Chapter Five: The Secret of the Mage Mashin

As she sank below the surface of the water, Sakura became aware of the crushing pressure, and then the silent darkness. For a few moments, she had a hard time deciding that she was still in the Fountain, but then shook her head.

"I guess Umi-chan was right………………This IS a Weirdo Fountain." Sakura thought, as she stood up and looked around.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" Sakura asked, her voice echoing in the empty place. Then a footstep broke the silence. Whirling around, Sakura whipped out her sword and faced the stranger. She couldn't believe what she saw next.

"Oka-san?! What're you doing here?!" Sakura asked, stunned.

Meanwhile, outside of the Fountain, Yukito anxiously watched for trouble.

"Sit down, Yukito. You're pacing." Umi said, from where she, Hikaru, and Fuu now sat.

"Am I really?" Yukito asked, then looked a little embarrassed when he saw the track he'd been wearing into the ground around the Fountain.

"She'll be all right, Yukito-san." Fuu said, with her usual calm smile.

"I hope so. But we had Princess Emeraude help us out when we were undergoing Eterna's test." Yukito said, worriedly.

"If that's so, then who will help her?" Eagle asked, from his vantage point above the Fountain.

"I don't know." Yukito murmured, as he watched the still water with troubled eyes.

"Oka-san! I don't believe it! You're standing! Are you healthy again?" Sakura asked, overjoyed. The woman before her didn't answer, but instead threw a powerful blast of energy at her. Sakura cried out in pain as the blast struck her, and threw her into a wall.

"Oka-san? Why? Why did you attack me?" Sakura asked, stunned that her mother had hurt her. Again, the woman did not answer, and again she threw an energy blast.

"Oka-san, please stop! Don't you remember who I am? Don't you still love me? Oka-san!" Sakura cried, tears flowing freely down her face. She was bewildered, why was her mother hurting her?

"Magic Knight………………." A voice whispered.

"Huh? Who's there?" Sakura asked, tearfully.

"Magic Knight, brought from another world to help save Cephiro." The voice said again, as the owner of the voice appeared before her.

"Who are you? How do you know I am to become a Magic Knight?" Sakura asked.

"I am known as Ferio. Magic Knight, is this one before you truly your loved one?" the image asked, as he gazed at her with sad golden eyes.

"This is my beloved mother! From the time Onii-chan and I were born she's done her best to make sure that we had all the love she could give us. I want to repay her for all she's done and I want to see her get well! Both of my parents and my stupid brother are dear to me! Yukito-san too for that matter!" Sakura replied, strongly. Ferio smiled slightly at the mention of a 'stupid brother' and a slight glint of recognition came to his eyes when Yukito was mentioned.

"Then could this be your mother? Would she ever wish you pain? Would she ever want you to suffer?" Ferio asked, pleased with Sakura's answer.

"No! Oka-san would never wish me pain! This is not my mother!" Sakura screamed, then added, "Solar Rage!!"

With that final blast of power, Sakura obliterated the false image of her mother to reveal…………

"This…………………………Is this Escudo?" Sakura asked, as she gazed up at the golden, crystal-like substance that now floated above her.

"Yes. This is Escudo. You did well. Rejoin your friends, Sun Knight." Ferio said, then, with a golden flash, Sakura's Escudo disappeared into her glove, and she was transported back to the surface.

The four accomplished Knights and Eagle all jumped when a brilliant flash came from the Fountain, and Sakura emerged and floated over the surface. She had her eyes closed and her hands clasped into front of her chest.

"Sakura-chan!" Yukito and Hikaru shouted in unison. Sakura slowly opened her eyes, looked down, and smiled at them.

"Yukito-san! Minna-chan!" Sakura shouted, then happened to look down.

"HOEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" Sakura yelped, much to the amusement of her companions.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan. You're not going to fall back in." Yukito said, as he reached out his hand to her. After a few seconds of frantic scrambling in midair, Sakura calmed down and grasped Yukito's hand, allowing him to gently guide her back down to the ground.

"Quite the entrance, Sakura." Eagle teased, with a chuckle.

"Don't tease me, Eagle-chan." Sakura muttered, dryly, then took notice of her changed armor.

"Did your armor look like this when you came out, Yukito-san?" Sakura asked, curiously.

"It did. Only it had amethyst sets instead of amber. I wonder where Lantis-kun is?" Yukito mused.

"I have just arrived, Moon Knight." Lantis' voice said, as Lantis himself appeared on the scene.

"Lantis!" Hikaru cried, happy to see her loved one again.

"Good to see you too, Hikaru. Everyone……………!?" Lantis said, then stopped when he saw Eagle.

"Hello, Lantis." Eagle said, with a calm smile.

"By the Pillar……………………I-it can't be…………………Eagle is that really you?!" Lantis yelped, for once shocked out of his usual stoic façade. Eagle smiled again.

"Yes, it is truly me, in the flesh, as it were." Eagle replied.

"But I saw the FTO explode! How could you have survived that?!" Lantis asked, in disbelief.

"The silver Mashin known as Vision snatched me out of the FTO, healed my wounds, and told me that I was destined to don him. At first I didn't know what he meant, but then he showed me. I am alive because of him." Eagle said, trying to explain as best as he could.

"One of the two Mage Mashin…………………………that could only mean that you are the Silver Mage. Eagle, you are now a mage that rivals even Madoushi Clef and myself in power!" Lantis said, with almost reverence in his voice.

"A mage. So that is what I am now. I guess after what I went through to come to this moment, I can never go back to Autozam." Eagle said, with a sigh.

"Not to live. To visit, maybe, but not to live. They already consider you a dead man over there, anyway. Besides, you have someone here to return to." Lantis murmured.

"Excuse me, but how do you know Hikaru-chan?" Sakura asked, curious as to what connection this tall, imposing man had to the sprightly Hikaru.

"It's a long story. You must be the new Magic Knight Madoushi Clef had mentioned. We must hurry and get to the castle. All of the search teams will be returning there before dark and Presea will be waiting in the Creation Room." Lantis said, in an offhand way, then summoned a few more flying horses for the Magic Knights and newly named Silver Mage.

"We could follow in our Mashin, Lantis. Why are you doing this?" Umi asked, confusion written on her face.

"It would be too dangerous. With Eriol suddenly power-crazy and Suu Vision's attacks, the Mashin would stand out too much." Lantis replied, as they took to the sky, leaving Eterna far behind them.

"Fuu-chan?" Sakura asked, as she rode alongside the Wind Knight.

"Yes, Sakura-san?" Fuu replied.

"Does Ferio have green hair and gold eyes?" Sakura asked. Poor Fuu nearly fell from her horse in shock.

"How did you know that?!" Fuu asked, now paying full attention to Sakura.

"I saw him in the fountain. He told me that what I was seeing wasn't real." Sakura said, as looks of shock crossed the faces of the four accomplished Knights.

"If you saw Ferio-kun there, then I wonder where he is physically?" Yukito mused.

"He wasn't in the Water Dungeon. That was the first place Lafarga and I checked. I can only hope that Eriol hasn't trapped him somehow." Lantis said, as the castle came into sight.

"If he has, then Cephiro is in more danger than we had first thought." Umi muttered, as they all rode into the castle keep. Once they got there, Clef, Ascot, and Lafarga were waiting.

"Did you find any trace of him?" Lantis asked, getting shaking heads from all three for a response.

"It's almost as though he had disappeared from Cephiro completely. I can't sense him anywhere." Clef said, looking miserable at that moment.

"He's got to still be in this land, since Sakura saw him in the Fountain of Eterna, Madoushi." Eagle said, speaking up for the first time since they had left the spring. Clef looked at Eagle with an amazed look on his face.

"But how could this be?! Everyone in Cephiro either felt, heard, or saw your machine explode! How could you be standing here before me? It's not possible!" Clef said, in astonishment. Eagle chuckled.

"Yet I am here, Madoushi, and you can either blame or thank Vision for that." Eagle said, cheerfully.

"So the Mage Mashin are starting to awaken again……………….then it is no wonder why the Silver Mashin started appearing when Cephiro was in danger. It could well be that Ferio has been chosen by the second Mage Mashin." Clef murmured, looking gravely at Eagle as he said that.

"Clef, what are the Mage Mashin? Are they any different from our Mashin?" Umi asked, voicing the questions she and the other Magic Knights had.

"In some ways they are like your Mashin, Umi. And in some ways they are very different. Such as when you four had to travel to the shrines and prove yourselves worthy, the Mage Mashin take an interest in a few different people, then watched as they handled obstacles on their own. When the time was right, the chosen two were summoned to the shrines and given their magic, armor, and weapons by the Mashin themselves. Then they were told of their destiny." Clef explained, calmly.

"If that was the case, then Vision must have had incredible sight, if he was able to see me on Autozam. He has to have watched me through my entire life up until the point that the FTO was destroyed by Debonair. Then I was snatched from death and now stand before you as a mage." Eagle murmured.

"Yes." Clef said, then looked at Sakura.

"Come, I'll lead you to the Creation Room. Magic Knights, there are still others who would like to see you." Clef said, before he gently led Sakura away.

"See you later, Sakura-chan! And don't worry, Presea is really nice!" Hikaru shouted.

"Unless you happen to stumble into one of her Mokona traps." Umi muttered, remembering what had happened when they'd first met the Pharle of Cephiro. This got laughter from the other three Magic Knights and a confused look from both Lantis and Eagle.

The sight of the pearl-lined Creation Room amazed Sakura.

"This is where I will leave you. Don't worry, Yukito will probably be along in a while to see how things are going, since he was a little reluctant to let you go." Clef said, as Sakura blushed a little bit.

"Clef?" a woman's voice asked, coming from the other end of the room.

"Hello Presea." Clef said, as an elegant woman walked over to them, her expression warm, and vaguely worried.

"It's good to see you. I suppose there has been no word from Prince Ferio?" Presea asked.

"No. But there I have a vague idea as to where he might be. Anyway, this new Knight needs to have a sword made. She already has the materials." Clef said, as he motioned to Sakura.

"Indeed? And what might your name be?" Presea asked, kindly.

"Sakura." Sakura said, captivated by Presea's eyes.

"Sah-koo-rah? Another bizarre name. Are you from the same world as Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, and Yukito?" Presea asked.

"Hai! In fact, Hikaru-chan and I go to the same school!" Sakura replied, cheerfully.

"Yes, it certainly seems that you are from the same world, since you both share a bright personality." Presea said, then motioned to Sakura's glove.

"Show me what you have." Presea said. Sakura immediately complied, releasing the Escudo from her glove gem.

"Escudo. So you are the Sun Knight. You have come at the right time. Now I will begin work on your sword. You can either wait outside of this room, or you can stay here and watch. But you must be quiet, okay?" Presea asked.

"Okay!" Sakura agreed, as she stood and watched Presea begin forging the magical ore into a sword.

"Kirei…………………" Sakura thought, as the golden ore shone brightly, making her shield her eyes. Little did she realize that someone else was watching as well, and was about to cause trouble.

Yukito watched from afar as Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu reunited with Caldina, Syaoran, Innouva and Kerberos.

"Not into reunions, are you?" Lafarga asked, as he stood beside the teen.

"No, it's not that. I'm just afraid of Caldina-san's killer hugs." Yukito said, jokingly. Lafarga chuckled.

"I suppose she does get a little carried away. I wonder what is going to happen this time? Will Cephiro weather this storm?" Lafarga mused.

"I think it will. We just have to get to the bottom of things and try to sort them out. There has to be more to Eriol's change than meets the eye. By the way, where has Eagle-kun gotten to?" Yukito asked.

"I believe he's exploring the castle on his own. He's probably also looking for the Healers." Lafarga said, looking away when something impacted into the far wall.

"What was that?!" Umi yelped, turning and taking notice of the now charred wall.

"You mean you don't know?" a female voice said, as the owner emerged from the smoke.

"No…………………………no way………………." Hikaru muttered, not noticing that they were now surrounded.

"It's true, Hikaru. We were created just for you! Eriol-sama harvested your blood and made us." one said, this one immediately becoming identified as Nova.

"And who are the rest?" Yukito asked, keeping his sword inside his glove gem.

"I am Kokuyo, your shadow. I was created for you, Yukito." The only male among the four shadows said, with a wicked sneer.

"And I am Tenou. I was created from Fuu's blood." A green-haired one said, with a slight laugh.

"My name's Kaioh, and Umi is the one I came from." The last one said, smiling as she knocked the non-Magic Knights out of the circle.

"And now, you will die." Kokuyo whispered, in a voice filled with hate. With that said, a desperate battle for survival began.