Well, we're starting to near the end of my fiction… but it's not over yet!
And thank you, thank you all for those wonderful reviews! I won't
disappoint you!
Chapter 31
Yue and Kero slowly walked through the open door. They were confused. They didn't know how the door had opened, but it had. The room was very small and totally empty, except for a window, letting a little light in. It was only about 7 feet across. There was absolutely nothing.
The door behind them slammed shut and locked. "What do you make of this, Keroberos?" Yue asked. "I don't know. But I don't like it." There was a small clicking sound, and the floor gave way into two panels, dropping the two guardians through the floor. They spread their wings and landed unscathed into another small room. It was actually much larger than the previous room, but still rather small. The panel that had dropped them had sealed shut. Yue flew up, but another panel closed at the bottom of the shaft they fell through. Yue pushed hard on the panel. It was magically sealed. They couldn't even blast it open if they tried. They were trapped. This room, too, was empty. Except, there was another door, though another set of steel bars covered it, locking it shut tight. Also, on each wall, there was a small statue head of a lion roaring. They didn't know what to do. Kero noticed a tile on the stone floor was sticking up unusually high. He pressed his paw on it, and there was a small rumbling sound as the tile was pushed into the floor.
Elsewhere in the castle at the same time, Eriol was examining a similar door. "Master, are you sure there is no way to open the door?" Spinnel asked. "Yes, I'm quite sure. It has a magic seal. It's quite powerful. Not even I can open it." Ruby Moon giggled. "Why don't we just use Spinnel's head as a battering ram? It's hard enough. It should knock it right down." Spinnel growled. "Shut up or I'll…" "Quiet! Both of you!" Eriol snapped. "You're arguing isn't going to help us." There was a small rumbling, and the steel bars on the doors retracted and the door opened. Eriol, Spinnel, and Ruby Moon didn't know what happened, but the door had opened. They walked into the next room, confused.
Back with Yue and Kero, they were starting to examine the switch Kero stepped on. "It's the strangest thing. It doesn't do anything." Kero said. "I pushed it down, but the door didn't open." Yue thought aloud. "Why would Sadin put in a switch to the next room if there were no trap? Why wouldn't he give us a challenge? It's odd…" That's when things went bad. They heard a large rumble as the room began to shake. Hot lava spewed from the lion's head statues. The room would soon be filled! They flew to the top of the room and hovered there. They were trapped.
Eriol examined the room carefully. It was a strange room. It was very large, but it was very empty. The floor had many cracks in it, like it was repeatedly struck. He stared at the ceiling. It was very peculiar. At random points, the ceiling actually went upwards about 10 feet in the shape of a cube and then went back to normal. It was very weird. Spinnel stood next to him. "What do you make of it, Eriol?" Eriol pushed his glasses up. "It's a trap. I know it. I'm just not sure what…" Ruby Moon laughed. "Boys, boys, boys, this is an empty room. How can it be a trap?" Eriol saw the ceiling shake a little. He looked up and noticed he and Spinnel were sitting under one of the cubed shaped holes in the ceiling, but Ruby Moon was not. He charged and tackled Ruby back by about a foot. Ruby screamed, "What the hell is wrong with you, Eriol?! Why did you tackle me?!" That's when the ceiling collapsed, and they were safe in the small cubed hole. They looked up and saw that this wasn't actually a ceiling, but just a trap set to crush them. Ruby Moon's eyes were bulging. If Eriol hadn't pushed her back, she would be under that 10-foot slab of rock. Eriol jumped as high as he could, grabbed the edge of the rock, and stepped out on top. Ruby Moon did the same. No one said a word. They noticed the next sealed door wasn't covered in rock. They stepped over to it and dropped down. Eriol felt the ground under him drop down and click.
Yue and Kero were getting dangerously close to the lava as it inched closer and closer to the ceiling. Suddenly, the lava stopped rising, and began to drain. They gave a sigh of relief.
Sakura, Syaoran, and Natalie sat up against the small building on the roof. The door remained locked shut. They were bored stiff. "Syaoran, are you sure there is no way in?" Syaoran looked irritated. "For the fiftieth time…" There was a click, and the door slid open. "Ummm… I guess there is." He said. They entered, moments later, they ran screaming out of the room. Behind them was a huge rhino-like creature. It was covered in brown fur, and it had three horns on its huge head. It smashed right through the building and began to cast spells. Each of the three horns' magic came together in the center of its head and shot blasts of electricity at them. Natalie jumped to one side and gave it a blast of water, then fire. Neither spell had any effect. Sakura called the jump card and the sword card. When it began to charge up for another blast, she jumped forward and sliced the three horns as the demon fired. Sakura was hit and sent flying. The Sword Card was knocked from her hands onto the ground, and she slid to the end of the whole Syaoran had almost fallen in. The demon let out a fierce cry as the horns fell off its head. She had at least stopped the magic, but still, the demon starred her down. He stamped his feet, and charged at Sakura, who wasn't to her feet. The demon would send her barreling down the pit. And without her staff, she couldn't summon the Fly card, she would fall to her death. As the demon grew closer, Syaoran jumped and tackled Sakura to one side. The demon missed both of them, and instead fell itself to the ground below. All three of them stood and watched the beast fall out of sight. They walked through the hole in the wall into where the beast once was. There was a door, a switch next to the door, and… a treasure chest?
Syaoran sat down and tried hard to open the rusty chest. He pulled out a small orange crystal. "What is it?" Sakura asked. "I'm not sure, but I can feel it has magic in it. I'll keep it for later." He said, slipping it in his robe. He adjusted his halo, which was knocked offside when he tackled Sakura, and stepped on the switch.
Yue and Kero finally landed on the ground. The entire room was scorched from the lava, but it didn't get them, luckily. Now that the lava had all drained, they could walk safely. They saw the door unlock and open. They stepped through, and prepared to face whatever challenge lie ahead. The room was very, very strange. It was almost as if the room were upside down. The windows were upside down, the ceiling was tiled like the floors were elsewhere in the castle, torches hung the wrong way, and it was very weird. The only things on the same floor as them were a large stone and a locked door. Kero noticed a switch on the ceiling. "Yue, I think that's the next switch on the ceiling." He said. Yue flew to the ceiling and pushed on the switch as hard as he could. He strained his muscles as much as he could, but the switch wouldn't go down. Yue rested. "There is no way I can press this switch down…" He noticed the huge stone still on the ground. He got an idea. He pushed it across the floor until it was under the switch on the ceiling. "If I could just find a way to get this stone up there…" Kero noticed a small statue sitting on the ceiling in one corner. He floated up to it and looked. The statue was upside down, and in the center, there was a small red gem. Kero pressed the gem with his paw, and the castle began to shake.
Elsewhere in the castle, Sakura, Syaoran, and Natalie sat by the next door, waiting for one of the teams to get it opened. The ground began to shake, and they fell… onto the wall. The castle continued to shake, and they fell onto the ceiling. "What the hell is going on?" Syaoran screamed. Sakura and Natalie both landed on him. "I'm really getting tired of this…" Syaoran groaned. "Ummm… it feels like the entire castle is upside down." Sakura said.
Sakura was right. Back with Yue and Kero, the stone on the ceiling fell to the floor, or what was the ceiling, and landed on the switch, pressing it down. There was a click, and the door that was now on the ceiling opened up. They flew into the room, where there was a treasure chest on the ceiling and another locked door. They stared at both for a moment.
Meanwhile, the next door opened for Eriol. They stepped in. The room was very dark. They couldn't see much of anything. Eriol held out his staff that glowed with a golden radiance. It wasn't much, but they could see a small statue of a castle right side up next to them with a small gem in the center. Eriol pushed it in.
Yue continually stared at the chest. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. The castle began to turn again. Yue and Kero couldn't react fast enough and landed on their heads. Yue rubbed his head and sat up. "This is a very strange castle." He stood up and noticed the chest had opened by itself. Inside was a green stone, very similar to that of which Syaoran had found earlier. He picked it up. He could sense the magic inside it…
Eriol, Spinnel, and Ruby Moon floated gently to the new floor. Light now poured through the windows. They could see there was a hole in the ceiling, letting light through onto the floor. There sat a small mirror against the wall. On the opposite wall were two symbols covered in darkness. There was also another locked door. Eriol couldn't make out the writing of the symbols on the wall. So, he grabbed the mirror and stepped into the light from the hole in the ceiling. He aimed the mirror so the light hit the symbols on the right. When the light hit it, he read "Darkness." What did it mean? The symbols disappeared right off the wall. "Spinnel, what do you suppose this mea—ACK!" Eriol said, starting to choke. Spinnel and Ruby looked worried. "What's wrong?!" They asked. Eriol clutched his throat, gasping for air. They saw a shadow on the ground next to Eriol's shadow. It looked like a small shadow of a disembodied hand was almost attacking Eriol's shadow by choking it, but Ruby stepped up to Eriol and felt nothing was really on his neck. "What do we do?!" Ruby asked. Spinnel stared at Eriol's shadow, looking as though it were being choked. He got an idea and slashed the shadow of the hand with his claws. The shadow disappeared and Eriol collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. "S-s-s-some…thing… a- attacked me… I couldn't breathe… It… it was trying to sap my magic." Ruby and Spinnel looked concerned. But they had to go on. They let Eriol rest on the floor for a minute. Ruby grabbed the mirror and held it up so light shined on the next symbol, which read, "Light." The symbol vanished and there was a clicking sound. A chest materialized beside them. Eriol finally regained his poise and sat up. He reached into the chest and pulled out a small clue crystal…
Syaoran sat against the locked door on the opposite side of the castle. Sakura smiled. "Come on, Syaoran, sit with us!" Syaoran shook his head. "No way! Every time I sit near you, the castle moves and you girls land on top of me and I get hurt! Well, now I'm sitting over here where I can't get hurt." There was a click, and the door unlocked. The door quickly opened as Syaoran leaned against it. His head fell back and he hit his head on the floor. "Ow! Grrr… Someone up there has it in for me…" He stood up and they entered. Natalie gasped. "Kirei Kittie!" She ran up to a set of bars. They had found the dungeon. It was a rather bland room with two torches as the only source of light. There were two suits of armor on the wall, one carrying a battle-axe, the other with a sword and shield. The other prisoners gathered at their cells. A young girl, probably around 15 or 16 came to the cell smiling. She had short brown hair, with deep blue eyes. She was probably around 5'5." She gasped, "Oh, it's you, Nat! I'm so glad to see you! I see you got some friends!" Natalie smiled back. "I'm glad to see you, too! These are the Galactic Heroes! I… ummm… met them at the front of the castle!" Syaoran mumbled, "More like tried to kill us…" Kirei saw Sakura wearing her angel outfit and squealed, "Oh my God! Those outfits are so cute! Where did you get them?" Sakura smiled back. "Tomoyo gave them to us! The halos too! Do you like it?" Natalie laughed. "Like them? We love them! I gotta ask Tomoyo for one later!"
A sweat drop rolled down Syaoran's head as he listened to the girls talk about their clothes. "Excuse me, ladies, but do you think we can talk about clothes AFTER we kill the power-hungry sorcerer?" He asked sarcastically. They all blushed at once. "Heh… sorry, Syaoran." Sakura said, trying to smile.
Kirei Kittie gasped. "Look out!" she screamed and pointed behind them. Syaoran jumped on Sakura and Natalie and brought them to the ground. They looked up to see the armor with the battle-axe had come to life and swung at them. If Syaoran hadn't taken them to the ground, they' be a head shorter. The possessed armor raised it axe to slam it down, but everyone rolled out of the way. Syaoran drew his blade and struck the armor from behind as it pulled its weapon out of the ground, but the sword bounced right off. The demon turned its head towards Syaoran, and with one slap from its hand, it sent Syaoran flying into the other suit of armor. Syaoran grabbed the shield of that armor and headed for it again. The possessed armor swung its axe, but Syaoran's shield deflected it. Unfortunately, the armor shattered it with one blow. Natalie thought of something. "Sakura, get your sword ready!" Sakura nodded and drew out the Sword Card and summoned it. Natalie pointed her finger at the demon and fire raged off her fingertip. The metal armor began to heat up and glow crimson red. Sakura then came in, with the metal softened with the heat, and slashed the armor with her sword. The outer layer of the armor peeled off, and inside appeared a small chunk of metal connecting the head area and legs with each other, as well as a small green crystal. Syaoran sat up and grabbed his sword. He charged forward and hit the crystal with all his might. It shattered, and the possessed armor dropped to the ground.
Out of the armor rolled a small gray key.. Syaoran picked it up. He saw the lock on Kittie's cell and stuck it in. The door opened, and Kirei Kittie walked out. Syaoran went from cell to cell and released the mages. Sakura asked Kittie as Syaoran freed them, "Do you have that special stone that is supposed to unseal the door to get to the end of this shrine?" Kittie smiled. "Yep. They never found it on me!" She reached into her black mage shirt (which is what Natalie wore as well, like most of the mages, except for the blue mages, which wore the same thing, only blue.) and pulled out a bright red stone. "This is it!" "Alright!" Natalie and Sakura exclaimed together. The mages gathered in front of Sakura. "Thank you for saving us." One mage said. Sakura thought for a moment. "wait, how are you going to get out of here?" She asked. "Easy." Said one mage. We'll climb to the roof and jump. We know some spells that can get us down from this height safely." Kirei said, "Well, I'm coming with you! If Natalie is going with you, then so am I!" Sakura smiled. "Alright! Now, as for the rest of the mages, the roof is back that way! The rest of us, we'll wait by the door over here so we can go to the end of the shrine!" The mages ran one way, while Sakura and the rest of them ran to the door. Sakura saw the switch in the ground and hit it. The door slid open, and they ran down a long staircase.
Yue and Kero watched their door unlock, and they ran through.
Eriol's team ran through their now unlocked door as well. All three teams came together in front of a huge stone door. They met where each hallway and staircase came together. Eriol asked, "Sakura, I see you are all okay, but did you get the gem that opens the door?" Sakura held the gem out in her hand. They stood in front of a huge stone door. It had the design of a giant beast carved on the front of it. The dog had long horns, a spiky tail, and a long mane. One of its eyes had a red gem in it. It was just like the one Sakura had. She put the gem in the other eye. She gasped. The eyes… that look… just like all of her dreams… the door slowly opened…
To be continued…
Chapter 31
Yue and Kero slowly walked through the open door. They were confused. They didn't know how the door had opened, but it had. The room was very small and totally empty, except for a window, letting a little light in. It was only about 7 feet across. There was absolutely nothing.
The door behind them slammed shut and locked. "What do you make of this, Keroberos?" Yue asked. "I don't know. But I don't like it." There was a small clicking sound, and the floor gave way into two panels, dropping the two guardians through the floor. They spread their wings and landed unscathed into another small room. It was actually much larger than the previous room, but still rather small. The panel that had dropped them had sealed shut. Yue flew up, but another panel closed at the bottom of the shaft they fell through. Yue pushed hard on the panel. It was magically sealed. They couldn't even blast it open if they tried. They were trapped. This room, too, was empty. Except, there was another door, though another set of steel bars covered it, locking it shut tight. Also, on each wall, there was a small statue head of a lion roaring. They didn't know what to do. Kero noticed a tile on the stone floor was sticking up unusually high. He pressed his paw on it, and there was a small rumbling sound as the tile was pushed into the floor.
Elsewhere in the castle at the same time, Eriol was examining a similar door. "Master, are you sure there is no way to open the door?" Spinnel asked. "Yes, I'm quite sure. It has a magic seal. It's quite powerful. Not even I can open it." Ruby Moon giggled. "Why don't we just use Spinnel's head as a battering ram? It's hard enough. It should knock it right down." Spinnel growled. "Shut up or I'll…" "Quiet! Both of you!" Eriol snapped. "You're arguing isn't going to help us." There was a small rumbling, and the steel bars on the doors retracted and the door opened. Eriol, Spinnel, and Ruby Moon didn't know what happened, but the door had opened. They walked into the next room, confused.
Back with Yue and Kero, they were starting to examine the switch Kero stepped on. "It's the strangest thing. It doesn't do anything." Kero said. "I pushed it down, but the door didn't open." Yue thought aloud. "Why would Sadin put in a switch to the next room if there were no trap? Why wouldn't he give us a challenge? It's odd…" That's when things went bad. They heard a large rumble as the room began to shake. Hot lava spewed from the lion's head statues. The room would soon be filled! They flew to the top of the room and hovered there. They were trapped.
Eriol examined the room carefully. It was a strange room. It was very large, but it was very empty. The floor had many cracks in it, like it was repeatedly struck. He stared at the ceiling. It was very peculiar. At random points, the ceiling actually went upwards about 10 feet in the shape of a cube and then went back to normal. It was very weird. Spinnel stood next to him. "What do you make of it, Eriol?" Eriol pushed his glasses up. "It's a trap. I know it. I'm just not sure what…" Ruby Moon laughed. "Boys, boys, boys, this is an empty room. How can it be a trap?" Eriol saw the ceiling shake a little. He looked up and noticed he and Spinnel were sitting under one of the cubed shaped holes in the ceiling, but Ruby Moon was not. He charged and tackled Ruby back by about a foot. Ruby screamed, "What the hell is wrong with you, Eriol?! Why did you tackle me?!" That's when the ceiling collapsed, and they were safe in the small cubed hole. They looked up and saw that this wasn't actually a ceiling, but just a trap set to crush them. Ruby Moon's eyes were bulging. If Eriol hadn't pushed her back, she would be under that 10-foot slab of rock. Eriol jumped as high as he could, grabbed the edge of the rock, and stepped out on top. Ruby Moon did the same. No one said a word. They noticed the next sealed door wasn't covered in rock. They stepped over to it and dropped down. Eriol felt the ground under him drop down and click.
Yue and Kero were getting dangerously close to the lava as it inched closer and closer to the ceiling. Suddenly, the lava stopped rising, and began to drain. They gave a sigh of relief.
Sakura, Syaoran, and Natalie sat up against the small building on the roof. The door remained locked shut. They were bored stiff. "Syaoran, are you sure there is no way in?" Syaoran looked irritated. "For the fiftieth time…" There was a click, and the door slid open. "Ummm… I guess there is." He said. They entered, moments later, they ran screaming out of the room. Behind them was a huge rhino-like creature. It was covered in brown fur, and it had three horns on its huge head. It smashed right through the building and began to cast spells. Each of the three horns' magic came together in the center of its head and shot blasts of electricity at them. Natalie jumped to one side and gave it a blast of water, then fire. Neither spell had any effect. Sakura called the jump card and the sword card. When it began to charge up for another blast, she jumped forward and sliced the three horns as the demon fired. Sakura was hit and sent flying. The Sword Card was knocked from her hands onto the ground, and she slid to the end of the whole Syaoran had almost fallen in. The demon let out a fierce cry as the horns fell off its head. She had at least stopped the magic, but still, the demon starred her down. He stamped his feet, and charged at Sakura, who wasn't to her feet. The demon would send her barreling down the pit. And without her staff, she couldn't summon the Fly card, she would fall to her death. As the demon grew closer, Syaoran jumped and tackled Sakura to one side. The demon missed both of them, and instead fell itself to the ground below. All three of them stood and watched the beast fall out of sight. They walked through the hole in the wall into where the beast once was. There was a door, a switch next to the door, and… a treasure chest?
Syaoran sat down and tried hard to open the rusty chest. He pulled out a small orange crystal. "What is it?" Sakura asked. "I'm not sure, but I can feel it has magic in it. I'll keep it for later." He said, slipping it in his robe. He adjusted his halo, which was knocked offside when he tackled Sakura, and stepped on the switch.
Yue and Kero finally landed on the ground. The entire room was scorched from the lava, but it didn't get them, luckily. Now that the lava had all drained, they could walk safely. They saw the door unlock and open. They stepped through, and prepared to face whatever challenge lie ahead. The room was very, very strange. It was almost as if the room were upside down. The windows were upside down, the ceiling was tiled like the floors were elsewhere in the castle, torches hung the wrong way, and it was very weird. The only things on the same floor as them were a large stone and a locked door. Kero noticed a switch on the ceiling. "Yue, I think that's the next switch on the ceiling." He said. Yue flew to the ceiling and pushed on the switch as hard as he could. He strained his muscles as much as he could, but the switch wouldn't go down. Yue rested. "There is no way I can press this switch down…" He noticed the huge stone still on the ground. He got an idea. He pushed it across the floor until it was under the switch on the ceiling. "If I could just find a way to get this stone up there…" Kero noticed a small statue sitting on the ceiling in one corner. He floated up to it and looked. The statue was upside down, and in the center, there was a small red gem. Kero pressed the gem with his paw, and the castle began to shake.
Elsewhere in the castle, Sakura, Syaoran, and Natalie sat by the next door, waiting for one of the teams to get it opened. The ground began to shake, and they fell… onto the wall. The castle continued to shake, and they fell onto the ceiling. "What the hell is going on?" Syaoran screamed. Sakura and Natalie both landed on him. "I'm really getting tired of this…" Syaoran groaned. "Ummm… it feels like the entire castle is upside down." Sakura said.
Sakura was right. Back with Yue and Kero, the stone on the ceiling fell to the floor, or what was the ceiling, and landed on the switch, pressing it down. There was a click, and the door that was now on the ceiling opened up. They flew into the room, where there was a treasure chest on the ceiling and another locked door. They stared at both for a moment.
Meanwhile, the next door opened for Eriol. They stepped in. The room was very dark. They couldn't see much of anything. Eriol held out his staff that glowed with a golden radiance. It wasn't much, but they could see a small statue of a castle right side up next to them with a small gem in the center. Eriol pushed it in.
Yue continually stared at the chest. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. The castle began to turn again. Yue and Kero couldn't react fast enough and landed on their heads. Yue rubbed his head and sat up. "This is a very strange castle." He stood up and noticed the chest had opened by itself. Inside was a green stone, very similar to that of which Syaoran had found earlier. He picked it up. He could sense the magic inside it…
Eriol, Spinnel, and Ruby Moon floated gently to the new floor. Light now poured through the windows. They could see there was a hole in the ceiling, letting light through onto the floor. There sat a small mirror against the wall. On the opposite wall were two symbols covered in darkness. There was also another locked door. Eriol couldn't make out the writing of the symbols on the wall. So, he grabbed the mirror and stepped into the light from the hole in the ceiling. He aimed the mirror so the light hit the symbols on the right. When the light hit it, he read "Darkness." What did it mean? The symbols disappeared right off the wall. "Spinnel, what do you suppose this mea—ACK!" Eriol said, starting to choke. Spinnel and Ruby looked worried. "What's wrong?!" They asked. Eriol clutched his throat, gasping for air. They saw a shadow on the ground next to Eriol's shadow. It looked like a small shadow of a disembodied hand was almost attacking Eriol's shadow by choking it, but Ruby stepped up to Eriol and felt nothing was really on his neck. "What do we do?!" Ruby asked. Spinnel stared at Eriol's shadow, looking as though it were being choked. He got an idea and slashed the shadow of the hand with his claws. The shadow disappeared and Eriol collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. "S-s-s-some…thing… a- attacked me… I couldn't breathe… It… it was trying to sap my magic." Ruby and Spinnel looked concerned. But they had to go on. They let Eriol rest on the floor for a minute. Ruby grabbed the mirror and held it up so light shined on the next symbol, which read, "Light." The symbol vanished and there was a clicking sound. A chest materialized beside them. Eriol finally regained his poise and sat up. He reached into the chest and pulled out a small clue crystal…
Syaoran sat against the locked door on the opposite side of the castle. Sakura smiled. "Come on, Syaoran, sit with us!" Syaoran shook his head. "No way! Every time I sit near you, the castle moves and you girls land on top of me and I get hurt! Well, now I'm sitting over here where I can't get hurt." There was a click, and the door unlocked. The door quickly opened as Syaoran leaned against it. His head fell back and he hit his head on the floor. "Ow! Grrr… Someone up there has it in for me…" He stood up and they entered. Natalie gasped. "Kirei Kittie!" She ran up to a set of bars. They had found the dungeon. It was a rather bland room with two torches as the only source of light. There were two suits of armor on the wall, one carrying a battle-axe, the other with a sword and shield. The other prisoners gathered at their cells. A young girl, probably around 15 or 16 came to the cell smiling. She had short brown hair, with deep blue eyes. She was probably around 5'5." She gasped, "Oh, it's you, Nat! I'm so glad to see you! I see you got some friends!" Natalie smiled back. "I'm glad to see you, too! These are the Galactic Heroes! I… ummm… met them at the front of the castle!" Syaoran mumbled, "More like tried to kill us…" Kirei saw Sakura wearing her angel outfit and squealed, "Oh my God! Those outfits are so cute! Where did you get them?" Sakura smiled back. "Tomoyo gave them to us! The halos too! Do you like it?" Natalie laughed. "Like them? We love them! I gotta ask Tomoyo for one later!"
A sweat drop rolled down Syaoran's head as he listened to the girls talk about their clothes. "Excuse me, ladies, but do you think we can talk about clothes AFTER we kill the power-hungry sorcerer?" He asked sarcastically. They all blushed at once. "Heh… sorry, Syaoran." Sakura said, trying to smile.
Kirei Kittie gasped. "Look out!" she screamed and pointed behind them. Syaoran jumped on Sakura and Natalie and brought them to the ground. They looked up to see the armor with the battle-axe had come to life and swung at them. If Syaoran hadn't taken them to the ground, they' be a head shorter. The possessed armor raised it axe to slam it down, but everyone rolled out of the way. Syaoran drew his blade and struck the armor from behind as it pulled its weapon out of the ground, but the sword bounced right off. The demon turned its head towards Syaoran, and with one slap from its hand, it sent Syaoran flying into the other suit of armor. Syaoran grabbed the shield of that armor and headed for it again. The possessed armor swung its axe, but Syaoran's shield deflected it. Unfortunately, the armor shattered it with one blow. Natalie thought of something. "Sakura, get your sword ready!" Sakura nodded and drew out the Sword Card and summoned it. Natalie pointed her finger at the demon and fire raged off her fingertip. The metal armor began to heat up and glow crimson red. Sakura then came in, with the metal softened with the heat, and slashed the armor with her sword. The outer layer of the armor peeled off, and inside appeared a small chunk of metal connecting the head area and legs with each other, as well as a small green crystal. Syaoran sat up and grabbed his sword. He charged forward and hit the crystal with all his might. It shattered, and the possessed armor dropped to the ground.
Out of the armor rolled a small gray key.. Syaoran picked it up. He saw the lock on Kittie's cell and stuck it in. The door opened, and Kirei Kittie walked out. Syaoran went from cell to cell and released the mages. Sakura asked Kittie as Syaoran freed them, "Do you have that special stone that is supposed to unseal the door to get to the end of this shrine?" Kittie smiled. "Yep. They never found it on me!" She reached into her black mage shirt (which is what Natalie wore as well, like most of the mages, except for the blue mages, which wore the same thing, only blue.) and pulled out a bright red stone. "This is it!" "Alright!" Natalie and Sakura exclaimed together. The mages gathered in front of Sakura. "Thank you for saving us." One mage said. Sakura thought for a moment. "wait, how are you going to get out of here?" She asked. "Easy." Said one mage. We'll climb to the roof and jump. We know some spells that can get us down from this height safely." Kirei said, "Well, I'm coming with you! If Natalie is going with you, then so am I!" Sakura smiled. "Alright! Now, as for the rest of the mages, the roof is back that way! The rest of us, we'll wait by the door over here so we can go to the end of the shrine!" The mages ran one way, while Sakura and the rest of them ran to the door. Sakura saw the switch in the ground and hit it. The door slid open, and they ran down a long staircase.
Yue and Kero watched their door unlock, and they ran through.
Eriol's team ran through their now unlocked door as well. All three teams came together in front of a huge stone door. They met where each hallway and staircase came together. Eriol asked, "Sakura, I see you are all okay, but did you get the gem that opens the door?" Sakura held the gem out in her hand. They stood in front of a huge stone door. It had the design of a giant beast carved on the front of it. The dog had long horns, a spiky tail, and a long mane. One of its eyes had a red gem in it. It was just like the one Sakura had. She put the gem in the other eye. She gasped. The eyes… that look… just like all of her dreams… the door slowly opened…
To be continued…