Chapter 9
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"So did you ever have any luck finding anything in your scrolls last night?" Sierra asked.

Rath shook his head. "No, unfortunately, I did not," he sighed.

"Do you think I'll ever get my memories back?" Nefertina asked softly as she took a bite of her blueberry muffin.

Lakira reached over and lay her hand gently on her friend's arm.

"Yes, you will. We'll find some way," Lakira said reassuringly.

Nefertina smiled faintly, then leaned back, gazing up to the sky. She closed her eyes for a moment, but she only saw the same blurred images as before. She sighed and opened her eyes again, turning to look at Rath. He took her hand gently into his gauntleted one, giving it a reassuring little squeeze and kissed her cheek.

"Hey, Rath! Nefertina!" a voice called out from behind them.

The Guardians turned and saw Presley walking towards them. They exchanged confused glances, wondering what he was doing there so early, but then shrugged it off as Natalie waved him over.

"Hello, my prince," JaKal said.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" Presley asked cheerfully as he sat down beside JaKal, dropping his backpack to the ground next to him.

"I believe the sky is up, brother," Sierra answered, keeping a completely straight face.

"Very funny, sis," he said, rolling his eyes.

"What brings you here this early?" Valeius asked.

Presley shrugged. "I didn't have school today, so I thought I'd see what you guys were up to," he said.

Then he noticed that Nefertina hadn't said anything since he'd joined them. He glanced over at her and realized that she was staring at him curiously, her head tilted slightly to the side.

"Any luck getting your memories back, Nef?" Presley asked hopefully.

Nefertina sighed, shaking her head. "No, not yet, Presley," she answered sadly.

"That sucks," Presley said sympathetically. Then, almost as an afterthought, "Hey, can I get your opinion on something?" he asked, digging through his backpack.

"Certainly, my prince," Rath replied as Presley pulled a small package from the bag at his feet.

"What is it?" Armon asked.

"Well, I kind of stopped on the way over here to pick up a birthday present for my friend Kiriana. I've been saving up the money for a long time to buy this for her," he replied.

With that, he opened the package and gently removed its contents, holding it up for all to see. From his hand dangled a lovely gold chain with an even lovelier charm that resembled a star made of emeralds set in gold.

"It's beautiful. I am sure she will love it," Sierra said with a look of understanding.

She had heard Presley mention this Kiriana girl several times before, and she could sense that her brother cared for her very much. And judging from the intricate craftsmanship of the pendant, it seemed only fitting, really, that it be given to someone who was close to Presley's heart.

"The craftsmanship is rather incredible, I must admit," Rath replied admiringly.

Presley nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I thought so, too. Emerald is her birthstone, so I hope she'll like it," he said.

"I'm sure she will, young prince," Valeius said reassuringly.

"Yeah. She'd have to be crazy not to love it," Nefertina piped up.

"Thanks, guys," Presley said, placing the necklace back in its box and slipping it into his backpack again.

But as he did so, he happened to glance over towards the park and saw Kiriana walking with her father. She seemed to be excited about something, though Presley couldn't hear what was being said. He had to admit, she looked rather beautiful today.

Her long, curly red-gold hair flowed down her back like waves of fire, her dark blue eyes sparkling like sapphires. She wore a light purple spaghetti-strap tank top that left her pale arms totally bare and a long light purple skirt that flapped around her legs in the gentle breeze.

"There she is. I'll be right back guys. I'm just gonna go say hi and give her this," Presley said.

With that, he grabbed the package, stood up, and h over to where Kiriana stood, talking to her father, Eric Caravello. Natalie and the other Guardians exchanged amused glances.

"Kiriana! Wait up!" Presley called out.

"Hey! What's up, Presley?" she asked as he approached.

"Not much. I, uh, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday," he replied.

"Aww...you're sweet. Thank you," she said shyly.

"Hello, Presley," Eric said, trying to hide a look of amusement.

"Hi, Mr. Caravello," Presley said cheerfully. Then, almost as an afterthought, "Oh! I have something for you, Kiriana. I hope you'll like it," he added.

"Really? What is it?" she asked.

But before he could give her the pendant, an ominous shadow passed by overhead. They looked up, but saw nothing. Presley was about to shrug it off as perhaps nothing more than a flock of birds or something, but then an annoyingly familiar voice suddenly shattered the peacefulness of the moment.

"Get them, my Shabties! Attack!" came Scarab's cry from behind them.

Presley gasped and whirled around, instinctively gripping Kiriana's hand in his protectively.

"What's going on?" Kiriana asked fearfully as the army of stone creatures surrounded them.

"It's Scarab! Old beetle-head just doesn't know when to quit!" Presley explained.

"Who the blazes is Scarab?!" Eric demanded as he just barely managed to dodge a blow from one of the Shabti.

"I'll explain later...that is...if we get out of this," Presley replied grimly, still clutching Kiriana's hand tightly in his.

"Umm...if anyone has any brilliant ideas, now is really not the time to be shy about it!" Kiriana cried.

With his free hand, Presley gripped his amulet. "Any time now, guys! Get over here and save our tuts!" he said desperately.

Back at the cafe, the Guardians' amulets started glowing and beeping frantically.

"The prince is in danger! Come on!" JaKal said, quickly standing up, nearly knocking the table over in the process. The others leapt to their feet as well, racing towards the park.

"WITH THE STRENGTH OF RA!" they chanted in unison, instantly transforming into their respective armor as they reached the battle.

Meanwhile, Scarab's stone army was closing in on Eric, Kiriana and Presley. Kiriana screamed as one of the Shabti reached out to grab her, but as it did so, it was suddenly shattered by a flaming arrow. With a gasp, she and Presley looked up and saw JaKal flying overhead in his gold and blue Horus armor.

Eric and Kiriana exchanged confused glances. Just who were these strange armored figures?

Rath and Nefertina fought back to back, Rath easily destroying them with his khepesh blade, Nefertina shattering them with her claws and her whip. Armon smashed any that happened to come close enough with his golden arm, JaKal contnuing to cover them from the air.

Natalie slashed at them with her blade, letting out a loud battle cry. Valeius shot bolts of silver energy at them while Sierra used her magic to destroy them, getting in a few good physical blows as well, as did Lakira.

As the stone army began to thin out a little bit, Presley spotted an opening that he was sure would allow at least Kiriana and her father to escape.

"Get out of here while you have the chance! I think you should both be able to make a run for it now!" he cried out, hurling his boomer-ra at one of the Shabti that was getting just a little too close to Kiriana.

"But what about you, Presley?! We can't just leave you here!" Kiriana exclaimed, a strange desperation in her voice now. She didn't want to abandon him there to possibly die. She couldn't!

"Kiri, now's really not a good time to argue about this! Don't worry about us! We'll be fine! Now go, while you still can! We'll hold them off so you can escape and meet up with you later!" Presley shouted over the din of the battle that still raged on.

"But-!" she started to protest.

"He's right, Kiriana. We won't do ourselves or anyone else any good by getting ourselves killed. Come on, they'll be all right," Eric spoke up, trying to reason with his daughter.

Kiriana merely stood there for a moment, torn. But then she seemed to make up her mind and gave Presley a quick kiss on the cheek, tears shimmering in her blue eyes as she reluctantly let her hand slip out of his comforting grasp.

"What was that for?" he asked, staring at her in confusion.

"Good luck. Please, be careful," she whispered softly.

Then she and Eric turned and ran deeper into the park, hoping to lose Scarab and his minions on one of the park's many twisting paths. Kiriana felt horrible. She couldn't stop thinking that she had betrayed one of her best friends, abandoning him to die while she ran away like a coward to save her own neck.

//Please be all right// she thought to herself desperately.




TBC...MWA HA HA!! Let me know what you think of it so far. Kudos.
~*Celestia Vitaria*~