERS?" Cameron burst, pointing at an apple and trying to get to fly towards her. It didn't work, and the apple remained in place.
"I can answer that," Kat said as she walked into the mess hall. Everyone turned and looked at her. "All of your powers have been dampened. I don't know how, but I can tell you that you still have you powers, only they're not as strong as before."
"Are your powers…?" Sara asked hesitantly.
In reply Kat looked at the apple Cameron was trying to get and created an energy field around it. She lifted the apple into the air, and sent it flying towards Cameron. Cameron caught it and took a bit into it once Kat had let down the energy shield. "My powers aren't affected because I use Gaea's spirit as my source of energy. You all are born with the powers, so they operate on your energy. A simple spell of great power could easily dampen all of your magical capabilities without you noticing."
With that, she took an orange for herself and left the mess hall. But before she left she called over her shoulder, "Be in the hanger at nineteen hundred hours sharp!"
****
Nineteen hundred hours rolled by and everyone was assembled into the hanger as ordered. All fourteen of the Slayers were there, along with the Strategose, Dilandau, and Kat. Dilandau paced in front of his Slayers, who were lined up in front of their guymelefs.
"I want perfection in this mission. I want to see you all working your best, fighting and executing orders perfectly. I expect nothing less. Those who are worthy of being Dragon Slayers will come back alive with little or no injury. Those with serious injuries or who are dead will not be brought back." He stopped pacing and looked at them. "Understood? Then get into your guymelefs!"
Everyone obeyed orders. Kat followed Dilandau over to his red guymelef and stopped him at the base. "Are you sure you want to lead this?" She asked him quietly.
"Of course, I haven't denied the position to led one of these in a long time, and I don't intend to start now."
"Right. I'll be near, if you need me you know what to do."
"I doubt that we'll need you. But it's always a relief to have a guardian angel around."
Dilandau leaned in and kissed Kat good-bye. Then he returned to his guymelef and got in. "Alright, everyone move out! Alpha formation two zero nine three!" He yelled. Kat stepped back as he turned the guymelef around and walked towards to opening of the hanger. AS they reached the edge, he reformed the 'melef into its fly mode and flew off with the other right behind him.
Kat watched silently as the fourteenth unit left the hanger. She really hoped that they would make it back alive. Please Dilandau, call me if you get into trouble. Especially with Jewel with you, she thought as she turned and left the hanger with the Strategose.
****
Kat met with Vince later that evening. "So what did you find?" She asked him as they stood outside.
Vince gave a small smile. "Miss Jewel has refined herself to her quarters. She seems to be suffering from an unknown illness, at least one I can not identify. The symptoms include sweating, constant movement, hallucinations, spasms of pain at random times, increased heart rate, and sudden magical capabilities at random times."
"Good work. Follow her and keep an eye on her. If her eyes glow red and she seems to have an unidentified aura around her, get her away from the group as fast as you can and keep her busy until arrive. Understood?"
Vince nodded. Kat turned and walked back into the castle and Vince turned and walked away from the castle. Once inside the castle Kat went straight to her room and locked herself in it. She sighed and leaned against the door.
She couldn't believe what she was doing. It was insane, dangerous, and most of all endangered lives. "But I have to," she whispered to herself. She quickly changed the codes on the doors from the inside, locked Blue out on the balcony, and then set to work.
She cleared a space in the middle of the room and proceeded to set candles around her in a huge circle. Once they were lit, she took a small pouch from her belt and opened it. In it was a crimson powder; she poured the powder out of the pouch and onto the floor, creating a pentagram around her. Then she took another pouch, filled with a silvery liquid, and poured that in a circle around herself. When she was done with that, she sat down in the middle of the pentagram inside the fiery circle and closed her eyes.
Slowly she tuned out all the sounds around her, focusing only on the sound of her heartbeat. Then as her heartbeat became louder, she slowly chanted the ancient words filled with magic. She could feel it coursing through her, all of the magic the words held within them. She chanted them over and over, listening to her heartbeat and focusing on the words.
After a while a small black hole appeared above her, twisting and circling, growing larger every second. As it grew, the candles began to glow. Once each candle was glowing brightly, a beam of light shot up and connected together in the black hole. A strong wind picked up, twisting and screeching, becoming faster and faster. It swirled around Kat, the candles flickered, the black hole grew more, the beams of light became brighter. But still Kat chanted, raising her voice to be heard over the sounds.
Suddenly she opened her eyes, and whispered one word that wasn't heard. Instantly the beams of light started changing colors rapidly, the black hole flickered, causing lightning to strike within it, and the pentagram and circle also began to glow. Then, within the fiery circle, eight form of light appeared. They were hazy at first, but as things continued they became more defined and more life-like.
Finally the figures of Guimel, Miguel, Dallet, Viole, Chesta, Gatti, Alex, and Nicole appeared. Once they had formed the wind stopped, the candles were extinguished, the beams of light disappeared, and the black hole melted away. Kat stood up and embraced each of the people she had brought back. "Oh, I'm so happy you're all back! I thought you all had died!" She cried, tears forming in her eyes.
"Hardly!" Nicole said.
"See, when we 'died' Nicole and I were actually transferred to the same place that the Dragon Slayers were being kept, in a black hole in space. The Time Guardian that you have now was there, and he offered to relay a message. And he did. Oh, I'm so happy that we're back!" Alex said, almost in tears.
"I know that I had transferred the Dragon Slayer's souls to the black hole when Zaibach wanted the information about us and they had taken control of them, but I never dreamed that you would be there also! This is working out great! But come on, I need to explain to you why I brought you back." Kat said.
They all sat down and Kat explained to them about coming back in the middle of a battle from the white room. And about Jewel, how she was the Choice. And about the new Slayers and where they were on a mission and about her plan. Instantly everyone agreed. Alex gave Kat a half hug as they all stood to go. "Don't worry, you're doing the right thing," she told her. Kat nodded. I hope so, she thought.
****
"Glad you could make it," Kianna said to the new comers. One was a young girl, about fifteen, with mid-back brown hair, sapphire eyes, 5'3" and a nice figure. She was Ally. The other was an older girl, 5 feet with short dark blue hair, blue-green eyes, very thin, and not much muscle. She was 18 and known as Esse.
"Of course. Always willing to help out our country," Ally said. Suddenly fourteen guymelefs flew over them, making the sky vibrate with their wake. Vixen smiled, braking away from her spot by the fire (she was originally staring into it). "Looks like the hunt is on. Let's move."
*~~*
TBC…
Author's Note: Yeah! Alright, chapter 20 is finished! Thanks to all who have reviewed! And the last couple of characters have been picked! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the auditions, I had a lot of fun looking through the bios and picking characters! Now here are the final characters (some didn't make it into the chapter, but will be featured in later chapters).
DarkAni = Vince Draymar
Persephone of Abydos = Esse
Ally = Ally
Katsuhito Sage = Sage Kurai
KajitaniEizan = Eizan Kajitani
Fitz20 = Nausikaa Garufo
Thanks, and review please!
Author's Note: Hey everyone! Yeah, yeah, the last chapter stunk, I know. But, what you all said about the power issues are fixed. Okay, so they weren't an issue in the first place. I just felt that I should give everyone a "sample" of the character's powers. Um, really the only super powerful people in this fic are Lacy, the Protectors, and of course, Jewel. Alright, the last of the characters have been added, and they are listed at the bottom. Have fun reading, and please review!
Chapter Twenty: Sources
Vince Draymar watched from the shadows of the window as his prey moved around inside. At the age of seventeen, he was the best mercenary that Zaibach had ever seen, let alone had. He pushed his short dark brown hair out of his icy blue eyes and slipped farther into the window. No one would be able to do that unless they had a sleek build, which-fortunately-he had.
Silently he made mental notes on how his prey acted, how she paced the room, how she moved, her stature, everything he could. It was very essential to him to gather everything he could on his prey before moving in. Only a novice would go in first thing. And he was no novice, at anything.
****
Jewel paced her room, sweet dripping from her brow. How long would it take them? How long would it take her? She sighed and rubbed her face tiredly. How long could she keep this up? Not very long, it was too stressful to keep everything silent. She couldn't keep it up; she had to brake…
Suddenly a spasm of pain washed over her, and she doubled over. "No, no…" she whispered weakly. God, where was Kat?! Hadn't she called her minutes ago? Another spasm of pain took Jewel away from her thoughts. "No," she said as a sudden blue ring was released from her body.
****
Kat's eyes flew open and she shot up into a sitting position. Her hand flew out and grabbed Dilandau's hand, which was by her. Dilandau, awoken by the sudden feeling of Kat's hand on his arm, shot up also. He turned and looked at Kat beside him. "What's the matter?" He asked her. "They're alive," she whispered.
****
The next morning everyone crawled into the mess hall. It was early in the morning, and they had a mission to do. It seemed like only yesterday they had two days off, but it had really been two weeks. "Oh man, what's WRONG WITH MY POWERS?" Cameron burst, pointing at an apple and trying to get to fly towards her. It didn't work, and the apple remained in place.
"I can answer that," Kat said as she walked into the mess hall. Everyone turned and looked at her. "All of your powers have been dampened. I don't know how, but I can tell you that you still have you powers, only they're not as strong as before."
"Are your powers…?" Sara asked hesitantly.
In reply Kat looked at the apple Cameron was trying to get and created an energy field around it. She lifted the apple into the air, and sent it flying towards Cameron. Cameron caught it and took a bit into it once Kat had let down the energy shield. "My powers aren't affected because I use Gaea's spirit as my source of energy. You all are born with the powers, so they operate on your energy. A simple spell of great power could easily dampen all of your magical capabilities without you noticing."
With that, she took an orange for herself and left the mess hall. But before she left she called over her shoulder, "Be in the hanger at nineteen hundred hours sharp!"
****
Nineteen hundred hours rolled by and everyone was assembled into the hanger as ordered. All fourteen of the Slayers were there, along with the Strategose, Dilandau, and Kat. Dilandau paced in front of his Slayers, who were lined up in front of their guymelefs.
"I want perfection in this mission. I want to see you all working your best, fighting and executing orders perfectly. I expect nothing less. Those who are worthy of being Dragon Slayers will come back alive with little or no injury. Those with serious injuries or who are dead will not be brought back." He stopped pacing and looked at them. "Understood? Then get into your guymelefs!"
Everyone obeyed orders. Kat followed Dilandau over to his red guymelef and stopped him at the base. "Are you sure you want to lead this?" She asked him quietly.
"Of course, I haven't denied the position to led one of these in a long time, and I don't intend to start now."
"Right. I'll be near, if you need me you know what to do."
"I doubt that we'll need you. But it's always a relief to have a guardian angel around."
Dilandau leaned in and kissed Kat good-bye. Then he returned to his guymelef and got in. "Alright, everyone move out! Alpha formation two zero nine three!" He yelled. Kat stepped back as he turned the guymelef around and walked towards to opening of the hanger. AS they reached the edge, he reformed the 'melef into its fly mode and flew off with the other right behind him.
Kat watched silently as the fourteenth unit left the hanger. She really hoped that they would make it back alive. Please Dilandau, call me if you get into trouble. Especially with Jewel with you, she thought as she turned and left the hanger with the Strategose.
****
Kat met with Vince later that evening. "So what did you find?" She asked him as they stood outside.
Vince gave a small smile. "Miss Jewel has refined herself to her quarters. She seems to be suffering from an unknown illness, at least one I can not identify. The symptoms include sweating, constant movement, hallucinations, spasms of pain at random times, increased heart rate, and sudden magical capabilities at random times."
"Good work. Follow her and keep an eye on her. If her eyes glow red and she seems to have an unidentified aura around her, get her away from the group as fast as you can and keep her busy until arrive. Understood?"
Vince nodded. Kat turned and walked back into the castle and Vince turned and walked away from the castle. Once inside the castle Kat went straight to her room and locked herself in it. She sighed and leaned against the door.
She couldn't believe what she was doing. It was insane, dangerous, and most of all endangered lives. "But I have to," she whispered to herself. She quickly changed the codes on the doors from the inside, locked Blue out on the balcony, and then set to work.
She cleared a space in the middle of the room and proceeded to set candles around her in a huge circle. Once they were lit, she took a small pouch from her belt and opened it. In it was a crimson powder; she poured the powder out of the pouch and onto the floor, creating a pentagram around her. Then she took another pouch, filled with a silvery liquid, and poured that in a circle around herself. When she was done with that, she sat down in the middle of the pentagram inside the fiery circle and closed her eyes.
Slowly she tuned out all the sounds around her, focusing only on the sound of her heartbeat. Then as her heartbeat became louder, she slowly chanted the ancient words filled with magic. She could feel it coursing through her, all of the magic the words held within them. She chanted them over and over, listening to her heartbeat and focusing on the words.
After a while a small black hole appeared above her, twisting and circling, growing larger every second. As it grew, the candles began to glow. Once each candle was glowing brightly, a beam of light shot up and connected together in the black hole. A strong wind picked up, twisting and screeching, becoming faster and faster. It swirled around Kat, the candles flickered, the black hole grew more, the beams of light became brighter. But still Kat chanted, raising her voice to be heard over the sounds.
Suddenly she opened her eyes, and whispered one word that wasn't heard. Instantly the beams of light started changing colors rapidly, the black hole flickered, causing lightning to strike within it, and the pentagram and circle also began to glow. Then, within the fiery circle, eight form of light appeared. They were hazy at first, but as things continued they became more defined and more life-like.
Finally the figures of Guimel, Miguel, Dallet, Viole, Chesta, Gatti, Alex, and Nicole appeared. Once they had formed the wind stopped, the candles were extinguished, the beams of light disappeared, and the black hole melted away. Kat stood up and embraced each of the people she had brought back. "Oh, I'm so happy you're all back! I thought you all had died!" She cried, tears forming in her eyes.
"Hardly!" Nicole said.
"See, when we 'died' Nicole and I were actually transferred to the same place that the Dragon Slayers were being kept, in a black hole in space. The Time Guardian that you have now was there, and he offered to relay a message. And he did. Oh, I'm so happy that we're back!" Alex said, almost in tears.
"I know that I had transferred the Dragon Slayer's souls to the black hole when Zaibach wanted the information about us and they had taken control of them, but I never dreamed that you would be there also! This is working out great! But come on, I need to explain to you why I brought you back." Kat said.
They all sat down and Kat explained to them about coming back in the middle of a battle from the white room. And about Jewel, how she was the Choice. And about the new Slayers and where they were on a mission and about her plan. Instantly everyone agreed. Alex gave Kat a half hug as they all stood to go. "Don't worry, you're doing the right thing," she told her. Kat nodded. I hope so, she thought.
****
"Glad you could make it," Kianna said to the new comers. One was a young girl, about fifteen, with mid-back brown hair, sapphire eyes, 5'3" and a nice figure. She was Ally. The other was an older girl, 5 feet with short dark blue hair, blue-green eyes, very thin, and not much muscle. She was 18 and known as Esse.
"Of course. Always willing to help out our country," Ally said. Suddenly fourteen guymelefs flew over them, making the sky vibrate with their wake. Vixen smiled, braking away from her spot by the fire (she was originally staring into it). "Looks like the hunt is on. Let's move."
*~~*
TBC…
Author's Note: Yeah! Alright, chapter 20 is finished! Thanks to all who have reviewed! And the last couple of characters have been picked! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed the auditions, I had a lot of fun looking through the bios and picking characters! Now here are the final characters (some didn't make it into the chapter, but will be featured in later chapters).
DarkAni = Vince Draymar
Persephone of Abydos = Esse
Ally = Ally
Katsuhito Sage = Sage Kurai
KajitaniEizan = Eizan Kajitani
Fitz20 = Nausikaa Garufo
Thanks, and review please!