Magic Knight Rayearth 3 Chapter 8
"I TOLD you, Umi, it's true!" Hikaru said in exasperation to Umi for the third time. "I know, but I just can't get over it. You two don't even look alike except for your faces maybe. But your hair just totally throws everything else off." "Well Umi, you don't always have to look alike when you're related. As you know, Hikaru's brothers' hair doesn't come close to Hikaru's red either, but they're still related. And there are other things that are similar," Shira explained. "For example, Yunari and Hikaru both seem to have that same energy. And they both apparently have strong magic here." "Yeah," Umi sighed. "I guess so. But still...WOW!" "UMI!" Hikaru half whined half laughed. Then, she turned around and said, "Isn't Umi being really weird, Yunari?" Nobody answered. "Uh, you guys? Where's Yunari?" Hikaru asked curiously. "Don't know," Diamond replied. "Haven't seen her." Shira sighed. "Wasn't she here a minute ago?" wondered Umi. "I wonder where she could have gone off to?" Fuu pondered. " Oh great. Well, maybe she went to get some food or something, so let's go down to the kitchen," Hikaru stated, pushing everyone out of her room and down the hall.
~*~
"Clef, what did you want?" Yunari called to him from across the study. "Oh, good- you're here," Clef said hurriedly. Yunari sat down on the floor as he cleared his throat. Neither of them noticed that someone was watching them carefully. "I have been informed by Umi that there was an attack at the party. From what I hear, your more grouchy wolf had been possessed, and had attacked Shira and the others, who had somehow phased from the dance floors right up to the balcony. I suspect that they summoned themselves there without noticing it because their hearts could sense the coming danger. Of course, none of you noticed that they had just appeared because everybody was too pre-occupied with..um...Karaka, right?" Clef asked, pausing. "Yeah. His name is Karaka, and my nicer one is Raika." Yunari said, correcting his memory. "Oh, right. Well anyway, I realized that two of the people who were attacked..namely, you and Shira...were totally defenseless. The reason? Neither of you were armed." "Huh?" Yunari blinked rapidly. Clef sighed. 'She is really out of it today,' he thought to himself. "What I mean is that neither of you had weaponry. Everyone else had a weapon, but they just didn't have the time to think of pulling it out. Normally, Hikaru and Umi would do that automatically, but they didn't have their armor or gloves with them. Therefore, they could not possibly summon their swords to aid you and Shira." "Oh, I get it...but what's your point?"
Clef sweat-dropped and face-faulted. Then, picking himself up, he replied rather crisply, "You need a weapon."
"Oh!" Yunari exclaimed. "Just one question..How? I don't have any Cephiran money let alone money at all, and I certainly can't make a weapon myself." "That's the thing," Clef began. "You are a Magic Knight. It is said in the more popular legends that three Legendary Magic Knights would get their weapons personally made for them. They would get them made out of Escudo from the Legendary Spring of Eterna. However, the correct legend states that the first three Knights would come first, obtaining their Escudo form the spring. Later, a fourth Knight would emerge, and that Knight would receive their Escudo from the place where their Magic had once left a mark upon Cephiro's face." Yunari sat and stared, eyes glazed over, listening to every word that left Clef's mouth. Clef continued quickly. "Your magic is Thunder magic, but you therefore also control the effect magic, Storm magic. Storm magic comes naturally with Thunder magic, but not every Thunder magic user can use Storm magic. Do you understand?" "Yes," Yunari replied. "Good. On the note of Storm and Thunder magic, there is only one place on the entire planet of Cephiro where your magic has left a ridiculously large mark. That place is Storm Crater. It is exactly nine miles South-east of this castle. You, being the fourth Knight, must journey there, retrieve the Escudo, and return here. When you do that, come tell me, and I will direct you about what to do next. My main point is, however, that I can sense evil somewhere nearby. And having this said, you need to leave for Storm Crater NOW. You can't even go get your sister and friends. You must leave right away. So, having that been said...go!" The eavesdropper ran off in the direction of the Grand Dining room. Meanwhile, Yunari got up, bowed to Clef, and left without another word.
~*~
"OK. It's really been long enough. I think I'm officially worried about Yunari right now," Hikaru said, jumping up from her chair. "I'm gonna go look for her." "No, don't go just yet," Shira said, grabbing Hikaru's left arm. "She might be looking for us. Eventually she'll find us here." "Shira's right, Hikaru," Fuu pointed out. "And anyway, if we DID look for her, even if we split up, we'd never find her. This castle is just too big!" "What if she's not in the castle?" Umi asked. "She's not ," muttered a smooth voice from the doorway.
Hikaru whipped around, drawing out her sword, but she gasped and put it away when she saw who it was.
"I'm so sorry, Kaoru! I didn't know it was you!" Hikaru exclaimed, running up to him. "And what do you mean, 'she's not here'? She has to be. Why would she want to wander off alone when all those monsters are here?" "Because Clef sent her out to get something," He replied coolly. "I don't what for. I'd been listening to Clef and Yunari talk, and I couldn't catch what he wanted her to get. But I do know where she's headed. If you want, I'll take you there. But I'm warning you ahead of time- you should all get about two bodyguards to come. Only two. Trust me, you'll need them. Take my word for it...I've had personal experiences." "WHAT do you MEAN? Why will we need BODYGUARDS? Are you FORGETTING who you're talking to?" Umi raged. But no one replied. Kaoru was gone. "Grrrrrrrr," Umi muttered. "How does he do that? It bothers me. Then again, HE bothers me," Diamond snorted, smirking at no one. "Yeah. He's a shady guy. He's hard to trust. But I still think we should heed his advice," Fuu retorted to Diamond. "So, who will we get to be our bodyguards, then?" "Lantis." Hikaru and Umi said at the same time. Hikaru gave Umi a strange look of betrayal. "What? He's strong! He's powerful! He's convincing! He's invincible! He'd be a GREAT bodyguard!" she protested. "OK. But who will be the other bodyguard? I don't think Ferio can leave this castle just yet." Hikaru pondered. "How about Lafarga?" Caldina suggested as she suddenly popped her head in the doorway, scaring the daylight out of the girls. "Well, isn't he busy? He's a father now!" Diamond pointed out. "Yeah, I know that Hun, but I'm taking care of the family business, and besides...Lafarga's been kinda bored at work lately...He needs some adventure in his life. And yes, Umi, I WAS listenin' from the hall," Caldina smiled at Umi, who was mouthing questions to Caldina form the corner of Hikaru's room.
"All right then. It has been decided. Lafarga and Lantis will be your bodyguards. And in the meantime, we'll have to guard their bodies from each other, 'cuz I'm betting they'll get in a squabble sometime, somewhere along the way," Kaoru said, suddenly appearing at the door again. The girls face- faulted when they noticed him there, and immeadiately, they all went to pounce on him as payback for scaring them twice. But before they could, he ran off, leading them to Lafarga and Lantis as they chased him.
~*~
THWACK! Twigs snapped and branches fell to the ground as Yunari fought her way through a thick forest eight miles South-East of the castle. She was forming a clear path of branches so she could find her way back after she retrieved what she was looking for. Following at her heels was Raika, who sometimes bit and scratched bushes and small sapling out of the way. "You know, Raika, I think we're making good time. That is, considering all the obstacles in our way. We've only been traveling for about one hour. We've crossed a huge field, a tiny desert, and now we're in a thick forest. Plus, we've defeated around five nasty-mean monsters, including one of those Minotaurian things." Raika barked and nodded as she continued. "Now, let's see here..we've got about 30 yards of forest to hack if Clef was correct about Storm Crater being exactly nine mile away." At this information, Raika growled viscously at the shrubbery and began biting away like a chain-saw cutting a tree. Yunari laughed and followed, until suddenly, an exit from the forest was cleared, and a beautiful picture was almost painted before them.
Spanning across a valley in front of them were a lake fed by a river, a cave where the river and the lake met, and a small forest and meadow across the lake. It was really quite beautiful, set in front of a large mountain, and it took Yunari's breath away. But, after a moment or two was spent gazing, Yunari realized that she was here for a reason: to obtain her golden-yellow Escudo. "Well, Clef did holographically tell me to go into a cavern in that lake, Raika. So, I'm guessing you can breath and speak normally in that water. It must have magical properties. Oh yeah..Storm magic created the lake crater and the lake, DUH! No wonder it's magical. Well, here I go, Raika. Wait for me here, OK buddy? Thanks." Yunari grinned at her wolf and then dove into the lake, clothes, armor, and everything else. Raika sighed, sat still for a moment, and then, noticing a familiar scent in the air, he walked off in the direction of the cave at the lake/river crossing.
~*~
Once under the water, Yunari realized that everything under the lake was just as beautiful as everything above the lake. There was a meadow of neon green water-grass, tons of colorful water-dwelling creatures, and a forest of seaweed. The seaweed was actually not slimy or nasty looking at all. It looked more like neon colored candy; neon blue and neon yellow were among the most frequently seen seaweed colors. Then, as Yunari stared on with wonder, her eyes caught a glint of golden-yellow light, coming from and underwater cavern at the bottom of the lake. Swimming towards it, she took deep breaths, happily dreaming of what her sword would look like once it was made.
Upon reaching the cavern, she swam inside, looking in awe at the beauty of the golden-yellow crystals lining the cavern walls. Touching it, she realized it wasn't Escudo, for it wasn't warping into the gem on her glove. Thinking it was the wrong cave, she began to swim out, but suddenly, out of nowhere a boulder appeared, blocking the entrance. Yunari gasped as she heard a clear but sinister voice speak in her mind, saying "The entrance will not be cleared for you until your test is cleared by you." Wondering what the voice could be, Yunari turned back, looking for another way out. All she found was a glint of light coming from a crack in the back wall. However, she chucked a big rock at it and the crack opened into another tunnel. As Yunari was swimming forward, however, she suddenly stopped swimming, gasping in surprise and horror.
There at the end of the tunnel, was a massive piece of glowing Escudo. But that wasn't what she was worried about. In front of the Escudo was Kaoru. His eyes were glowing brightly, and he had a very scary grin on his face.
"I TOLD you, Umi, it's true!" Hikaru said in exasperation to Umi for the third time. "I know, but I just can't get over it. You two don't even look alike except for your faces maybe. But your hair just totally throws everything else off." "Well Umi, you don't always have to look alike when you're related. As you know, Hikaru's brothers' hair doesn't come close to Hikaru's red either, but they're still related. And there are other things that are similar," Shira explained. "For example, Yunari and Hikaru both seem to have that same energy. And they both apparently have strong magic here." "Yeah," Umi sighed. "I guess so. But still...WOW!" "UMI!" Hikaru half whined half laughed. Then, she turned around and said, "Isn't Umi being really weird, Yunari?" Nobody answered. "Uh, you guys? Where's Yunari?" Hikaru asked curiously. "Don't know," Diamond replied. "Haven't seen her." Shira sighed. "Wasn't she here a minute ago?" wondered Umi. "I wonder where she could have gone off to?" Fuu pondered. " Oh great. Well, maybe she went to get some food or something, so let's go down to the kitchen," Hikaru stated, pushing everyone out of her room and down the hall.
~*~
"Clef, what did you want?" Yunari called to him from across the study. "Oh, good- you're here," Clef said hurriedly. Yunari sat down on the floor as he cleared his throat. Neither of them noticed that someone was watching them carefully. "I have been informed by Umi that there was an attack at the party. From what I hear, your more grouchy wolf had been possessed, and had attacked Shira and the others, who had somehow phased from the dance floors right up to the balcony. I suspect that they summoned themselves there without noticing it because their hearts could sense the coming danger. Of course, none of you noticed that they had just appeared because everybody was too pre-occupied with..um...Karaka, right?" Clef asked, pausing. "Yeah. His name is Karaka, and my nicer one is Raika." Yunari said, correcting his memory. "Oh, right. Well anyway, I realized that two of the people who were attacked..namely, you and Shira...were totally defenseless. The reason? Neither of you were armed." "Huh?" Yunari blinked rapidly. Clef sighed. 'She is really out of it today,' he thought to himself. "What I mean is that neither of you had weaponry. Everyone else had a weapon, but they just didn't have the time to think of pulling it out. Normally, Hikaru and Umi would do that automatically, but they didn't have their armor or gloves with them. Therefore, they could not possibly summon their swords to aid you and Shira." "Oh, I get it...but what's your point?"
Clef sweat-dropped and face-faulted. Then, picking himself up, he replied rather crisply, "You need a weapon."
"Oh!" Yunari exclaimed. "Just one question..How? I don't have any Cephiran money let alone money at all, and I certainly can't make a weapon myself." "That's the thing," Clef began. "You are a Magic Knight. It is said in the more popular legends that three Legendary Magic Knights would get their weapons personally made for them. They would get them made out of Escudo from the Legendary Spring of Eterna. However, the correct legend states that the first three Knights would come first, obtaining their Escudo form the spring. Later, a fourth Knight would emerge, and that Knight would receive their Escudo from the place where their Magic had once left a mark upon Cephiro's face." Yunari sat and stared, eyes glazed over, listening to every word that left Clef's mouth. Clef continued quickly. "Your magic is Thunder magic, but you therefore also control the effect magic, Storm magic. Storm magic comes naturally with Thunder magic, but not every Thunder magic user can use Storm magic. Do you understand?" "Yes," Yunari replied. "Good. On the note of Storm and Thunder magic, there is only one place on the entire planet of Cephiro where your magic has left a ridiculously large mark. That place is Storm Crater. It is exactly nine miles South-east of this castle. You, being the fourth Knight, must journey there, retrieve the Escudo, and return here. When you do that, come tell me, and I will direct you about what to do next. My main point is, however, that I can sense evil somewhere nearby. And having this said, you need to leave for Storm Crater NOW. You can't even go get your sister and friends. You must leave right away. So, having that been said...go!" The eavesdropper ran off in the direction of the Grand Dining room. Meanwhile, Yunari got up, bowed to Clef, and left without another word.
~*~
"OK. It's really been long enough. I think I'm officially worried about Yunari right now," Hikaru said, jumping up from her chair. "I'm gonna go look for her." "No, don't go just yet," Shira said, grabbing Hikaru's left arm. "She might be looking for us. Eventually she'll find us here." "Shira's right, Hikaru," Fuu pointed out. "And anyway, if we DID look for her, even if we split up, we'd never find her. This castle is just too big!" "What if she's not in the castle?" Umi asked. "She's not ," muttered a smooth voice from the doorway.
Hikaru whipped around, drawing out her sword, but she gasped and put it away when she saw who it was.
"I'm so sorry, Kaoru! I didn't know it was you!" Hikaru exclaimed, running up to him. "And what do you mean, 'she's not here'? She has to be. Why would she want to wander off alone when all those monsters are here?" "Because Clef sent her out to get something," He replied coolly. "I don't what for. I'd been listening to Clef and Yunari talk, and I couldn't catch what he wanted her to get. But I do know where she's headed. If you want, I'll take you there. But I'm warning you ahead of time- you should all get about two bodyguards to come. Only two. Trust me, you'll need them. Take my word for it...I've had personal experiences." "WHAT do you MEAN? Why will we need BODYGUARDS? Are you FORGETTING who you're talking to?" Umi raged. But no one replied. Kaoru was gone. "Grrrrrrrr," Umi muttered. "How does he do that? It bothers me. Then again, HE bothers me," Diamond snorted, smirking at no one. "Yeah. He's a shady guy. He's hard to trust. But I still think we should heed his advice," Fuu retorted to Diamond. "So, who will we get to be our bodyguards, then?" "Lantis." Hikaru and Umi said at the same time. Hikaru gave Umi a strange look of betrayal. "What? He's strong! He's powerful! He's convincing! He's invincible! He'd be a GREAT bodyguard!" she protested. "OK. But who will be the other bodyguard? I don't think Ferio can leave this castle just yet." Hikaru pondered. "How about Lafarga?" Caldina suggested as she suddenly popped her head in the doorway, scaring the daylight out of the girls. "Well, isn't he busy? He's a father now!" Diamond pointed out. "Yeah, I know that Hun, but I'm taking care of the family business, and besides...Lafarga's been kinda bored at work lately...He needs some adventure in his life. And yes, Umi, I WAS listenin' from the hall," Caldina smiled at Umi, who was mouthing questions to Caldina form the corner of Hikaru's room.
"All right then. It has been decided. Lafarga and Lantis will be your bodyguards. And in the meantime, we'll have to guard their bodies from each other, 'cuz I'm betting they'll get in a squabble sometime, somewhere along the way," Kaoru said, suddenly appearing at the door again. The girls face- faulted when they noticed him there, and immeadiately, they all went to pounce on him as payback for scaring them twice. But before they could, he ran off, leading them to Lafarga and Lantis as they chased him.
~*~
THWACK! Twigs snapped and branches fell to the ground as Yunari fought her way through a thick forest eight miles South-East of the castle. She was forming a clear path of branches so she could find her way back after she retrieved what she was looking for. Following at her heels was Raika, who sometimes bit and scratched bushes and small sapling out of the way. "You know, Raika, I think we're making good time. That is, considering all the obstacles in our way. We've only been traveling for about one hour. We've crossed a huge field, a tiny desert, and now we're in a thick forest. Plus, we've defeated around five nasty-mean monsters, including one of those Minotaurian things." Raika barked and nodded as she continued. "Now, let's see here..we've got about 30 yards of forest to hack if Clef was correct about Storm Crater being exactly nine mile away." At this information, Raika growled viscously at the shrubbery and began biting away like a chain-saw cutting a tree. Yunari laughed and followed, until suddenly, an exit from the forest was cleared, and a beautiful picture was almost painted before them.
Spanning across a valley in front of them were a lake fed by a river, a cave where the river and the lake met, and a small forest and meadow across the lake. It was really quite beautiful, set in front of a large mountain, and it took Yunari's breath away. But, after a moment or two was spent gazing, Yunari realized that she was here for a reason: to obtain her golden-yellow Escudo. "Well, Clef did holographically tell me to go into a cavern in that lake, Raika. So, I'm guessing you can breath and speak normally in that water. It must have magical properties. Oh yeah..Storm magic created the lake crater and the lake, DUH! No wonder it's magical. Well, here I go, Raika. Wait for me here, OK buddy? Thanks." Yunari grinned at her wolf and then dove into the lake, clothes, armor, and everything else. Raika sighed, sat still for a moment, and then, noticing a familiar scent in the air, he walked off in the direction of the cave at the lake/river crossing.
~*~
Once under the water, Yunari realized that everything under the lake was just as beautiful as everything above the lake. There was a meadow of neon green water-grass, tons of colorful water-dwelling creatures, and a forest of seaweed. The seaweed was actually not slimy or nasty looking at all. It looked more like neon colored candy; neon blue and neon yellow were among the most frequently seen seaweed colors. Then, as Yunari stared on with wonder, her eyes caught a glint of golden-yellow light, coming from and underwater cavern at the bottom of the lake. Swimming towards it, she took deep breaths, happily dreaming of what her sword would look like once it was made.
Upon reaching the cavern, she swam inside, looking in awe at the beauty of the golden-yellow crystals lining the cavern walls. Touching it, she realized it wasn't Escudo, for it wasn't warping into the gem on her glove. Thinking it was the wrong cave, she began to swim out, but suddenly, out of nowhere a boulder appeared, blocking the entrance. Yunari gasped as she heard a clear but sinister voice speak in her mind, saying "The entrance will not be cleared for you until your test is cleared by you." Wondering what the voice could be, Yunari turned back, looking for another way out. All she found was a glint of light coming from a crack in the back wall. However, she chucked a big rock at it and the crack opened into another tunnel. As Yunari was swimming forward, however, she suddenly stopped swimming, gasping in surprise and horror.
There at the end of the tunnel, was a massive piece of glowing Escudo. But that wasn't what she was worried about. In front of the Escudo was Kaoru. His eyes were glowing brightly, and he had a very scary grin on his face.