Chapter 17: Fight for Rebellion
Sunrise was coming. As the eastern sun began to rise, a shadow figure appeared in the middle of the sun. In all his glory, the sun around him shined light throughout the entire mountain and the lands below it. The dark shadows of the night quickly cleared up with the sun reaching the sky. Touya pulled out his machete, giving a glaring light shine in the sun. Touya looked behind him, he saw his sister Sakura, ready, Syaoran, ready, and his army, ready. Everything was in place, Touya could hesitate no longer, the Forbidden City was just ahead. "ATTACK!!!" Touya commanded as the flurry of the army rushed down the mountain with their horses.
Tianjin:
Morning had come, and the last people in the city rushed into their houses as the Imperial army walked into the city with their white armors and helmets. The reflection from the sun showed that these soldiers were "pure" because they wore the garment. But the white armor only further obscured their dark intentions. When the army had stopped, they had landed in front of a restaurant with many foreigners in the front, as if they were waiting for them. Vung bravely stepped out in the front line and confronted the men.
"What seems to be the problem here that the Imperial Guards have to be part of this?" Vung asked the general. "We have had word that this is where the rebellion and the foreigners are held, we will dismantle you for treachery against the empire." Vung bravely looked at her other fellow foreigners. The women and children were crying. The men, disappointedly looked at Vung for what she was going to do.
"You can't do this!" shouted Mao, "You can't Lady Tien these men are dangerous." Vung slowly brushed Mao's hand off of her arm. "I must do this; it is what Lung would have wanted." The soldiers all confused, did not know what she was talking about and demanded at once to know. "I know you are here for me," Vung said courageously, "I am the wife of Tien Lung Da, and I bear his two children to be born soon. I know you don't want his bloodline to live, so I am offering my life for theirs."
With this statement, all the soldiers were startled by her offer. "You mean, if we let your pathetic foreigners live, you will let us do whatever we wish to you?" the general asked just to make sure. Vung nodded in agreement, which quickly got protests from Khana and the rest of the foreign women. "You can't do this Lady Tien!" Khana cried, "Our life, our survival depends on you ever since Lung died." Vung closed her eyes, trying to swallow up the courage to give herself away. "You will be alright!" she said, "I will always be with you, just as Lung is with you everyday." Vung bravely faced the general and picked her head up high and straightened her shoulders. "General, I am ready to give myself to you."
The general and the soldiers all thought this was too easy and got excited. "Ohh boy," he said sickly, "Now we can have fun before we kill you." The soldiers all perversely got off their horses and surrounded Vung, breathing heavily on her hair. But before they could do anything to her, the general had to have his pleasure first; he got off his horse and approached Vung face to face. Taking his rough hand, he brushed the side of her hair tenderly, and touched her cheek on her face. Vung closed her eyes, and whispered something.
"What?" the general asked, hearing her whisper. She whispered again and this time backed away. Suddenly, a spinning axe flew right across Vung's face, cutting off the general's hand. The blood from the general's hand splattered all over Vung's face, with pure content, she proceeded to getting her part of the battle done.
"Ahhhh!" the general screamed as he tried to press on his hand to soothe it. Suddenly, Vung grabbed one of the soldiers around her and broke his arm, the others soon came towards her and she attacked each one with such grace and pain, that they all fell on the floor in a matter of seconds. Vung took each soldier surrounding her and tossed them around like rag doll opponents. When she was finished tossing them over on the ground, she snapped her fingers.
Around the Imperial guards, the other half of Lung Da's rebel force appeared everywhere: in windows, on the roof, came out of doors, dug grounds, completely surprise attacking the entire army. The general, still crying and bleeding endlessly from the chopped hand, was escorted up to his feet by the other soldiers. "Are you okay general?" one soldier asked. Vung looked pitifully at all the soldiers and the general. "Such pitiful people," a voice called, "trying to molest a widow for pleasure and thinking you can get away from it, I think not!" Suddenly, Min went to go pick up his axe which was wedged to the ground.
Vung smiled and looked at all the soldiers lashing out their swords. "Are you here to die as well Min?" one soldier asked, "Aligning yourself with the rebels, why do this?" Min pulled out his axe in his left hand, and his whip in the other. "For the sake of my daughter, no, for the sake of Sakura, I must keep her alive at all costs; I fight for being her guardian." The general with his hand chopped off was bandaged up, but still felt the pain from the clean cut.
"Men…" he said weakly, "Kill Min and Lung Da's wife, kill them all, make sure there is no more rebellion." Vung snapped her fingers. "Try and mess with this!" Vung signaled for the rest of the rebels to come out, Mao and Jao led this second force. "Alright people, let's make history!" Jao shouted as both armies clashed.
Desert Before Forbidden City:
"Shit…" Touya muttered racing on his horse as he was running away from other horse men, "They ambushed us!" Sakura and Syaoran raced on their horses as well, while looking back and shooting magic and arrows respectively. "Those horsemen are plopping like flies," Syaoran said, "But they're still coming!" Sakura and Syaoran continued to have their horses race as they continued shooting the enemies behind them.
"Arrow!" Sakura called from a card she pulled out. Immediately, a ton of arrows shot out and hit each enemy in their armors and make them fall off their horses. Touya and the rest of the rebels kept on racing forth, even though the enemies on the horses were down. "We need to get to Forbidden City!" Touya said with determination, "Come on everyone race faster before another set of the army ambushes us." "Too late!" a voice snapped. Suddenly, around the whole group of rebels, people started popping out of the sand at lighting speed.
Touya stared at them amazed at how fast these opponents were. "Who are these guys?" Touya asked still looking at their lighting fast moves. Syaoran tried to get a good image of them, but they moved too fast to see what they were wearing. As soon as they began to slow down, Sakura and Syaoran both saw dark robes with a hood covering the forehead and a Chinese symbol for "magic" written on their forehead. "The magic sect!" Syaoran said with a harsh tone. In an instant, Touya looked around and saw they were surrounded by these magicians with staffs pointing out at them. "Surrender now, or die in peace," the head magician said, "We are here to protect the emperor from your savage attacks, leave now or face our unstoppable sorcery!" Sakura got off her horse and began walking towards the center of the circle. "Sakura what are you doing?" Syaoran asked frantically. "Magic must defeat magic!" Sakura replied, "These magicians, they are all corrupt under the new rule of the emperor, I wish to cleanse their souls!" The magicians all looked at Sakura with humor, "You a little girl defeat all of us?" the magicians began to laugh, "We think not!"
Sakura concentrated on harnessing all her powers on the new staff she had received from Clow Reed. "Clow Reed…" she said as she closed her eyes and began to pray, "…Please Clow, you may not be alive, but please, lend me your power, lend me your hope, I must unleash good magic upon them." The magicians all were sick and tired of waiting for Sakura to show her how to "cleanse their souls", so the lead magician took out his rod and called for an enchantment spell. "Spirits of fire, earth, metal, water, and wood," the magicians started all raising their staffs in the air and continued with the chant, "Lend us your powers to make a force of destruction, bind all those rebels and foolish girl, to an eternity of unrest to make them swirl…" With the combination of their enchantments, they began to create a circle made around the magicians and a central vortex above Sakura. "Sakura!" Syaoran shouted as he ran in front of Sakura still praying.
Suddenly, out of the vortex, it began to shoot out lighting bolts and rocks of fire. The rebels looked in awe, "We're done for!" a rebel said quickly trying to retreat, but the ring of magic encased them. "Sakura, do something!" Touya commanded. Sakura was still praying, "Sakura?" Touya called again. "Sakura!?" Syaoran cried out trying to wake her up. "Sakura!" called a voice in Sakura's head. Sakura, feeling the rocks and thunder coming towards them acted quickly. "SHIELD!" Sakura quickly activated the card's power by tapping it with her rod. As the fir rocks and the thunder rushed toward each person, they were encased by a shield, which protected them from the effects of the thunder and the fire rocks. "Let's see just how powerful you magicians are…" Sakura pulled out two cards this time and tapped the first one with ease.
"Light!" she called out. At first, nothing significant was happening, but soon, a spirit of white light came out and burst into a huge sphere of light like an atomic bomb, destroying everything dark and evil, the light broke away the magical barrier surrounding them and destroyed the vortex. Through the huge flash of light, the magicians all were blinded. Sakura took this time and quickly tapped the other card. "Dark!" she called out. Suddenly, under each magician, there appeared individual holes. The magicians wiped their eyes and finally saw a hole forming beneath them. "No!" they all shouted as they began to get sucked into oblivion. Sakura, controlling her magic was sucking them into the holes, until she stopped when it sucked everything but their heads.
As soon as Sakura stopped, the whole rebel force saw her amazing power. All the magicians were buried under the sand, with the exception of their head. "Such power!" the magician said. "Let's go everyone!" Sakura commanded as she got on her horse. Touya and the rest of the rebels looked at her with their gaping mouths open. "Well?" Sakura asked, "Are we going or not?"
Syaoran climbed on top of his horse, "Come on, let's go we need to make haste if we want to get to the Forbidden City." With that, every rebel kicked the side of their horses to advance further. The Forbidden City was getting closer as they began to make haste.
Sakura Narration
As we continue to make our way to the Forbidden City, I look around myself and I see that we are all prepared. Some people may think that we may not win, which is what the rebels think will be the outcome, they think we can't win. But there is hope, and for sure, I want to make this lost dream become reality. I want to see that family that I saw in my dream, I want to be with Syaoran, and finally, I want a better place for us to live, a China where me and my brother can finally make all our dreams come true.
As I advance further toward the Forbidden City, many things worry me. Like how do we fight a force of 13,000 men and more? Another thing that worries me is what Clow-sifu is truly doing now. Is he alive?
End Sakura Narration
As Sakura's mind races through a series of worries and anticipation, they finally reach the gates of the Forbidden City. Everyone is getting off of their horse and grabbing their supplies for the final assault. Touya, with his machete and bag on his back began to look at all his men behind him. "Are you all ready men?" Touya asked to confirm their vigor, "There is no turning back after this, are you all ready?" Everyone raised their arm in the air and shouted out with power. "Yes sir!" Touya was proud to see such an enthusiastic crowd, "Then it is settled, we're gonna make history today…" All of the sudden, the two large doors which opened up to the Forbidden City popped open. "I think not!" replied a strong voice, "Today will mark the death of the rebels."
Soldiers were all lined up in the door with huge spears on their arms; apparently they were ready for the oncoming assault of the rebels. "Attack them!" ordered the man in the back. Touya, anticipating that they would try to ambush them again, gave a howling roar. "AWWWWOOOOOOOO!!! Everyone duck this instant!"
Suddenly, everyone ducked as the oncoming assault of the soldiers came rushing out to attack them. As soon as the soldiers set foot outside the gates, they were shot in the head and plopped to the ground. "What the?" said the commander, "How is this possible?" All of the sudden, Touya and the rest of the rebels crawled their way into the gates, while taking their weapons to trip any soldiers coming out to attack them. "Those marksmen we hid on the hill were a good idea Touya," Syaoran commended, "But I don't think they'll last that long if they run out of bullets."
"Then we must hurry," Touya said, "Everyone, quick haste, let's get into the Forbidden City now and attack without mercy!"
Tianjin:
"Dammit, now they're messing up my restaurant!" Vung said disappointed as she had an Imperial guard in a headlock. Surprisingly, the outnumbered force at Tianjin was doing pretty good handling the Imperial guards, who were trained in handling eliminating these kind of rebellions. The fight which broke out at Tianjin now took place inside the Tong An, Lung's priceless restaurant. Across the entire room, chairs, tables, and benches were all being broken, but such was a small price to pay to defeat the Imperial guards. Everyone had their handle on the guards, handling them with ease, especially with Min's brawling techniques; he managed to handle even the toughest warriors.
Vung, although pregnant, didn't know how long she could last without hurting the babies, but she had to try and put in some effort to defeat the guards. "Man," she said behind a counter as she knocked a guard out, "These guys just don't know when to quit!" She knocked out a few more using a frying fan to the face for three soldiers who tried to climb the counter.
Min dealing with five men at once, used his whip to tie one up. "Such weaklings!" he said as he spun the tied up man around to attack the other foes. "When I was general, you guys were much stronger." Min pulled one man who tried to attack him from behind, "Where's the honor in attacking someone from behind," he said as he delivered a knee to his gut.
Everyone else was doing their share of defense. Khana and the other girls were pouring hot water as the soldiers tried to enter, Mao and Jao both double teamed numerous guards, and the other rebels did their best to fend off the intrusion. "Lady Tien," Jao told Mao, "I am worried about the Lady; she can't go on fighting like this!" Mao understood what he was saying and immediately abandoned his partner to join Vung alongside on the counter.
"Lady Tien," he called, "I must escort you out of here, you can't go on fighting like this!" Exhausted, Vung grabbed Mao's hand and followed him as best as she could upstairs. Suddenly, a man shot an arrow to Mao's back. Mao stumbled on the stairs and tripped. Immediately, Vung attended to Mao, "Mao, are you alright?" "Get her!" soldiers called out. Vung looked up and saw she was being followed by three guards, all killing people in their path to get to her.
"Damn!" she cursed, "I'll be back Mao, just live on for a little bit!" Vung stood up on the stairs and took a fighting stance. "I'm not running away now, I'll take you all on!" Each soldier came up one by one trying to attack her, but she quickly dodged every sword swing despite her condition. After every miss of their weapons successfully hitting her, Vung kicked them off the stairs, rolling down and falling on their head.
Scared, the other two guards quickly took their leave. "Retreat!" they both yelled, and looking around to see how badly the Imperial guards were being beaten, they had to retreat. Retreat however, was not as easy as they anticipated, because Min was blocking the exit, and if they wanted to get out, they would have to get through the skilled veteran. Trying to fight their way out, Min easily handled them all, and if some were lucky to reach the exit, they were immediately burned by the hot water being poured from Khana and the other girls.
Having no recourse left, the soldiers waved the white flag in the air. "Surrender!" they all shouted. Finally, the battle was won, and all who were in the restaurant rejoiced.
Forbidden City:
Touya and the rebels had finally reached the inside of the Forbidden City, where they were met by a barrage of soldiers attacking them on sight. Syaoran and Touya fought off the front lines. "This is hard work!" Touya said, "Tell me about it!" Syaoran agreed. A soldier tried to get Syaoran from the back, but Syaoran turned around and blocked his sword with his. He then kicked him in the stomach and cut him in the arm, making him fall down and clutch onto his arm. Touya dealt with 3 men all using long reach weapons against him. Spears and staffs came out from everywhere trying to strike him, but Touya managed to block every single hit. Until a fourth man coming from behind whacked Touya's back.
Losing his balance, the three men took their weapons and aimed it at Touya. "SHIELD!" Sakura screamed out as a protective barrier surrounded Touya. "SWORD!" Sakura jumped into the scene and cut all their weapons down to size. "FIGHT!" Sakura using her fighting skills, knocked out all the three men by chopping them in the neck. "Sakura watch out!" Touya pushed Sakura aside and used his machete to stab a man with a sword, ready to strike Sakura. "Thanks onni-chan!" Sakura thanked, "Watch yourself!" Touya cautioned. Sakura nodded in agreement and stared at the fortress that was the Forbidden Palace.
Sakura Narration
That's the Forbidden Palace, I have a strong feeling that Wuji is there. I must punish him for all the lives he has taken. And besides, Clow-sifu, if you are alive, could you be in there? That's it, I need to find out now, I need to find Wuji and Clow, I need to win this war! "JUMP!"
End Sakura Narration
Sakura jumped throughout the crowd of people, finally reaching the steps to the Forbidden Palace. "I'm sorry brother," Sakura apologized looking back at the battle, "But I must fight this alone!"
Syaoran saw Sakura jump above the crowd, then he saw her enter the Forbidden Palace. "Sakura!" Syaoran called out trying to stop her, "Don't go by yourself." Syaoran was busy fighting off the army as they tried to beat him, his former soldiers; all from the combat unit was attacking him. "Please my friends, I need to pass, let me reach Sakura!" Syaoran tried to reason with his former allies.
"You traitor," the soldier replied, "First you betray your people, now you wish us to bow before you?" Syaoran was busy fighting off this man who was using metal pipes to fight him. "I don't wish to fight my friends, please don't make this hard on me!" The man didn't listen and only continued fighting. Syaoran finally finished the fight by using his sword to repel his two metal pipes and then giving him a roundhouse kick to the face.
"Yaaaahhhh!!! Traitor!" Syaoran looked before him, and saw his fate. A whole army of his former companions was rushing to attack him. Syaoran stood with his sword ready to attack. "Hallllt!!!!" a roar called out, "This puny little man is mine!" From the shadows, he appeared, the beastly sick ravage man, Huang. Syaoran put his sword back into his case. "Okay, rematch!" Syaoran said as he cracked his neck and took a fighting stance. Huang was wearing something different today; his clothes were at the rank of a general's. "I, the new general Huang will defeat you, and when I am finished with you, I will use your bones to pick my teeth!" Huang gave a devilish smile. "That is if you can catch me!" Syaoran challenged as he saw Huang get ready his fighting stance.
Syaoran charged in, when he got close to Huang, Huang tried to grab him, but Li using his quickness rolled under his monstrous arms and tried to hit the calves so he could fall down. However, Huang only turned around laughing at Syaoran, "Was that supposed to hurt?" Huang challenged as he picked up Syaoran by the shirt. "You're done!" Huang said. Quickly, Li tried to break out before Huang could throw him, he pulled up his left leg and hooked it over the top of his arm, then using his hooked left leg, he pulled his body weight up and kicked him in the face with the heel of the right foot. Huang, still having his grip on Syaoran's shirt, let go when Syaoran used his feet to step on him in the face.
Huang dropped him, rubbing his face to rid of the dirt he got in his eyes. Seeing the perfect opportunity to strike, Syaoran rushed in and started to punch Huang in the stomach. Little did he know, Huang's muscular stomach made his strikes comparable to the feeling of light poking. Huang opened his eyes and pulled on Syaoran's arms. "Grrr…." the peeved Huang roared, "You will die now you dumb traitor!" Huang began to pull Syaoran's arms apart. Syaoran could feel the hard stretching inside of his arms; his shoulders were being separated from his arms. Syaoran began to scream as they began to make loud crunching noises.
Suddenly, at the last second, Syaoran was saved by a rock which hit Huang directly in the face. Huang quickly let go to attend to his face. Syaoran, feeling all stretched out, quickly took advantage of the situation. He gave Huang an uppercut square in the face, which finally did some damage, then he kneed him in the crotch, and finally, he gave him a devastating fist to the jaw. Huang got even angrier as he felt his face. "You made me bleed?" he angrily stared at Syaoran with red vision. "You made me bleed!" Huang ran and tried to grab Syaoran, but Syaoran went in between his legs and was now behind him. Confused and bloody, Huang looked around to wonder where Syaoran went, Syaoran jumped on Huang's back and immediately started to choke off his air supply.
"I'm sorry I have to do this," Syaoran felt weak as he was choking Huang, "But I have to kill you!" Syaoran tightened the grip on Huang to choke him to death. Huang fought for dear life, trying to get Syaoran off of his back. But he was too small and couldn't be reached. "Grr…" he growled, "I will not die so easily!" Huang fell on his back, brushing Syaoran in pain. But regardless, Syaoran tightly held his grip. "I'm sorry, please forgive me!" Syaoran had no recourse left. He tightened his right arm so that he could still choke Huang, but using his left arm, he grabbed Huang's right cheek and pulled as hard as he could.
There was a struggle; Syaoran began to scream as he continued to pull. "Raaaarrrrr!!!" Syaoran roared out pulling with all his might. "CRACK!" Syaoran heard, as he stopped his grip on Huang. Syaoran got up, pulling the behemoth body off of him and looked at Huang's face. He saw his face, all bloody and eyes open, like a struggle that had occurred, Syaoran checked his nose to see if he was breathing, and he wasn't. "I'm sorry!" Syaoran apologized, "May you rest in peace!" Syaoran turned around, seeing his former companions stare at him in awe. "Let me pass!" Syaoran commanded. The soldiers, with deep respect and fear in their eyes made a passage for Syaoran to enter the Forbidden Palace. Syaoran sulked as he walked up the steps, looking at the ground, seeing his hands covered with blood.
"Sakura…" he said, "I didn't mean to, but I kept our promise." Syaoran ran towards the palace doors with haste as he thought about Sakura.
Sakura looked around, the majestic palace with its huge pillars and shining tiles amazed her. Even though it had suffered a corrupt regime, it still looked so beautiful. Sakura then began to feel an aura beside her. "No!" she gasped, "It can't be!" Sakura ran towards the feeling where the aura was the strongest. She ran and ran, seeing the same scenery over and over. "Clow-sifu!" she called out, "Where are you?" The aura was getting stronger, but she had reached a dead end. "Please, Clow-sifu, where are you please answer." Sakura then felt the aura directly in front of her. "But, that's a wall," Sakura said as she stared at the wall in front of her feeling Clow's aura. "Wait a second…" Sakura realized, and then she pulled out a card. "THROUGH!" The wall began to disappear with the power of the card, and before Sakura, she saw a wide open ballroom with a dark robed figure in the center of the room.
"Clow-sifu?" she called as she walked into the room. "Is that you sifu?" The dark robed figure didn't answer; instead he turned around, showing his hooded face. Suddenly, a burst of wind blew out from nowhere, blowing Clow's hood off. Sakura saw him, bloodshot eyes, black raven hair, he looked the same, except, he looked different too. "Clow," she said worried, "What have they done to you?" Sakura then felt Clow's aura disappear. "Wait!" she cried out, "Clow, where are you going?" Clow's body was still there, but his aura was fading.
"My dear Sakura," Clow spoke with a morbid tone, "I have been waiting for your arrival." Sakura didn't trust this Clow, he felt evil in a way to her. "What have you done to Clow-sifu?" Sakura demanded to know pulling out her staff, "Let my master go!" Clow stared at Sakura with a mean face. All of the sudden, Clow clutched onto his head and started to scream with pain. Slowly, Clow's aura began to come back. Sakura feeling his torment and pain, tried to run up to Clow to help him. "Clow-sifu I'm coming to save you!" Clow held out his hand while still holding onto his head, "No Sakura!" Clow commanded, "I am tainted by an evil spirit, you must kill me now!" Sakura was startled to hear this reply.
"No!" Sakura rejected, "I cannot kill my master, Clow-sifu how can I help you, what ails you?" Sakura was growing desperate to save her master. Clow began to stop struggling and he stood up straight, "You can help me…" Clow began to say as Sakura listened with anticipation, "Clow-sifu, what do you need?" Clow pulled out his long magic staff, "I need you to die! WIND BLADE!" Clow summoned three knives made out of wind to attack Sakura. Sakura, caught by surprise, knew that Clow had pure intent to kill her now.
Quote of the Chapter:
"Today, we're gonna make history."
Meaning of the quote: An ambitious quote I picked this up from Skies of Arcadia: Legends.