Chapter 14--Just a Rabbit

As the four questors journeyed farther, still under the guidance of Windpaw and the recently designated Frith, they left the frozen wasteland of Necro Clann behind. In fact, it grew wet and foggy, just as it was in the beginning of their travels. Visibility was limited, and their spirits were low. Everyone wondered at the end of their journey, if indeed they would ever reach it. They had no idea how long it would take to find the two Gate Seals, or how long it would take to deliver them to the Shrine of the Key. In fact, they had little knowledge of their mission in general. To any observer, it would seem that there could not have been four less likely heroes.

"How long do ya think dis will take?" Joey asked idly as they trekked through the wildneress. He had finally gotten his second wind, so he felt up to a conversation just now.

"How should I know? The Raasha Clann could be anywhere. We just have to keep going," Tristan replied dispiritedly; the monotonous journey was starting to get to him.

"We'll never get anywhere following these rabbits," Kaiba said, pessimistic out of habit; he too was beginning to tire, but he refused to show it in front "the geeks."

"That's not true! And they're hares, not rabbits!" Tea snapped back. The trip had somewhat dampaned her usually friendly, cheerful nature, and it took all her restraint not to smack Kaiba right then.

"Whatever. Just tell me, do you think this is gonna take more than two weeks?" Joey said, bringing them back to the original point.

"Maybe. Why do you ask?" Tristan said through gritted teeth, wishing Joey would take a hint and shut up. They were such close friends it sometimes felt like they were brothers, but that didn't stop Joey from being annoying.

"Because I'm hoping this will be over before the end of Spring Break," Joey replied, apparently not noticing that he was getting on his friend's nerves.

"Even if it isn't, we could always find an excuse for being missing. The principle even believed that Benjamin was an exchange student from a war-torn nation in Africa," Tea said optimistically. Even these travel conditions couldn't bother her enough to stop her from speaking civilly to her friends.

"Oh, man! I was hoping to do some math over Spring Break. I'm gonna fail that class..." Joey groaned.

"How can you be failing math? That's pathetic," Kaiba scoffed, thinking of his own near-perfect average--he was taking a more advanced class, Algebra.

"Yeah, we all know you're not failing anything, so shut up, okay!?" Joey snapped in annoyance.

"Come on, you must've failed something at least once in your life," Tristan said incredulously to Kaiba, not willing to believe that even the genius CEO was that intelligent.

"The only class I'm failing in is Art," Kaiba said smugly; all of his other classes were straight "A"s.

All argumentation ceased as he said this, and the other three travelers stopped dead, causing Kaiba to stop as well as they stared at him.

"You're failing ART!? How?" Tea finally sputtered, in shock.

"I'm just not a good artist, okay!?" Kaiba said defensively; he hated drawing with a passion, mostly because it was something you couldn't simply study to improve at.

There was a long pause. Then, in unspoken agreement, they began walking again.

"So, what you're saying is that this could take more than two weeks, right?" Joey asked after a pause.

"Oh, shut up," Tristan finally said, to the relief of the others.

Far above them, a silent figure watched, struggling to stay aloft in the still air. Laughing at the four children's aimless bickering, the sinister figure descended, grinning in malicious anticipation.

Revenge would be sweet.

Suddenly, Frith and Windpaw stopped dead. The four companions were eerily reminded of their encounter with Kiendra. A mocking laugh echoed around them. To their horror, Kiendra herself stepped forward. Beside her was Shadowhawk, her enormous black dragon. It was like a nightmare out of hell. They gaped in silence for a moment.

Then, either very bravely or very foolishly, and perhaps both, Joey stepped forward, saying, "What did ya come for, Kiendra? Didn' you learn anythin' from last time?"

Kiendra looked disdainfully at him. "I have returned to avenge my honor. I underestimated the power of my opponents in our last battle; I shall not go easy on you this time! Step forward, coward!"

They were all nonplussed. "Man, some people just don' know when ta give up! Look, Kiendra--I'll fight you!" Joey said, very bravely since power like that Kiendra had displayed last time she fought them terrified him.

Kiendra laughed harshly. "Ha! I came not to challenge a worthless human like you, but to avenge myself upon the foe who defeated me in our last battle. I will fight the one who wields the dragon magic!" Seeing their confusion, she impatiently pointed at her chosen adversary. "You. I did not see it during our first battle, but you wield powerful draconic magic. I challenge you, human! Let us battle!"

Only Tea, remembering Vice's long-ago words, knew whom the Clanner wished to battle. When they first met, Vice had told them what he saw in each of them.
Only three of you really has much magic. Of course, you can all Summon, but that doesn't take too much power. Obviously, Yuugi has magic--he's the Guardian. His yami has it for the same reason (none of them had known then who he was talking about). Joey, you have ordinary Summoning ability, not particularly powerful...Tristan, you could probably Summon if you absolutely had to, but it might exhaust you. Tea, you have basic protection magic...possibly a little healing, and certainly a touch of Seer. Yes, you do--just not much. And of course you probably already knew that you had draconic magic.

Yes, Tea still remembered who he had seen dragon magic in. They all followed Kiendra's gaze.

"Me?" Kaiba said.

Kiendra laughed uproariously. "Didn't you know? Your magic is weak, but I still must challenge you to a battle. It was your hare that defeated the demon Karanas, and so I now must face you in a Summon battle once more. But this time, I shall use two creatures! Do you truly think you have the power to defeat two of my monsters? Very well. I demand that you use Shou- lao's traitorous hare again, but I grant that you may also use one creature of your own choosing--if you even have another!"

Glancing at each other, Tea, Tristan, and Joey grinned. They might not like Kaiba much, but he was certainly better than the Necro Clanner-- they were on his side for once. Kiendra was right; Kaiba did have dragon magic. Not only that, he had a dragon to match.

Tea, Tristan, and Joey a few yards backwards. They had no desire to get caught in the middle of a battle between dragons.

Kiendra smiled cockily. "Shadowhawk I choose as my first warrior. You will never defeat her power with your little rabbit!"

The three observers laughed quietly. Kiendra would regret saying that. "But I'm not going to fight your dragon with a little rabbit. Because I Summon--Faith!"

Faith was not a large dragon. Faith was not a particularly strong or agile dragon. Faith, a beautiful white dragon with ice-blue eyes like her master's and a graceful figure, was barely larger than a large SUV. Kiendra saw only a young, inexperienced dragon before here. She did not know that, even as she and Shadowhawk were connected, so this dragon and her master were also linked. In this battle, neither strength nor speed would decide the victor.
Both dragons took off, the spines running down their backs catching the air as their bat-like wings pumped hard to get them in the air. Diving, dodging, and twisting around each other in midair, the two dragons bit, slashed, and struck in any way possible, battling their hardest for those they were bonded to--the only people they would willing call master. Tea, Tristan, and Joey found it hard to follow what was happening, or understand why, after only ten minutes of aerial battle, both combatants Desummoned their creatures.

Kiendra scowled. "You have won only one battle. Without your dragon, you have no hope of further victory!" Kiendra stood straight, taking a deep breath as she focused herself. "You have seen the might of my demon control. Now shall you witness the true power of necromancy!"

Kiendra began to chant in a hideous, guttural language, making pulling motions over the ground with her hands. At first, it seemed that nothing was happening. Then, to their horror, a decayed, fleshless hand forced itself upwards. Soon, an entire human corpse was pulling itself out of the earth, its empty eye sockets glaring at them as its lipless mouth grinned. In a moment of black evil, Kiendra had forced the dead to rise in animate control, doing her bidding in the light of day where they should never have come.

Frith, Kaiba's only remaining monster, bared its oddly sharp teeth at the swaying corpse. It was a hopeless battle as far as Kaiba was concerned, but Frith, born and bred by the Chinoki Clann, knew that nothing is hopeless until you have lost the will to fight. In a truly inspiring battle, one brave hare faced a hideous being that should have lain under the earth, a dead body and nothing more.

Kiendra glared at her foes. "Do you now see the might of Necro Clann? My necromancy is powerful, allowing me to animate and command corpses! None can stand against it!"

No one spoke. Finally, Frith hopped forward. Very small indeed did he seem, standing in defiance before that great and evil being, torn from its grave into a restless awakening that was no awakening at all by unclean hands; yet in spite of this, he seemed noble and proud, and prepared to die fighting against such irreverence for both life and death. Kiendra was certain of victory, but looking into the eyes of that hare, her own heart quailed.

In a spectacular moment of the triumph of good over evil, Frith leaped forward, and with the strength of his heart, the magic that bound sinew to will was broken, causing the dead man to fall to pieces, no longer filled with evil, necromantic magic.

Kiendra shrieked, and her cry was terrible and merciless. Unwilling to accept defeat, she yanked from her belt a small throwing knife. Drawing back her hand, she prepared to fling it at Frith, who, having used most of his strength disrupting powerful energy, did not notice her. Indeed, she thought that none would see as she treacherously prepared to murder her victorious opponent. But Kiendra's plan did not go unmarked. Frith's master saw her grip the knife, and suddenly realized her plan.

In that moment, everything went awry. Windpaw sat up, sniffing the air. The Raasha Clann! But they had found the Clann of the Bearers of the Light moments too late.

"Frith! No!" Kaiba, normally so logical, foolishly dove in front of Frith, thus getting hit with the knife himself. Such was the force of the throw that it buried itself hilt-deep in his shoulder. Only Tea, with her "A" in Science, knew that an artery ran between the clavicle and scapula. Not thinking straight, Kaiba pulled out the knife and immediately began bleeding profusely. Just as the Raasha Clann arrived on the scene, attracted by the disturbance of the use of necromantic magic, Kaiba collapsed.

Tea, Tristan. and Joey, still frozen in shock that someone would throw a knife at a rabbit--and also that someone had gotten hit with one-- did nothing. Luckily, the Raasha Clann was more accustomed to war and death. As Kiendra took off on Shadowhawk and disappeared into the sky, they beckoned the three remaining adventurers.

"You are not Clanners. I see that their is some tale behind this attack and your presence in our World, but there is no time for it now. Come with us; we can heal your friend."

They followed the Clanners, dumbfounded. Clanners, trusting them without lengthy explanation? That was a new one. Tea carried Frith along with her.

Looking at the hare, she muttered, "It's strange...I could have sworn he called you Frith."