*I do not own Rayearth by the way*

Ch18 Attack of the Akuma no Hitokui Tori

Suddenly, they heard a screeching sound above them. "Kieeee!" The sound was so loud, everyone was paralyzed!

Kei was the first to recover from the sound. "Oh no, I think it's the bird that's stopping us!"

"What!?" Umi screamed. "Are we going to be eaten?"

"I don't know!" Kei screamed back, for the bird was screeching once again.

"Urg! We have to get out of here!" Eagle yelled, trying to get his voice through the screeching sound to Kei.

"What about the jewel?" Kei yelled back.

"Kei-san, I have a suggestion." Fuu said. The screeching had gone by then.

As soon as the screeching started again, Kei had to yell back. "What's the suggestion?"

"Well, since my legendary machine is a bird, also, maybe Wingdom can keep the bird back, while we go in and get the jewel! Your birds can help, also!" Fuu yelled back, holding her ears with her hands, trying to block the screeching.

"Well, I would help with my birds, but I left them with the Castle! I left them so they can protect it! My dragons can help, though!" Kei yelled. "Lei and the wolves won't be a help, because they are so small."

Fuu nodded, and both of then released their guardians. Wingdom, and the 4 dragons were flying up in the air.

"You guys, I need you to fly up and hold the bird back!" Kei yelled to them. They nodded with no questions, and flew up. After a few moments, the ship was able to move. Apparently, the bird had lost its interest to the ship, for it was trying to fight 4 dragons and a legendary machine.

"I would help, too, but Celes needs some rest, sorry!" Umi said.

"No, don't worry about it; I think they can handle the bird." Kei said, maneuvering the ship towards the shrine.

~The fight~

The dragons were now circling the 2 birds. There were green and black in the circle, fighting.

"Keep the circle! No matter what happens, keep the circle! Don't let it get out!" Wingdom said.

"We will." Said Houryu. Karyu was new to these stuff, so he wasn't all that great, sometimes messed the circle a bit. Karyu didn't care about his mistakes though. He was always looking at the black bird, ready for any attack, to save Kei and the gang.

The 2 birds started to glide, making an inner circle.

"Get out of the way!" The black bird said.

"No! We won't! We will not let you harm our friends!" Wingdom said.

"I guess I have to make my way!" Suddenly, the black bird lounged at Wingdom, leaving a huge talon marks on Wingdom's shoulder. Wingdom screeched in pain, but kept the circle. Then, the black bird tried to lounge again.

Suddenly, they heard a voice. "Raiken!" There was a thunder grumbling above them, and the thunder hit right on the bird's back. It was Kei. Lei were in his dog form, carrying Kei. "Lei, Suiki!" Lei all of a sudden breathed a hydro pump of water on the bird, making the electricity to flow more freely. "Hiya guys!" Kei said, waving. "I'm gonna stay back and take care of this mess. You guys have to help me though!" Kei winked, and ordered more attacks.

~Back to the Gang~

The gang was watching the battle from the shrine. They got on to the shrine safely. As soon as they got off, Kei jumped on to the big-sized Lei and flew towards the fight.

"I'll be all right!" She had said as she flew into the fight. The gang watched Kei and Lei's attack, carefully. They were worried for them.

"It was Geo who talked first, breaking the silence. "We have to hurry and get the stone!"

"Yeah, but without Wingdom, we won't be able to detect where the stone is!" Fuu said, still watching the battle.

"Oh brother. I forgot! Well, we just have to look without them." Geo said. He began to search near the entrance.

"Yes..." Fuu said.

"Hey, I have an idea." Eagle said. "You know how the sword responded to the stone?" The 3 girls and the man nodded. "Well, what if you take your sword out?"

"Oh, yes! A good idea!" Hikaru said. "Fuu-chan, hurry!"

"Ok." As Fuu said this, she reached for her glove, and her sword cam out. The sword seemed not to react in any way. The gang looked at the sword hopelessly.

"You know, Celes went in deeper into the shrine. Maybe it's some where back there?" Geo said, and pointed to the hall way which was leading down deeper into the shrine.

"Maybe. Let's go, let's just try." Eagle said, as he and Geo led the gang more deeper.

~back to the Fight~

Kei was instructing more attacks. "Lei Kaen, my dragons, just keep the circle up! Wingdom, try to avoid the attacks. Just try to keep it here!" Everyone nodded, and Lei breathed fire, missing the bird.

"Leave my babies alone!" The bird screeched.

"You know what? We will leave the eggs alone, but you won't take my friends for dinner!" Kei yelled.

The bird tried to lounge at Kei, but Kei had summoned a shielding spell, which bounced the bird back.

"You do not scare me." Kei said.

"You don't scare me either!" The bird said, trying to lounge at her again, but was stopped by a ripping pain on its back. As soon as the black bird turned around, the mother bird saw what had made the throbbing. Wingdom had used his huge talons and made bottomless cuts on the back.

"Just stay there and we will let you go as soon as we are done with our business. Or, fight back, and you'll be dead." Wingdom said in a dangerous tone.

The black bird screeched in anger, but did not do anything. It had apparently accepted its loss. Kei nodded, and looked back. She hoped that they will be out soon, with the jewel.

~Back to the Gang~

The gang was walking, until they entered the place where Wingdom had slept over the ears until Fuu found him. As soon as Fuu entered, her sword lit up. And there was another flash of light. As soon as the light left, the sword flew back to the owner.

"Wow!" Fuu said, carefully examining the blade. "I really do feel more energy! Just like Umi-san! This is wonderful!"

"Well, let's get out of here, I want to go see if the others are all right." Geo said, turning back. As soon as he tried to step out, there was a rumbling noise.

"What?" Eagle said as he looked around the place for the thing that's causing the rumbling.

"Let's get out of here!" Umi said, as everyone else nodded and ran out. As they were running, Fuu's sword went back into the glove. They were running, until Umi bumped into something black, and furry.

"Are you ok, Umi-chan?" Asked Hikaru, lending a hand.

"Yeah. what did I bump into?" Umi asked, but got no reply. As soon as she looked up, she saw the baby bird of the Akuma no Hitokui Tori! The bird glared at her, and suddenly swooshed down to peck at her. "Kyaa" She yelled, jumping back to avoid the attack.

"Umi-san, let's try out our latest weapon, it's the most excellent moment in time to try!" Fuu yelled.

"Ok!" As Umi said this, both Fuu and Umi took out their swords. The bird did not care for the sword, just started to peck Umi and Fuu. Then, after a while, the rest of the birds joined in. 5 birds were pecking at them! They were hungry, for they were just born. The baby black birds just new what their favorite food was. Umi and Fuu gave a quite a fight. They kept jumping away swiftly to avoid attacks, and attacking them when they can.

The baby birds were not that stupid. They ganged them selves up, and darted at Umi and Fuu. There is no way Umi and Fuu can attack all 5 at once!

"Umi-chan, Fuu-chan!" Hikaru yelled, as she took her sword out, and darted to the birds that were attacking them. As soon as the birds saw Hikaru, they changed their course to the 2 girls to Hikaru, Geo, and Eagle.

"No!" Umi yelled. "I won't let you get them!"

"Yes, leave our friends alone!" Fuu yelled, as they both darted to the birds.

"We are your fighters! We will protect them, no matter what!" Umi and Fuu yelled at the same time. Then, suddenly, the birds stopped their attack, for the water and the wind sword was glowing.

"What." Umi said, and stopped. The two were silent for a while, as if they were listening to something. They were.

'We accept your will power. Therefore, we will help you.' The 2 swords had their own feelings as well, like the machines! Suddenly, words flowed out of no where into the 2 girls' minds.

Gripping the sword tightly, and going into a fighting stance of the fencing, Umi yelled, "Mizu no Yaiba!" (Water Blade)Swords of water suddenly grew out of the ground, stabbing the birds. The birds yelled in pain.

Fuu was also getting herself into a fighting stance, yelling, "Kaze no Yumiya!" (Wind Arrows) Arrows of wind came out, and they also got their prey good. The birds screeched in pain, and stopped, and dropped dead. As soon as the preys were dead, the swords and the arrows turned into their original form. (Like the water swords into water, and the wind arrows into wind, dissolving)

"Let's go!" Geo yelled, and they exited out of the shrine, into the ship.

~Back to the fight~

"My babies!" The mother bird yelled, as she smelled blood, and saw the humans running into the ship.

Sighing in relief that the girls won, Kei spoke to the bird. "Your babies should've left them alone. And you shouldn't have made a nest right on the Wind Shrine. Home of Wingdom."

"But." The bird started.

"No matter, we are through with this jewel thing. You may take the shrine. Take care of it, or you're dead." Wingdom said.

"Fine." The bird said as she flew up to the nest.

"Well, let's get out of here." Kei said, as they too, flew up to the shrine.

*Oh, I drew new MKR fanfic fanarts! Yay! They are only Hikaru, Umi and Fuu's faces on one of them. The other one is my Kei fanart. It has Kei and the 5 dogs/wolves in mini form. ( E-mail me for them.*