It is finally here! The last few chapters of Syaoran's Angel! Sorry it took too long but here it is! Please, please, please REVIEW!
Disclaimer: What's mine is mine. What's others belong to others
Syaoran's AngelChapter 32: Full Circle (Part 1), Into the Woods
Previously on Syaoran's Angels…"No, I think we should concentrate our effort in stopping Noir from reviving the Void card," Meiling snapped back, "Keeping Xiaolang's part of the tri-sword safe for example."
"Thanks," a rough voice said from behind them.
The group whirled around and stared straight into a pair of ebony black eyes that crackled with power.
"Thanks for safekeeping it for me," the man continued, his voice low and inhumanly guttural.
Sakura stared into his cruel face, a spark of recognition throwing her mind into chaos.
"Oh my god..." she whispered taking a step backwards in fright.
"Sakura?" Meiling asked grabbing her, steadying her.
"It's Heilang."
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It was Tomoyo who finally dropped the bombshell.
"He took the final piece of the tri-sword… now he was everything need to resurrect the Void," she said softly.
"What?" Sakura looked at Meiling.
The Angel nodded sadly.
"What are we going to do?" Sakura demanded, "Do we even know where this resurrection is going to take place?"
"The guardians said there are several places that can be used and they wouldn't know which one until the ritual for the resurrection actually starts," Meiling sighed, "They say they can teleport us there once we know and we'll have to try to stop the ritual then."
"How much time do we have until then?"
"About 24 hours."
"So what do we do?"
"The guardians," Tomoyo stopped, "The guardians told us to say goodbye to our families."
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"If Touya and your mother was still alive they would've smacked some sense into you by now," Fujitaka said with a small smile, "Cherry blossom, you're being silly."
Sakura looked up at her dad, surprised.
"Bad things happen because they happen… not just because you were around or something stupid like that. It's chance."
"With what I've seen… I don't think I believe that anymore."
"You know what I believe in?" Fujitaka asked suddenly.
Sakura looked at him.
"What?"
"You."
"Dark card! Come to me release and dispel!" she cried.
A dark imposing queen crowned with a glittering tiara rose from the card and bowed before her.
"I am sorry about the incident in the airport," the spirit said almost apologetically, "His powers were too strong to resist."
"It doesn't matter," Tomoyo took a deep breath, "I'm wondering…"
And at that point Tomoyo almost lost her courage but she steeled herself knowing that this must be done.
"Can you show me… show me what happened to Clow Reed after the curse took place."
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"You must protect the books," Clow Reed was instructing his guardians carefully, "Protect them and wait for the chosen three, the angels to appear. Do what I have bid for you to do, test them. But if they are the true ones and protect them with your very lives if need be because this world depends on them and what they will eventually do. They are only hope in the darkness that will come."
"But…" Yue began.
Clow Reed cut him off.
"Go! Remember my words! Remember your duties!"
Shuffling uncomfortably at their master's bleak words, the three guardians disappeared in separate blazes of light leaving the mage alone. Clow Reed looked around, a sad smile dancing across his face. He held up his hands and whispered something. The sky above roared.
Tomoyo looked up as the clouds turned ebony black. Lightning, skeletal golden fingers strummed the chords of the sky, each note a chaotic roar.
"What?" Tomoyo jumped as a huge bolt of lightning ripped across the sky.
Its jagged tip lanced forwards aiming straight for Clow Reed as the mage stood calmly amidst the ruin waiting for the lightning missile to strike him and turn him to mere ashes.
"NOOOOOO!" Tomoyo screamed, "NOOOOO! END THIS!"
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"What the friggin' hell?" Meiling yelped.
The younger version of her titled her head up to study her face.
"You swore," the little girl whispered awed, "You aren't supposed to."
"What the?" Meiling cried.
"Meiling?" Marcus's worried voice drifted through the door, "Are you okay?"
"Dandy," Meiling yelled back.
Remembering to keep her voice down she turned to stare the little version of herself.
"Who… what are you?" Meiling demanded in a fierce whisper.
"I'm you," came the innocent reply.
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"Okami Noir has the final piece of the tri-sword," mini-Meiling informed her sounding extremely adult like.
"So?"
"The moment he got the sword, a backlash happened. Something of unspeakable evil had occurred," the little girl sighed, "This whole world is about balance."
"So, let me get this straight," Meiling groaned, "Noir getting the sword created this mystical imbalance in the cosmic scale and to even it a six-year-old version of me appears?"
"Bingo!" the little girl cheered, "Yay, me!"
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"This," Mini-Meiling smiled at her, "This is a gift from the powers above."
"God?"
"Not quite," Mini-Meiling winked mischievously at her, "In your darkest times when you are alone may this be your shiny light."
She smiled once more at Meiling.
"And it is super-duper magnifantabulous!"
The little girl began disappearing before Meiling's eyes seemingly melting away into mist as the glowing object fell from the girl's hands into her own. As Mini-Meiling shot her a final smile, the girl disappeared leaving Meiling alone in the bathroom once more.
Slowly unfurling her fingers, Meiling stared at the object that rested between her palms. A Clow card as she studied it closely she realised there was no name on this card only an image: a ruby red heart with four long wings jutting up at different angles.
"What the…" she whispered.
"Meiling?" Marcus's concerned voice was loud enough to tell Meiling he was standing in front of the locked door.
"Yeah, I'm coming," Meiling said still dazed, "I'm fine."
Looking down at the card, Meiling bit her lip.
"Maybe more then fine," she whispered.
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Pulling out one of her favourite CDs, Tomoyo slid it into the stereo and fiddled with the controls until she got it to where she wanted it to be. Hitting play, she sat back down on her sofa as a flurry of piano music began playing and the song started.
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Sakura sat on the park bench and studied the dark sky above paying attention to the glittering gems that adorned the dark canvas.
"Mom, I don't know if you're up there or not," she said softly, "But I miss you. And I hope that you're proud of me."
She stopped.
"I'm scared. Of what's to come. If I fail I fail the whole world, if I succeed… I don't know if I could go on," she stared up at the stars hoping for an answer of some sort, "What I am I supposed to do?"
'cause when your in you're darkest hour
It seemed to Sakura then there was a warm presence beside it, there was nothing there but she could feel it and she though she could hear a warm voice whisper something in her ears.
"Do your best," the voice whispered, "Do your best and everything will fall into place."
Sakura smiled.
"Thanks mom."
' And all of the light just fades away'
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Meiling gently untangled herself from Marcus and pulled some clothes on, walking out of her room she head towards Lily and gently opened the door. Seeing the young girl sprawled across the bed sleeping contentedly, she smiled. Walking quietly beside the bed, she pulled the blankets over the girl's shoulder tucking her in.
' When you're like a single flower whose colours have turned to shades of grey'
She gently kissed the girl on the head and exited the room again but not before she turned around and whispered something to the sleeping girl.
"Sleep well…" she smiled, "My daughter…"
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Tomoyo felt his presence before seeing him.
"It's time isn't it?" she asked gently still listening to the music pouring out from her stereo.
"It is," Yue said gravely.
' Well hang on…'
Tomoyo turned around and stared into Yue's face.
"I'm ready."
'Be strong'
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Lara Williams was dreaming, a nightmare of darkness and shadows and a pair of blazing emerald eyes that demanded revenge. She screamed as she cold fingers wrapped themselves around her neck strangling the life out of her but the emerald eyes were still there, still staring at her still filled with rage.
She screamed and she screamed and screamed…
And then the eyes vanished and her screams were cut off.
Lara Williams shot up in her hospital bed looking around wildly.
Eriol Hiragizawa stared at her dispassionately as she looked around trying to make sense of her surroundings. Beside him stood Rika Sasaki, her blank eyes taking in the scene before her with no emotional reactions on her part. In front of both of them stood Okami Noir who was smiling gently down at Lara.
"Hello Lara," the man whispered, his voice a cobra's hiss, "I've got a job for you."
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Sakura slowly turned around and smiled sadly.
"Hello Kerberos," she said softly.
In reply the guardian merely bowed his head folding in his immense wings. Sakura slowly got up and dusted herself off, trying to bring her thoughts into some semblance of order.
"It's time I guess, huh?" Sakura asked already knowing the answer.
"You need to get ready," Kerberos said gravely.
Sakura nodded.
"I'm ready as I'll ever be," Sakura stretched slowly loosening her muscles, "Let's go."
The winged lion move forwards as Sakura reached out with her left hand and gingerly placed it on his haunches. Kerberos growled under his breath and Sakura looked around one last time before gold light claimed her body and they disappeared.
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As Ruby Moon appeared before her, Meiling jumped.
"Jeez!" she yelped, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
Ruby Moon merely looked at her, an unreadable expression on her face.
"Time to go?"
The butterfly guardian nodded.
Meiling fell silent as she stood there, lost in her thought, her mind solely focused on the other two people in this house, the two people who meant more to her than anything else on this planet.
Could she leave them?
Could she go on once she lost them?
Meiling closed her eyes and struggled with her emotions briefly. But a single thought came to her shearing through her despair and questionings.
She had to go otherwise all would be lost.
"It's time," Meiling forced a determined expression on her face, "Let's go out and kick some Wicked Wizard of the West ass."
Ruby Moon grabbed her arm and they were gone.
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There are many places on this planet that are not as they seem. Some spaces were holy, divine… blessed, others not so. They were cursed, damned and overflowing with evil but there were those that were neither. Not a place of the light nor of the darkness, they simply were. Places through coincidences, mishaps or perhaps fate came to be on this planet, places that throbbed with power that was just waiting to be tapped into and used. For good or evil, nobody really knows. How these places came about and why they existed at all, these well of mystical energy, was not meant for man to know.
But that isn't the point.
The point is, they exist.
And Okami Noir was currently standing on one of the most powerful places in the world. A piece of paradise, a slice of lush emerald forest right in the heart Laos but who knew that this leafy façade hid something much more underneath.
"ARISE!" Noir yelled.
He plunged his magic deep into the earth sensing the dormant power that hibernated within the soil and rock like a slumbering seed. As soon Noir exerted his will, the power bursting into life, the earth cracking open as tendrils of energy blossomed into the air fanning out in all directions. Beneath the soil something rumbled and began moving trying to claw its way up to the surface, standing behind him Eriol, Rika and Lara Williams looked on with some apprehension as Okami frowned and flung more of his magic down into the dark abyss that lay across the loamy soil marring its lush fertile perfection.
"Temple of Sacred Spirits, I summon thee!" Okami Noir cried, his eyes going pure black with that power that surged within him.
A stone structure began to emerge from the soil, high arched roofs appearing first dragging crumbling walls behind it. Eriol whistled lowly, Lara scowling as the rumbling finally stopped; all around the jungle was deathly silent. Okami Noir smiled up at the ancient submerged temple he had just summoned.
"The ancient people of Laos, the Khmer, knew the power of this place and they built a temple on it," he turned around and smiled at his cronies, "But this was swallowed up by an immense earthquake that shook this whole land and it has been lost for centuries… until now."
His smile became a razor blade hidden in soft silk.
"And this shall be the place where the Angels die."
He whirled around, the dark cloak draped over his shoulder swirling behind him. With confident strides he walked through the dark entrance of the temple, Lara and Rika following behind him. Eriol hesitated looking around slowly.
"Tomoyo…" he whispered before he reluctantly trudged into the temple.
Behind him the jungle began changing.
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"Where are we?" Sakura muttered looking around.
"Laos," Kerberos growled.
Sakura's eyes widened as she stared around. Green-furred trees towered up into the blue sky, scraping the clouds with wooden limbs. Emerald, jade, teal and turquoise bejewelled the trees rustling with every breath of wind. The leafs above formed a dense dome, pale shafts of sunlight managing to penetrate through and spotlight tiny sections of the leaf-littered ground. All around her the cries of animal formed a wild orchestral that boomed through the air.
"Why?"
Kerberos sighed.
"This is where Heilang plans to resurrect the Void card."
Sakura blanched.
"Where are the others?"
"Close by," Kerberos cocked his head to the side, "Come on."
The winged lion lumbered through the forest as Sakura followed, her senses on high alert.
And all of them were screaming at her to run.
To run for her life.
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Meiling looked around, unnerved and unimpressed. It was extremely unusual for any person to feel those two emotions at the same time but Meiling was complex enough and nerve-wracked enough to do both.
"What's with the Survivor: Amazon theme?" she asked choosing annoyance as her main emotion for now.
To say she was feeling antsy would be an understatement of epic proportions, every part of her body felt tense. Her mind was screaming at her to run for her life and her emotions were about as stable as a pregnant woman's. In short, she felt like she was five seconds away from a mental meltdown.
"Where's everybody else?" she wondered looking around.
All that greeted her were acres and acres of greens and the occasional rainbow of flowers. She looked by at Ruby Moon who seemed lost in thought.
"Hello?" Meiling asked waving her hands in front of the guardian.
She snapped out of it and stared into Meiling's eyes.
"Come," she said softly walking off into the forest.
"Okay…" Meiling quickly followed her.
Soon they were swallowed up by the forest; lost within a woody labyrinth stumbling every closer towards their destination.
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"Laos?" Tomoyo looked around, "Umm… why?"
She shot a look at Yue who seemed vaguely attentive but the bulk of his attention was obviously somewhere else.
"Hey! Sailor Moon!" Tomoyo jabbed him in the chest.
The moon archer was startled out of his thoughts but quickly composed himself shooting Tomoyo an annoyed look before spreading his wings out slowly and retracting them again.
"What?"
"Why are we in Laos?"
Yue waved his hand around as though presenting the forest to her; Tomoyo stared at him still confused.
"Umm… a verbal answer would be nice."
"There are things in this world known as ley lines."
"Ley lines?" Tomoyo frowned, "I'm guessing that ain't the name of a train company."
Yue shot her a withering look.
"Ley lines are lines of powers that run across the face of this planet," Yue replied dryly, "Skeins of mystical energy that crisscross the earth and in some places these lines intersects. Once that happens a thing known as a power well is formed."
Tomoyo felt like she was in high school again forcing herself to stay awake as her science teacher droned on and on about the wonders of refraction or dispersion or Huygen's theory of light. She wished Yue would just get to the point already because she wasn't sure how long she could keep up her mask of polite attentiveness.
"In Laos, there is a place where over a dozen ley lines cross each other's path. One of the biggest power wells in the world sits there," Yue sighed, "I think Heilang is going to tap into that power in order to resurrect the Void."
"And hallelujah, he gets to the point," Tomoyo muttered inwardly rolling her eyes.
She looked around.
"Where are the others?" she asked.
"This way," Yue began moving silently through the trees like a lean white cat as Tomoyo shrugged and trailed him.
Guardian and Angel trekked through the forest as all around them, magic surged and the world segued.
Sakura was lost in thought as she silently followed Kerberos through the Laotian forest.
Even as her body weaved its way expertly through the trees, her mind was far away going back to a time and place where things were a lot simpler and she wasn't even an Angel.
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FlashbackSakura Kinomoto was tired.
Tired of herself: the way she dressed, the way she looked, the way she acted… the list was endless.
Studying herself in the mirror, Sakura frowned. Ugly metal braces covered her teeth, her hair (limp and dull) was tied up into a ponytail that dangled down from her head and her clothes were ill fitting at best.
"Jeez, Sakura," she muttered to herself, "Could you look less like a nerd?"
Grabbing her books, she left her dorm room walking hurriedly down the hallway, her eyes staring at the ground the whole time trying to avoid eye contact with everyone else.
"Sorry," she mumbled stumbling into someone.
"Retard," the blonde-haired girl muttered as she brushed past her.
Sakura felt herself go red but she still refused to look up as she struggled through the packed hallway. Finally making it towards the exit, Sakura walked out into the bright sunlight trying to ignore all the other girls standing around outside, dressed in tank tops and mini skirts, mocking the loser that walked past them. She tried to ignore their taunting looks, their snide remarks and superior smirks.
Wishing she was more self-confident and able to stand up to them, Sakura hurried across the college campus heading towards her destination: the library a.k.a. her sanctuary.
Pushing through the door, she quickly walked over to the study area. Piling her books onto the desk, she took off her bag and laid it gently down onto the ground beside her. Making herself comfortable on the hard wooden chairs, she pulled her laptop out from her bag and turned it on.
Connecting to the net, she began checking her e-mails.
Spam…
Spam…
Spam…
Spam…
Spa…
"Wait a minute," Sakura frowned as she studied the e-mail sitting in her inbox, "Syaoran's Investigations?"
Clicking on the e-mail icon and opening up the message, Sakura began reading unaware at that exact moment her life began to change.
End of FlashbackAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Meiling began to realise why she was never a nature person.
"Damn it!" she cried, stumbling over another tree root.
Her arms cartwheeled around wildly trying to keep her balanced as Meiling swore again.
"You know for someone who's supposed to possess the powers of nature," Meiling muttered, "Nature sure hates me."
Ruby Moon remained silent picking her way through the dense foliage. Meiling sighed and began following her again.
"Funny," she mused, "When I signed up for this I never thought I'll end up here."
Shaking her head, Meiling stumbled after Ruby Moon tripping over another tree root as she went.
"ARGH!"
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Flashback"One… two… three!" the referee cried, "BEGIN!"
Meiling dressed in a loose white cotton pants and a kimono-style top stood poised and ready, a black belt wound around her waist indicating her master level for all the world to see. Her opponent, an Asian male, was also wearing a black belt. He stalked towards her, his impressive height making him look intimidating and dangerous. A lesser opponent may have felt the first tingles of nervousness but Meiling was undaunted and unafraid.
"Bring it on," she whispered moving into a fighter's stance.
He came at her with a flying kick but Meiling easily grabbed his outstretched foot and slammed him down into the ground. He tried to kick her from his position on the ground but Meiling easily dodged his blows, grabbing him again and slammed him against the floor again driving the air from his lungs.
"HALT!"
The referee intervened forcing Meiling away as the judges awarded her a point. The crowd behind her clapped and whistled in appreciation as the man slowly climbed to his feet only to see Meiling smirking at him ready for more. A few tense seconds passed as the two combatants circled each other sizing his/her opponent up.
This time she struck first, throwing a combination of chops and hammer-blows punctuated by the odd kick. The man managed to block or deflect many of her strikes but a lucky knuckle punch cracked him across the face. Meiling threw another one at him hitting him in the chest before leaping up into the air and hitting him with a snap-kick that sent him stumbling backwards. Landing lightly, Meiling waited for the man to get up but he stayed there on the ground coughing weakly as the referee went over to him.
A few seconds later, the referee straightened and faced the crowd.
"Meiling Rae wins!" he announced.
The crowd roared into life as Meiling smiled modestly and bowed to them. One of the judges came over and awarded her an immense golden trophy as Meiling held it high above her head in victory.
"THANK YOU!" she cried, "THANK YOU!"
Smiling happily, she practically bounded off the field as the crowd surged towards her. Laughing and shaking the trophy over her head, Meiling managed to make her way through the crowd and into the training room. Several of the other contestants were there and some of them congratulated her whilst others shot her dirty looks before swanning out through the door.
"You were great out there!" one woman gushed.
"Thanks," Meiling smiled, "I watched your match, you weren't bad either."
Placing her trophy down on a nearby bench, Meiling were still smiling as she opened up her locker and pulled her bag out. Digging her mobile out of her bag, she noticed there was a text message waiting for her.
Frowning in confusion, she pulled the message up and read it.
"Syaoran Investigations?"
End of Flashback
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Tomoyo and Yue glided through the trees, both of them silent as they scanned the trees carefully watching for the slightest trace of danger. The air around her seemed oppressive pushing down on her, suffocating and choking her. Instinctively Tomoyo knew that the air was practically humming with magic and it was driving her senses crazy.
She was fidgety and sweating and not just because of the humid air. Shaking her hair away from her damp forehead, she closed her eyes and tried to put her mind off her current uncomfortableness.
Losing herself in her memories, Tomoyo's body went into autopilot as her body navigated the trees, her mind was losing itself into the past.
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FlashbackDressed in a stunning designer dress Tomoyo swept through the door, moving with all the regal bearing of a queen. Shooting polite smiles to people she recognised, she suppressed the strong urge to scream with boredom instead choosing to paste a bland look of slight amusement on her face as various handsomely dressed men appeared and began flirting outrageously with her. Inwardly she sighed in exasperation as each man brought up their wealth as though it was enough to impress her, each time she gave them the same reply: a false brilliant smile before slogging through the rest of the conversation until they left.
"Aren't you having fun dear?" her mother appeared in her line of vision.
Tomoyo allowed her mask to drop as she shot her mother an angry look.
"You dragged me away from work to this?" she demanded fiercely, her voice just barely above a whisper.
"You need to relax and have fun, honey," Sonomi Daidouji replied seemingly unconcerned in the face of her daughter's fury, "Go around, mingle, chat."
"You mean flirt around and hope that some rich man would propose to me by the end of the night, mother," Tomoyo spat out the last word with stinging venom.
Sonomi sighed.
"Tomoyo, you've got to realise that you can't always be alone all the time. You need to have someone in your life…"
"I've got a job," Tomoyo reminded her mother, "I'm not like Ms. Skanky-ho that's eyeing every million businessman that comes her way. I've got a purpose in my life."
"You can't play with computers all your life."
"It's not playing!" Tomoyo snapped.
"Whatever, honey," Sonomi gave Tomoyo a dreary smile, "Have fun just for tonight… for me?"
"Fine," Tomoyo huffed.
Sonomi nodded before throwing herself back into the party, chatting with potential business partners as her daughter continued to fume.
"Hello, Ms. Daidouji," another suit-wearing businessman appeared at her elbow again, lust glittering in his eyes, "May I say you look radiant toni…"
"Bite me," Tomoyo snapped whirling around and storming off.
Pushing her way through the crowd, she made it to the bar. Plunking herself down onto a stool she gestured at the barman.
"Champagne," she ordered briskly.
The barman instantly poured her a drink handing it to her, clutching the glass flute in her hand Tomoyo spun around on her stool and faced the crowd forcing herself to smile lest her mother see her true emotions and come over once again nagging her to have 'fun'.
Sighing into her glass, Tomoyo took a delicate sip closing her eyes in pleasure. When she opened them again, she was startled to find a man standing in front of her.
"Excuse me?" Tomoyo asked quizzically.
The man gave her a short bow before handing her a small piece of paper.
"A gentlemen sends you his regards," he said mysteriously before walking off back into the crowd.
Frowning in confusion, Tomoyo placed her champagne flute back onto the bar top before unfolding the piece of paper.
"Huh?" Tomoyo frowned, "Syaoran's Investigations?"
End of FlashbackAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura smiled to herself thinking back to the first time she had ever heard of Syaoran's name. She remembered the contents of that e-mail off by heart now and had remembered her confusion at the cryptic message it contained.
Looking around at her surroundings, Sakura bit her lip as she realised how far she had come from those days.
Stretching her neck and quickening her pace to keep up with Kerberos, Sakura remembered her miraculous transformation just before her first meeting with Syaoran and the other two Angels.
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Flashback"There you go," the orthodontist said with a small smile, "The braces are off now."
He handed Sakura a mirror. Nervously she brought it up to her face and nervously peered into it. What she saw startled her: a neat row of pearly white teeth, which to her was the nicest feature of her face.
"Thank you," Sakura said sincerely climbing out of the chair.
They exchanged a few more words mainly about Sakura keeping her teeth healthy before the young American girl left the clinic still coming to terms with the fact that she no longer needed her thick, ugly braces. Suddenly her phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Hello?" Sakura asked picking up.
'CHERRY!'"Hey, Diana," Sakura replied happily, "Guess what? My braces are gone!"
'Thank god, finally!' Diana sighed, 'Now all you have to do is change your fashion sense.'
"What do you mean by that?" Sakura asked nervously knowing exactly where her friend was going with this.
'Cherry, I know you think you're ugly or something but you're not. Get out and buy some decent clothes for once, get those ugly woollen sweat of yours and burn them,' Diana commanded firmly, 'It's about time you left your shell and live a little!'
"I'm not so sure at this…" Sakura began hesitantly.
'Do it. Or I swear by god, I'm going to hit you over the head, stuff you into a bag and drag you down to the mall and make you buy something at gunpoint,' Diana threatened, 'I'm serious, Cherry. I know you think you can't wear those kind of clothes but you can.'
"Fine," Sakura sighed, knowing that Diana on a mission was something nobody wanted to mess with, "I'll do it."
'Jeez, could you be less enthusiastic?' her friend muttered.
"I'll do it!" Sakura yelled down the line drawing some curious stares from by-passers.
'Great! And remember I want to see photos of your transformation. Photos,' Diana repeated, 'And burn those old clothes of yours.'
"If you're sure…" Sakura brushed the hair away from her face, "Guess, I'll see you soon, 'kay?"
'Sure.'
Her friend hung up as Sakura shoved her phone back into her bag. Once that was done, she changed her direction heading towards the mall.
End of FlashbackAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo's senses were playing havoc with her, the humid air seemed to press down on her with unbearable force. The trees themselves seemed alive, gnarled trunks become hideous, distorted faces that screamed and taunted her.
"God, get a grip," she muttered to herself.
Every single inch of her skin crawled and trembled as the air itself seemed to become heavier, Tomoyo gritted her teeth and closed her eyes trying to calm her nerves down even though her whole body was reacting violently to her surroundings.
"Yue?" she managed to choke out at last.
The winged guardian turned around slowly.
"Is…" her voice was trembling, clearing her throat and trying to steady herself Tomoyo managed to force out the rest of her question, "Is the forest… is it filled with magic."
Yue nodded gravely.
"Heilang is plotting something," he whispered grimly, "Dark magic is coursing through every tree filling every vein on every leaf with power."
"Uhhh… why?"
"To try and kill us," Yue replied flippantly.
"Oh," Tomoyo muttered dryly, "You know for a minute there I was worried… now I'm fighting a complete mental breakdown."
Yue ignored her as he continued trekking through the trees, Tomoyo several steps behind him trying to fight the almost overwhelming urge to run for her life.
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"The trees themselves are coming to life," Ruby Moon murmured almost to herself as she looked around, her ruby eyes turning a steely crimson.
"Aren't trees usually alive?"
"The trees are five seconds away from sprouting vines and tearing us apart."
"And people say I'm pessimistic," Meiling griped under her breath.
Meiling followed Ruby Moon's gaze and shivered as she realised that the trees were rustling even though there was no wind at all. She looked closer and gasped seeing it wasn't just the leaves that were moving, the trunks themselves were trembling with fine force.
"Can we hurry up?" Meiling whispered urgently.
Ruby Moon nodded briskly and quickened her steps; Meiling jogging behind her throwing fearful glances behind her back.
"This is beyond creepy," she muttered.
Suddenly they burst through a dense covering of bushes and ended up in a natural clearing, Meiling glanced up and was relieved to say a pale patch of blue sky above awash with the faint pink of morning. Her nerves seemed to steady somewhat at the familiar sight but with the trees rustling at her back, she couldn't afford to relax.
She almost had a heart attack as on the other side of the grove, the trees began thrashing wildly. Her hands immediately flew to the tiny butterfly bracelet around her wrist as something crashed through the foliage.
"Finally," Sakura sighed, "Jeez, at this point I'm wondering what's Green Peace so worked up about."
She glanced up and noticed Meiling.
"Hey, you made it!" she cried happily running over to her friend.
They gave each other a brief hug before turning simultaneously to regard the two guardians who were conversing quietly.
"Where's 'Moyo?" Meiling asked casually.
"Here," a voice said from behind them.
Both girls jumped and whirled around.
"Are you trying to kill us?" Sakura yelped.
Tomoyo shrugged helplessly and shot them a weary grin.
"Hi."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
FlashbackTomoyo breezed through the impressive glass and ebony door of the building she had been directed to, stopping briefly to regard the proud gold plague that adorned the warm cream-coloured wall beside the doorway.
"Syaoran Li," Tomoyo considered frowning in confusion, "Why does that name sound so familiar?"
Shaking her head, she strolled through the doorway and entered an immense room lined with bookshelves however the main feature seemed to be at the far wall, a solid wooden desk polished to the point that it seemed to gleam stood there invitingly as though coaxing her to come closer. Confused at what was supposed to happen here, Tomoyo walked towards the desk realising that several metres in front of it was a set of cream-coloured couches and a low coffee table, siting at in one of the seats was a young auburn-haired woman.
She had been distracted by some kind of magazine. Tomoyo seeing the kind of clothes the woman wore rolled her eyes.
"Airhead," she muttered under her breath half-expecting the magazine to be Vogue or something just as vain.
Sakura glanced up at the woman and gulped seeing her stylish outfit that screamed taste and money. Plucking nervously at her own outfit, a bright yellow sundress complete with white sandals, she tacked a warm smile onto her face trying not to be intimidated by this Prada-clad woman.
"Hi," she cleared her throat, "I'm Cherry… well kind of… I guess…"
Tomoyo arched an elegant eyebrow as Sakura flushed.
"My real name's Sakura," she tried again, "But my friends call me Cherry."
"I guess I'll call you Sakura then," Tomoyo replied crisply.
Sakura froze at that comment as Tomoyo elegantly swanned around the couch and made herself comfortable as far away from her as possible. Feeling embarrassed and awkward, Sakura glanced down at her magazine and began reading again.
It was a foreign magazine written in Italian however the article was about some new Egyptian pyramid discovery, thanks to her archaeologist father Sakura had a deep interest in some matters and could even translate some basic hieroglyphs. Glancing at the glossy pictures that depicted some carvings on the pyramid wall, Sakura was pleased to realise she could translate at least two-thirds of it. A genius at many languages, she had no problem reading the article at all.
Finishing the article, Sakura threw the magazine down onto the coffee table and pawed through the small pile of magazines that lay there. Pulling out a French one, Sakura flipped it open and began reading.
Tomoyo pulled off her sunglasses and calmly followed them tucking them into her coat jacket before studying the girl sitting across from her subtly. There was a small frown on her face as she glanced down at the magazine, Tomoyo inwardly snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Probably thinking about what shoes go with what dress," she muttered under her breath utterly sick and tired of rich little girls more worried about fashion then anything else.
A silence descended onto the room as Tomoyo sighed and glanced at her watch wondering if something was supposed to happen unaware that Sakura, bored of the magazine she was reading, was studying her.
"Ice Queen," Sakura muttered shaking her head.
No doubt, she was one of those rich girls who looked down upon others just because they were well… not rich. She saw her glance down at her watch and resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Afraid you'll miss your manicure appointment?" Sakura muttered sarcastically to herself as she gave in to temptation and rolled her eyes.
Ignoring the Ice Queen as she had ignored her, Sakura turned back to her magazine.
Suddenly the door burst open, both girls turned around expecting Syaoran (whoever he was) to walk in but another woman strolled into the room. Sakura and Tomoyo blatantly stared at the newcomer, dressed in black jeans underneath a red blouse with a tan-coloured leather jacket covering her top; this new woman was dressed to kill. Ruby eyes swept over the two occupants of the room as an incredulous look appeared on her face.
"Am I in the wrong place?" she wondered loudly.
"If you're looking for Syaoran, you are not," Tomoyo said calmly.
Meiling glanced at her.
"Jeez, check out Gucci Barbie," she drawled.
Tomoyo's spine stiffened at the insult.
"I'm not blonde," she snapped back.
Meiling shrugged and waltzed over to the couch throwing herself down non too gently. Sakura trying to keep things civilised introduced herself.
"I'm Sakura," she stuck out her hand.
"Meiling," Meiling took Sakura's hand and gave it a quick shake.
She glanced at Tomoyo.
"My name is Tomoyo."
"Charmed to meet you," Meiling muttered dryly.
An icy stare was hurled her way, which Meiling pointedly ignored.
"So…" Sakura trying to make small talk, "When did you get Syaoran's message?"
Meiling and Tomoyo stared at her.
"You mean you got one too?" Meiling demanded.
Sakura was confused.
"Huh?" she frowned, "Ahh… why else would I be here?"
"Did you actually read it?" Tomoyo asked, her voice scornful.
"Duh," Sakura rolled her eyes injecting sarcasm into her voice, "No, I didn't."
"Jeez, this Syaoran guy must be desperate…" Meiling muttered.
Sakura felt her body stiffen as memories of her hellish high school life flood into her mind, for a few moments Meiling and Tomoyo's face seemed to disappear replaced by Belinda's scowling countenance. Shaking herself free from that particular memory, Sakura shook herself and plucked out her courage… seems like her makeover was doing more than change her appearance!
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sakura demanded.
"Oh, nothing," Tomoyo drawled.
"Oh god," Sakura snapped, "Get over yourself, Ice Queen."
"What?"
"You heard me," the voices were getting progressively louder, "Get over yourself and your 'I'm better than thou' attitude."
Tomoyo narrowed her eyes at Sakura but whirled on Meiling as she began cracking up.
"Whoa," Meiling sniggered, "Fluffy kitten has claws."
"FLUFFY?" Sakura growled.
"I'm an Ice Queen, at least I'm not a sarcastic, cynical fashion victim," Tomoyo spat.
"Me?"
"Oh please, only thirteen-year-olds trying to dress up like adults and ending up looking like a skanky ho looks like you."
"At least I don't have to chase penguins out of my bed," Meiling shot back, "Ms. Freeze."
"Fluffy?" Sakura glared at Meiling, "What do you think I am? A Care Bear?"
"No, I think you're an ex-cheerleading, glory days are over airhead."
Sakura laughed out loud.
"If only you knew," Sakura muttered to herself, the others only catching snippets of her sentence.
"What?" Tomoyo sighed, "Great, we have a psycho wreck muttering to herself."
"What was that?" Sakura cocked her head, "OH! Wait it must be the frigid winter wind blowing through the window."
The three girls glared at each other, murderous intent blazing in their eyes. Suddenly a warm male voice cut through the crackling mood causing all three girls to jump.
"Good morning, Angels."
As one all three girls turned around slowly and stared at the cream-coloured speaker box lying on the desk.
"WHAT?"
End of FlashbackAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"What?"
"The power well is only a kilometre from here," Yue informed them.
"Yay?" Sakura glanced at the other two guardians, "That's good, right?"
"Why didn't we just teleport right to this power well thingy?" Meiling asked curiously.
"Heilang's got it protected by magic and the power well itself emanates enough power to distort any type of intrusive magic like that," Yue explained calmly.
The three Angels exchanged confused looks but let it pass.
"Okay, a kilometre," Tomoyo took in a deep breath, "We can do this. It's only a kilometre… one thousand metres… one hundred thousand centimetres… one million millimetres."
"As the saying goes," Sakura began taking a step forwards, "A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step."
Meiling joined her friend's side and gazed into the forest depths. Fixing a determined look on her face, she plucked up her courage and took another step forwards reaching the edge of the clearing.
"Alright, let's…" she began.
With no warning at all, the trees began trembling violently, everyone stared in shock as a thousand thick wooden vines burst from the shaking trunks and rumbling earth. They merged together, twining in between each other to form a solid wooden barrier, to top it off a thousand thorns burst into life from each vine.
Meiling felt her courage falter at the sight of writhing, living wall of razor sharp thorns.
"… do this," she finished weakly.
From beside her, Sakura whimpered.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Nadeshiko Kinomoto shivered as the whole Limbo shook with incredible force, from some far off plane she could hear tortured screams and demonic laughter. The bitter stench of sulphur invaded her senses as she finally realised what was happening. The walls separating the Limbo from the two final destinations of dead souls were slowly breaking down. Heaven and Hell was blending together into the Limbo and eventually the Limbo itself would collapse pouring the powerful forces of Hell and Light onto earth. What happens next after that was anybody's guess.
"Don't worry, Mommy Nadeshiko," a small voice said from beside her.
Nadeshiko glanced down and smiled at Mini-Meiling.
"I'm not worried… yet," she frowned, "But Heilang is strong and cunning. My daughter and her friends doesn't seem to realise just how treacherous Heilang can be."
"They are the chosen three," Mini-Meiling told her with innocent confidence in her voice, "They will beat back the darkness."
"What of the curse?"
"Already taken care of," Mini-Meiling beamed up at Nadeshiko who looked down at her in confusion.
"If you say so little one."
Mini-Meiling smiled up at her before turning away and staring at something off into the distance, her eyes becoming unfocused and dreamy.
"Do not worry because even in their darkest hour there is still hope," the young girl whispered.
"What hope?"
"The hope born of courage and love," a bright smile flashed across Mini-Meiling's face as she began giggling, "And the final prophecy."
"The final…" Nadeshiko glanced down at her, "What game are you playing at?"
When Mini-Meiling spoke again, her voice was no longer that of a young girl's but some divine force beyond simple human understanding.
"The one shall split into two and the two shall never know each other. When the darkness comes, they shall be made whole and their remaking shall turn the tide," Mini-Meiling peered up at the taller woman, her voice reverting back to normal, "See? Bright shiny hope."
Nadeshiko opened her mouth to reply but the Limbo shook again as hideous screams filled the air.
"It has begun," she noted calmly.
Mini-Meiling nodded.
"The crossroad," the young girl agreed, "The dice is thrown but where it lands and how this ends."
She stared off into the distance again.
"Not a soul knows."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
A shower of fire, crystals and crimson energy sheared the thorny wall in half as the girls made a run for it ducking under writhing vines that whipped the air with deadly force. Sakura almost got a face full of thorns when she risked a glance backwards with a yelp she jumped backwards and almost fell over into a thrashing mass of thorny vines but Meiling's hand shot out steadying her. Sakura shot the Asian Angel a grateful smile before racing through the rest of the thorny growth. Once they had cleared the harrowing grove, they looked backwards at the thrashing vines and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ouch," Sakura muttered gingerly probing a long thin cut on her cheek.
"We're lucky to be alive," Meiling wheezed.
"Damn right," Tomoyo muttered.
The three guardians crashed through the vines shearing a path through the thorny growth with their magic trying to destroy them with fire and crystals quicker than they could regenerate.
"That was not fun," Ruby Moon muttered ripping a thorn free from her arm, "Remind me to not do that again."
"Come," Yue cocked his head towards one particular direction, "The power well is this way."
"Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to death we go," Meiling chanted under her breath as she picked herself up.
The other two Angels did the same with loud groans.
"Come on," Tomoyo muttered heading off towards the direction Yue had indicated.
Suddenly with no warning at all, six writhing mass of vines shot out from the earth.
"WAH!" Sakura screamed as one mass whipped itself around her legs imprisoning her.
"SAKURA!" Meiling tried to help her friend but she too was quickly entangled,
"DO SOMETHING!" Ruby Moon yelled at Kerberos.
Tomoyo was the next to be captured but the guardians soon followed. The vines seemed to regenerate at an almost insane pace growing new growth even as fire and energy incinerated them; it was inevitable as the guardians too were captured by separate masses of thrashing vines.
"What the hell is goi…" Tomoyo's sentence was cut off as she was slowly raised into the air as the vines began growing.
They shot up into the air bursting through the canopy and into the pale sunlit air.
"Oh god, oh god, oh god," Sakura whimpered.
"What are they…" Meiling's eyes bulged in shock as the vines holding her began dipping backwards, "What the…"
Everyone watched in horror as the wispy vine that connected Meiling to the ground bent backwards and suddenly with no warning at all it snapped back into position. The vines let go of her as the force of that movement catapulted Meiling through the air throwing her deep into the Laotian jungle.
"Oh shi…" Sakura whispered as her bunch of vines did the same.
One by one, each of the captured Angels and their respective guardians were tossed in all different directions crashing through dense canopy and landing painfully on the loamy earth below.
Within the temple that sat over one of the strongest power wells in the world, Heilang smirked.
"United they stand a chance," he whispered, a wicked smile dancing across his face, "Divided… they die."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Meiling groaned in pain.
"Ergghhh," she whimpered as she crawled to her feet.
She glanced around at her dark surroundings feeling the first dark whisper of fear in her mind but her eyes lit up as she saw who else was with her.
"Ruby Moon!" she cried running over to her battered guardian, "Are you okay?"
"Just give be me a minute so my spine can un-break itself," the guardian muttered, "I know I'm immortal and all but… OW!"
"That's not exactly going to be new ride at Disneyland, I know," Meiling agreed with her, "But we need to get moving. Where are the others?"
"Tossed in different directions," Ruby Moon glanced all around her, "The power well is that way, I can feel it."
"How far?"
"A fair way off from before," Ruby Moon groaned, "God, I hate this forest."
Meiling's well-trained eyes caught the first trace of movement in the shadows.
"Well, prepare yourself to hate it a whole lot more," she muttered dryly.
"Wha?" Ruby Moon whirled around, "AH!"
Meiling instantly summoned the Clow sword as she glanced at the incoming army.
"Glad I don't have arachnephobia," Meiling whimpered.
The two women prepared to do battle as a sea of glittering red eyes, venom dripping fangs and squat furry bodies burst from the forest and washed over them.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura didn't know to bless the gods or curse them with every breath in her body as she realised she was going to land in the middle of a swamp.
"PLOOOOSSSSSHHHHHH!"
Water rushed into her mouth and blinded her as she trashed around wildly trying to fight her way up to the surface.
Cursing, she decided as she struggled to what she hoped was the surface. She was going to curse the gods she decided, curse them with every breath in her body but in order to do that she had to be alive so…
"THANK GOD!" she cried as she burst to the surface.
Sucking in a grateful lungful of air, Sakura began treading water as she studied her surroundings. Wispy gauzes of mist clung to every surface, ethereal and eerie like lost souls looking for a final resting place. Sakura began swimming towards the nearest bank with even strong strokes as over the sound of trickling water she could hear frog croaking off in the distance. Finally her feet hit soft mud and she managed to pull herself up onto her feet, shivering at the feel of cool air against her damp skin, Sakura waded her way up the bank and dumped herself down onto the dirt.
"Hello? Anyone there?" she called looking around, "Tomoyo? Meiling? Yue? Ruby Moon? Kerberos?"
No answer, only the distant croak of frogs.
"And the bad news just keeps on rolling," Sakura moaned hanging her head wearily.
Suddenly from above her, a huge roar could be heard. Sakura jumped to her feet and looked up to the sky in horror half expecting to see a dragon or something charging at her, she gasped as she realised it was Kerberos. The winged lion had his wings outstretched and was flapping furiously trying to break his current trajectory, which would have ended up with him being dumped into the swamp. At the last possible moment, he broke out of his freefall and zipped across the surface of the water skimming it with his claws. Sakura hurriedly jumped out of the way as he crash-landed onto the muddy bank next to her.
"That looked like that hurt," Sakura noted.
Kerberos merely groaned as he crawled to his feet and stretched his wings delicately checking for damage.
"Are you okay?" Sakura asked concerned.
"I'm alive."
"So you are in pain."
Kerberos shot her a scathing look before sniffing the air delicately.
"Where are we?"
"Still in the jungle," Kerberos sighed, "But further from the power well then we were originally."
"Oh great," Sakura groaned, "Trekking our way through the jungle of death to the power well of death."
Kerberos pointedly ignored her.
"Let's go," he commanded stalking off towards the forest.
Sakura turned to follow him but froze as she heard something peculiar.
"Kerberos?" she called.
"Yes?"
"Do you hear that?"
As one they turned around and stared at the swamp as it began bubbling and frothing wildly throwing white-spittle foam into the air. The water began to churn and segue as Angel and guardian backed away hurriedly.
"What on…" Sakura began.
She jumped as something leapt out from the raging torrent and landed right in front of her.
"AGH!" she froze as she realised what it was, "What the hell?"
She stared down at the tiny innocent green frog that sat in front of her. Sakura gaped at it as it looked up at her with twin wet globes and gave a small croak.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," Sakura muttered, "Jeez, you scared me little froggie with the frothing and the churning and the…"
Kerberos and Sakura stared in horror as the frog blinked and began changing. Its body quivered and shook as it mutated to a hundred times its size until it towered over both of them. A long crimson tongue poked out from fang lined maws as its skin began breaking out into bumps and ruts, forest green became venomous blacks and purples as its once big wet black eyes narrowed until its was gleaming red slits. Spines and fins dripping with acid venom burst through its potholed skin all over its muscular body, each one easily the size of Sakura's arms. It gave an earth-shaking roar and glared down at its victims.
Sakura gaped up at the behemoth.
"Does anybody have a rocket launcher handy?"
As the sentence left her mouth, the monster-frog's hideous tongue shot forwards smacking into Sakura. The American Angel screamed and struggled as the tongue wrapped itself around her waist and began pulling her towards her death.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo crashed through what felt like fifty storeys worth of canopy, branches that seemed to have been grown specifically to scratch as much of her battered body as possible slowed her fall somewhat but when she finally crashed onto the damp ground below it was with enough force to rattle her teeth.
"Whoohoo," Tomoyo muttered disgustedly under her breath, "Can we do that again?"
The Angel staggered to her feet clinging to a nearby tree trunk for support. She looked around at her surrounding and shivered not liking the fact that every single tree nearby towered over her and were had grown in such a dense fashion that she literally could not see past the first thicket of trees. It was a mixed blessing, she couldn't see what was coming but she too was hidden from view unless the trees sprout vines again and ripped her to shreds.
Tomoyo shuddered at the thought of bloodstained trees before pushing down that thought and focusing on the task at hand.
"Hello?" she called uncomfortably aware of the fact that her voice boomed in the still damp air, "Anyone else here? Meiling? Sakura? Yue?"
"I'm here."
"WAH!"
Tomoyo slapped a hand to her chest trying to stop her heart from bursting out from her ribcage as she whirled around.
"DON'T DO THAT!" Tomoyo yelped her nerves finally calming down, "Jeez!"
Yue gave her an unamused look whilst Tomoyo sent him her patented frigid-blizzard glare. The winged guardian sighed and looked up at the skies as though pleading the gods for patience as Tomoyo smothered a giggle.
"So we survived the fall," she mused looking around, "Now what?"
"We try to reach the power well," Yue replied looking off into the forest, "It's that way."
"Why did Heilang let us live?" Tomoyo wondered, "I mean those vines could've torn us to shreds."
"I don't think he wants to kill us that easily," Yue muttered, "He always was a sadist, he wants to do it personally."
"So all this?" Tomoyo gestured at the forest, "Is nothing more then…"
"A ploy to soften us so to speak."
"Soften?' Tomoyo whimpered, "I don't want to be there when he begins pounding us."
"I think he's just warming up," Yue said cryptically.
Tomoyo looked at him strangely.
"What?"
Yue wordlessly gestured to something behind her, filled with dread Tomoyo slowly turned around. She gasped in horror as something lumbered towards them. A monster, made of rocks, roots and dirt messily joined together, dark holes in what was roughly its head formed eyes and mouth. It's arms were rooty steel cables ending in long stone talons; it shuffled towards them emanating a dull from the dark abyss of its mouth.
"Oh god," Tomoyo moaned, "What the hell is tha…"
She was cut off as the earth behind the ambling monster burst upwards, three more dirt and root monsters leapt free from the damp soil joining its companion as they ruthlessly marched towards them, mindlessly intent on their goal.
Tomoyo gulped.
"… are those?" she whispered fearfully.
"Golems."
"Huh?"
"Creatures born from magic and made of earth," Yue explained, "They follow the will of their master to the bitter end."
"And I wonder what the master's will is?" Tomoyo drawled rhetorically.
"He wants them to kill us."
"Bingo."
Angel and guardian held their ground and waited for the golems to come; the atmosphere was crackling with fear and apprehension as the mindless monsters drew closer.
Yue gestured with his hands and a rain of blue crystals crashed into first golem tearing it apart, Tomoyo cheered as he turned the fire to the next monster. It too disintegrated until the attack.
"These guys are so tou…" Tomoyo began.
She let out a shriek as she felt an iron-hard vice settle around her waist, she struggled to see her attacker and gasped seeing it was another golem. Yue turned to help her but from behind him, another golem burst free from the ground and clubbed him in the back of the head. The guardian went down as two other golems emerged and leapt on top of him.
Tomoyo snapped her head backwards, head-butting the golem in the face. For a few precious seconds, the pinching grip around her waist loosened. She immediately bent forwards at the waist grabbing the golem's arm in her hands and flipped it over her shoulders dumping it onto the ground.
She backed off hurriedly as it crawled to its feet and roared mindlessly at her. Tomoyo risked a glance behind her and blanched.
Surrounding the clearing was a ring of golems ready to tear her apart.
"Oh man," she moaned.
As one they all leapt forwards.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"FIERY CARD! TORCH THEM! RELEASE AND DISPEL!" Meiling roared.
The fire sprite burst free and immediately unleashed a tongue of crimson flames baking the first rank of incoming spiders. But there were plenty more.
They leapt into the air swinging on gossamer webs aiming straight for their faces, Ruby Moon destroyed them under a barrage of red energy. The Fiery unleashed a second wave of fire incinerating more spiders but they just kept on coming.
The Clow card faltered for a few seconds as a net of webs fell over her but the fire dancing across her skin easily destroyed it. A few seconds later another rain of web fell on her, this time it took a bit longer for the web to burn.
"What the hell?" Meiling muttered watching Ruby Moon attack again with a blast of energy.
The spiders that had disintegrated so easily before stood up to the attack for a few minor seconds before being destroyed. The next blast, it took longer.
'What's going on?" Meiling demanded.
"I don't know!" Ruby Moon yelled desperately, "It seems they're building a resistance to our attacks."
"Oh great," Meiling muttered.
The Fiery was under attack by a horde of spiders, even as she burned them down more would take their place and each round she unleashed her fire, the spiders would endure it that much longer before succumbing to the heat.
"Oh god," Meiling moaned.
An ambitious spider leapt down from the trees above her. Year of training and instincts made Meiling jump hurriedly out of the way as it crashed landed onto the forest floor in front of her, it instantly sprung up onto its eight feet, its glittering eyes glaring at her. She gulped seeing that this furry arachnid was easily the size of a rabbit.
"Where's a can of Raid when you need it?" Meiling moaned as she swung her sword and hacked the spider in two.
A cry of pain made Meiling whirl around just in time to see the Fiery card, besieged by spiders, retract back into its card form and fly towards her. Meiling caught the card deftly and turned to Ruby Moon, the butterfly guardian was not having much luck either.
She watched in horror as one spider easily the size of her arm leapt onto the guardian's face digging into her alabaster skin with its fangs and claws, Ruby Moon let out a yelp of pain before slapping her hand across the spider's furry body and yanked it off, hurling it away in one swift movement. A beam of ruby light struck the spider throwing it back into forest but not killing it. Meiling wilted at the sight.
"Oh god," she moaned.
She had no time to dwell on the inevitable outcome of this particular battle as several spiders lunged at her. Desperately trying to avoid those venomous fangs, she lashed out with the Clow sword cutting them down in mid-air but plenty more were waiting to take their place.
"WINDY!" Meiling cried desperately, "RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
A huge gust of wind blew the spiders away giving Meiling several precious seconds of reprieve. Ruby Moon blew some more spiders back but they just kept coming.
"Great, now they're not even phased!" Ruby Moon yelled, "DO SOMETHING!"
Meiling scrabbled around for a suitable card.
"Got it!" she yelled holding one of the cards up triumphantly, "FREEZE CARD! ENCASE THIS PLACE WITH ICE! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
A roaring Arctic wind blew into the forest as a blue beam of energy shot out from the card, it coated the forest leaving behind a thick layer of ice in its wake. The spiders were all struck, struggling at first until ice gripped their bodies and plunged them into deep sleep. Ruby Moon blasted back the last few spiders that clung to her flinging them into the path of freezing energy and watched in satisfaction as they became ice sculptures. Meiling staggered once the Freeze card was finished, breathing labouredly she returned the card and turned to Ruby Moon.
"Let's get out of here?" she suggested weakly.
"Hell yeah," Ruby Moon agreed.
Both women raced into the forest towards the direction of the power well leaving behind a winter wonderland.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"AHHHHHH!" Sakura stared down the monster's fanged gullet and freaked.
"WAIT!" Kerberos opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of flames.
The monster roared with pain as fire lashed its face, thankfully the tongue around Sakura's hip loosened and the Angel sprung free from its sticky embrace. The toad-monster glared at Kerberos with its red slit eyes and croaked loudly. Sakura and Kerberos watched the beast cautiously as its tongue shot back into its mouth. For a few seconds both sides stared at each other willing the other to make the first move.
Suddenly the toad's eyes twitched, Sakura and Kerberos were already in motion as it attacked. It sucked in its heavy stomach as its cheeks bulged, narrowed red eyes glared at them as it opened its gaping mouth.
"WAH!" Sakura leapt hurriedly out of the way as a wad of clear liquid burst from its throat.
It struck the earth missing Sakura by several inches as the Angel breathed a sight of relief but soon gawked at the impact zone as the clear liquid began sizzling letting out streams of acrid smoke as it ate away at the dirt.
"Eep," Sakura whimpered realising how close she had come to being sprayed with venom.
The toad's eyes twitched again. Kerberos hurriedly took to the air as a blast of venom corroded the earth beneath him.
Sakura yanked the key from around her neck and held it aloft, pale light glimmering across the golden surface.
"Key of Stars with powers burning bright! Reveal the staff and shine your light! Release!"
The Star wand soon manifested itself into her hands as the toad spat another burst of venom at her.
"SHIELD CARD! PROTECT ME! RELEASE AND DISPEL!" Sakura cried hurriedly.
A dome of blue light closed over her as the venom smacked the protective ward, it slid off the magical wall like water dribbling onto the earth. With a thundering roar, the toad leapt forwards landing with an earth-rumbling crunch, it lowered its head and rammed it against the magical barrier. Sakura gaped as the dome began crumbling. Gritting her teeth, she concentrated and channelled more of her energy into card. Miraculously it held even as the monster rammed it again with its horned head.
"Back away from her!" Kerberos roared warningly blasting out a jet of flames.
The force of the blow shoved the toad away violently as Sakura hurriedly dissolved the Shield card, gasping in exertion. The beast steadied itself and glared at them, its eyes twitching.
This time Sakura tried a different approach.
"JUMP CARD! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
Semi-transparent wings grew from her ankles and she instantly leapt into the air, sailing up into the sky as though the constraints of gravity could no longer contain her. Kerberos soared up into the air hovering next to her as the toad's venom completely missed burning more smoking holes into the muddy bank. Sakura flew back down onto the ground landing lightly on her feet as she eyed the toad, it croaked and wriggled its body. Its loose red and purple skin rippled as the poisonous spines poking through its skin clacked together dangerously.
From above Kerberos let out another blast of fire at the monster, with a loud croak it managed the incredible task of leaping backwards plunging itself back into the swamp as fire lashed the muddy bank baking it into hard stone. Ripples and a trail of bubbles were all that remained of the monster.
"Is it gone?" Sakura called up to her winged guardian.
"No," Kerberos muttered pointedly, "I don't think it would give up that easily."
Just as the words left his mouth, the swamp surface surged upwards. The monstrous amphibian leapt out once again but Sakura was waiting for it. A single jump turned into a soaring leap thanks to the Jump card as the toad crashed onto the bank croaking loudly, water dripping down from its spine spiked skin, it seemed angry as it realised that it hadn't crushed its victim beneath its amphibian bulk.
But it had bigger things to worry about.
Sakura let out a fierce war cry as she aimed the Star wand down at the monster and let gravity take over her once more. Kerberos screamed at her for being an idiot as she sailed down straight at the toad, it looked up at her and its eyes twitched preparing itself for another venom blast but Kerberos got in first splashing its face with red flames. The creature roared in pain as Sakura continued to plummet down from the sky.
"HIYA!" she cried swinging her wand around.
She cringed as she felt the hard top of the Star wand punch through the toad's delicate eyes, tearing through a thin membrane and unleashing a gush of red. The monster screamed as it clawed at its ruined eyes, Sakura hurriedly yanked the wand free and leapt backwards landing several metres away.
"RUN!" she screamed at Kerberos not even bothering to wait to see if the monster would surrender.
She plunged deep into the forest, Kerberos right at her heels.
"We can take to the air!" Kerberos roared at her as from behind them an earth-shattering roar filled the air, "It will be safer!"
Ironically, as soon as those words left his mouth, the canopy above began shaking. Sakura looked up wildly just in time to see thousands of leafy creepers burst into life, growth cycles accelerating as the tender green tendrils became iron-hard vines that knitted together to form a living dome above them blocking their access to the sky. As if to warn them about the foolishness of trying to penetrate this living wall, the vines sprouted razor sharp thorns, dark and bloodthirsty.
"You were saying?" Sakura muttered dryly to the shocked guardian.
The toad-beast seemed to have recovered by now and had tried to charge them however its large bulk couldn't squeeze in between the meagre space between the towering tree trunks. It snarled and spat at them, venom chewing through some of the trees however it simply could not get to them. With a final defiant snort, it whirled around and leapt back into the swamp as Sakura and Kerberos breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, now that we got rid of the Mutant Ninja Adult Toad where do we go?" Sakura asked looking around at the almost pitch-black forest thanks to the blanket of thorned vines above.
"That way," Kerberos gestured with his hand.
Nodding, Sakura broke out into a jog as Kerberos followed.
Their retreating forms were quickly swallowed up the shadows of the dark forest.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Can't we talk about this?" Tomoyo pleaded, "Please? Living-dirt-root-guys? Umm… I come in peace?"
One of the golems charged straight at her and Tomoyo had to duck hurriedly as it swung its heavy stone claws at her missing her head by mere millimetres.
"Fine, you wanna fight?" Tomoyo snapped straightening herself and glaring straight into the golem's face, "Let's fight!"
She immediately flipped into a horizontal spin, double-kicking the golem in the face. She watched in satisfaction as it stumbled backwards crashing back into its companions, she lashed out with her left foot snap kicking another golem in what would be its knee. The joint disintegrated into dust under the impact, Tomoyo smirked as it stumbled forwards hitting the ground face-first however her smile disappeared as she realised that it just kept coming towards her even though it was dragging itself forwards with its arms.
"Okay, problem," Tomoyo muttered hop-kicking the one-legged golem.
Its head snapped back as Tomoyo lashed out at it again, this time the force of the blow sent the head flying. It sailed off into the forest however to Tomoyo's horror, the golem was still moving.
"God, these guys are like the 'Night of Living Dead' on steroids," Tomoyo moaned.
She ducked as two stone claws swung at her, to Tomoyo's immense joy the golems took each out as the claws missed her and crashed into each other. But that joy was short-lived as one again even though the blow had torn out a good chunk from each golem's shoulders, the monsters were far from dead.
"Damn, damn, double damn," Tomoyo griped as she struck another golem with a right hook, she threw in a quick left hook managing to shove the golem away but doing nothing to actually destroy it.
She body-slammed a golem down and managed to stomp on its neck crushing it but like the one before, it was still alive and thrashing. Tomoyo hurriedly leapt out of the way to avoid its flying talons but had to dodge again as the golem before her swiped at her body.
She kicked and punched and shoved and tossed as many of the golems as she could but their sheer number and their almost indestructible nature proved to be the winner. She was slowly losing ground as the ring of dirt creatures slowly but surely closed around her.
"YUE!" Tomoyo cried, "HELP!"
She shot a glance at the guardian but he was still under attack and disorientated.
"Great, just great," Tomoyo sighed, "This is really unfair…"
She smiled at the golems.
"So I think it's time to even the odds," Tomoyo grabbed the Clow ring from around her finger, ""Source of light with ancient spin, send forth the magic power within! Forces of darkness hear my plight! Mirror appear and send forth the light! RELEASE!"
The Clow mirror fell into her hands as Tomoyo flipped it around expertly until the mirror's surface was pointing straight at the golem right in front of her. She concentrated and unleashed her magic. A pale beam of energy blasted the golem to rubble as Tomoyo smirked.
"One down," she cheered.
Whirling around, she blasted a hole through one of the golem's attacking Yue and smiled as the guardian used it to his advantage destroying his other attacker with a barrage of crystals. He rose to his full height and began blasting the other golems with his magic. They marched towards them but were quickly cut down under a rain of crystals and energy beams; Tomoyo felt a triumphant smile dance across her face.
"Alright! Take this!" she cried unleashing another beam.
"This is taking too long," Yue said tightly, "We are wasting time."
His words jolted Tomoyo making her remember why they were here in the first place. Joy was replaced with determination as she nodded.
"Right," she pondered what to do next, "Let's see what we can do about tha… ahhh…"
She held up a card.
"TIME CARD! FREEZE THEM! RELEASE AND DISPEL!" she cried.
A flash of yellow-green light flooded the area as Tomoyo felt like something had just been viciously torn out of her body leaving her staggering and gasping. Her vision blurred as she rapidly blinked back tears, when it finally cleared again she could see her handiwork. A row of golems staring ahead with blank bottomless eyes, frozen in mid-motion, the very molecules themselves unmoving.
"Ouchie," Tomoyo moaned not liking the feel of immense magical drain.
"Are you all right?" Yue asked concernedly rushing to her side.
"I'm good," Tomoyo slowly straightened stretching her sore muscles as she stared at the frozen golems, "How long will this hold?"
"As long as you keep supplying power to the card," Yue sighed, "The Time card is very energy consuming, we better leave before your magic runs dry."
Tomoyo nodded and the two of them raced away, an army of frozen monsters staring after them with blank motionless eyes.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Meiling was never big on nature but after this particular trek, she was all for cutting them all down and building nice concrete slabs over them. She glared down at the small gully below and swore at the top of her voice.
"Nasty," Ruby Moon noted.
"Why do we have to do the poison theme?" Meiling demanded, "Can't we do the I don't know… flying pixie theme?"
"Don't be silly, pixies don't exist," Ruby Moon frowned, "I think…"
Meiling rolled her eyes and peered down at the small valley below from her perch on an out jutting rock. A veritable plague of snakes twisted and wiggled in the forest floor below, the sound of their hisses resounding through the damp air reverberating off trees and cliff walls until it filled the forest with a soft whisper like that of a tide racing across an expanse of golden sand.
"What do we do?" Meiling moaned.
"I really don't want to attack them because if they have that wacky magical immune system thing, it ain't going to end well," Ruby Moon instantly replied, "And I think Heilang would think to fill them with anti-freeze this time. So…"
"Fly over them?" the Asian Angel suggested.
Ruby Moon nodded up at the treetops.
"No way," she sighed, "There are some of them up there as well."
Meiling looked up and saw that the snakes weren't earthbound, in fact just as many clung to tree limbs and creeper vines overhead.
"I fly, they'll probably come down on us. It'll be raining snakes."
"Hallelujah," Meiling muttered dryly, "Okay, so what can we do?"
"Water."
"What?"
"Watery card, use it to sweep those snakes away."
"Oooo… fun," Meiling cheered instantly pulling the card out, "Effective and long range."
She threw the card up into the air and jabbed her sword at it.
"WATERY CARD!" she cried as the tip of the sword hit the card, rainbow coloured energy rippled out from the impact site, "SWEEP THOSE SNAKES AWAY! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
Meiling watched in satisfaction as a huge torrent of freezing water was unleashed from the card, it swept down the ferny embankment hitting the swarm of snakes with thundering crash, the hiss of snakes mixed with the roar of water as the serpentine creatures clung desperately to the forest floor but soon succumbed to the turbulent flood. Meiling smirked as she watched scaly bodies become embroiled into raging river, glancing up at the Watery card who was hovering above her handiwork, Meiling moved onto the next phase of her attack.
"Drive down them the valley, away from here!" Meiling called.
The Watery nodded and gestured with her hands, an azure glowing gleaming off her skin. The river twisted in on itself forming a cyclonic whirlpool, the Watery frowned at the watery vortex and gestured again. It began to travel slowly down the length of gully, sweeping up trees and debris into its towering body.
"Open sesame, the path is clear," Meiling gave a small bow to Ruby Moon and swept her hand over the now thoroughly drenched but snake free valley.
"Show off," Ruby Moon muttered beginning the descent down into the forest floor.
Keeping a careful eye on the snakes still eyeing them from the treetops above, they trudged through the muddy ground occasionally slipping on the soaked clay. Suddenly when they were about halfway across the valley, an ear-piercing shriek filled the air.
Both women looked up and gaped in horror when they realised where the sound was coming from, the Watery card still floating in mid-air was bent over in pain, dark energy wracking her body. The tiny elemental sprite tried to fight the attack but it was all too much.
With a final shrill cry of pain, it shrank back into its card form and flew back into Meiling's hand. The Angel yelped as she felt the sting of the dark energy that still lingered on the card surface.
"Ouch!" she shook her head trying to rid herself of the pins-and-needles feeling, "What happened?'
"Heilang," Ruby Moon gritted her teeth, "Come on, let's get ou…"
Before she could even finish her sentence, something came roaring down the valley. Meiling blanched as the river she had sent away just before came crashing back at them. White frothed and furious, the river charged with deadly force ripping through the forest at them.
Wordlessly, Meiling and Ruby Moon sprinted across the valley heading towards higher-ground and hopefully safety but it was useless. The river seemed to rear up as if it was alive, relentless in its aim; desperately clinging onto a fragile tree Meiling could only watch on helpless, bracing herself as best as she possibly could for the impact.
It hit her like a truck, frigid water tore her hands away from the tree as the turbulent water tossed her wildly around. She tried desperately to kick her way back up to the surface but a fast flowing riptide grabbed her legs thrusting her back to into the dark watery depths.
A dark object borne and tossed by the current smacked her into her chest with painful force driving the air from her already battered lungs. She gasped in pain and sucked in a lungful of water in the process. Coughing, choking and drowning, Meiling tried to cling onto consciousness. She kicked furiously but surrounded by swirling currents, she didn't know if she was closer to the surface or just diving deeper into the watery abyss.
Her movements slowed as she felt coldness invade her body like a ravaging virus shutting everything down, she felt so tired, exhausted… weary.
Closing her eyes, Meiling gave up and let the coldness and darkness take her.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura shot the sky a wrathful look.
"Irony dutifully noted," Sakura muttered glumly.
Honestly, how much water can one rainforest have? Well, it seemed the answer was a lot. With every step she took, water would trail down from her sodden hair falling onto her shoulders before slowly trailing down onto her pants, from there the water droplets would slide downwards hitting her already saturated socks and finally pooling into the sole of her shoes.
Squelch.
Sakura did not like having cold feet.
Squelch.
Every time she took a step, her soaked socks would push against the drenched sole of her shoes with a loud squelch releasing a small pool of water. It nestled there for several seconds chilling the skin before being soaked up again by either fabric. The cycle repeated itself over and over and over until Sakura was pretty sure that Heilang could hear her coming from miles off.
Squelch.
"Stupid weather," Sakura glared up at the raven black sky peering through the dome of thorned vines above, "What's with the rain?"
Kerberos was not having the best time of his life either as a mystical creature belonging to the element of fire; suffice to say water was not his best friend.
"You know you can divert the rain," Kerberos muttered as lightning flashed overhead.
A dull rumble shook the sky as the dark clouds unleashed another torrent of rain.
"ARGH!" Sakura cried in frustration.
The sky continued to dump rain on her as Sakura finally registered what Kerberos had said.
"REALLY?" she whirled around and stared at the guardian, flinging water around with her movements, "How?"
"The Rain card."
"Oh!" Sakura smacked her forehead, "God, I'm so slow sometimes! Rain card! Keep the rain away! Release and dispel!"
The tiny cloud-riding sprite appeared and winked at Sakura, the Angel smiled in satisfaction as raindrops stopped hitting them. Every time they neared Sakura or Kerberos, the Rain card would deflect them flinging off in different direction, it was as if Sakura or Kerberos repelled water.
"Finally, nice dryness," Sakura cheered.
The rain stopped.
"What?"
Kerberos sniffed the air and froze.
"Something is happening!"
"What?" Sakura demanded urgently.
As if to answer her, the sky rumbled and this time hail arrowed down from the skies. Sakura squeaked as tiny chips of ice pelted her, with each passing second the hail stones got bigger and bigger.
"Rain card! Return! Snow card! Release and dispel! Protect us!" Sakura cried as the hail stones grew to be the size of tennis balls.
As the Rain card had done before, the Snow card began repelling the hailstones away deflecting them from her mistress and Kerberos. But just as soon as Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, the hailing stopped.
"What?" Sakura was confused.
"Heilang."
"He's the one playing Storm?" Sakura growled in frustration, "Great, just great."
She shivered as she felt the cool whisper of wind on the back of her neck. She looked around in confusion wondering what the next change was going to be. It didn't take long.
The gentle zephyr dancing through her hair soon gained strength, a strong gust of wind almost knocked Sakura down but she managed to grab onto a tree trunk in time, steadying herself. Kerberos dug his claws into the ground tearing furrows into the dirt as the strong gusts became tempest gales.
"Snow card! Return to your power confined!" Sakura yelled seeing that the card was seconds away from being swept off by the wind.
The card returned back to her as Sakura clung onto the tree trunk with all her might as the wind railed and roared against her.
"I can't hold on!" Sakura screamed at Kerberos who wasn't having much luck either.
"Use the Shield card! Protect us!"
"Right," Sakura struggled to raise the wand above her head without it being blown away.
The winds were positively tornado force by now, more fragile plants were being torn up by their roots and tossed willy-nilly becoming dangerous debris in the swirling chaos. Sakura slowly managed to work herself into a position where she could call upon the Clow card.
"SHIELD CARD! PROTECT US! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
The now familiar protective wards sprang into being, deflecting both debris and wind as the dead air within the dome allowed Sakura and Kerberos to move freely around once more.
"Phew," Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, "Now what?"
Before Kerberos could answer, the sky above darkened and rumbled dangerously. A lance of lightning crashed down from the skies striking the dome. For a few chaotic seconds, the Shield card flickered. A barrage of debris flew in with deadly force; Kerberos instantly reacted incinerating the flying danger with his fire as Sakura concentrated reinforcing the card with her magic once more. It held but Heilang was far from finished, a swarm of grey thunderheads gathered overhead ready to strike down at them with more lightning bolts. The underbelly of the clouds glowed with concealed electricity illuminating the sky with pale blue light.
"The card won't hold for long," Sakura groaned as another up-rooted tree slammed into the barrier.
"The Thunder card," Kerberos whispered hurriedly, "Use it, it can absorb the lightning bolts."
Sakura nodded.
"Thunder card! Protect us from the lightning bolts! Release and dispel!"
The blue beast leapt from its card, the dull rumble of thunder overhead a pale imitation of the ferocious roar that burst from its throat. The thunderheads unleashed the barrage but the Thunder card merely looked up at the sky and glared at the incoming attack, there was a flash of white and the lightning bolts were dispersed becoming harmless sparks that fell to the ground and died out.
Sakura had no time to celebrate that small victory as the skies unleashed their next barrage: an avalanche of rain and hail. The Shield card was taking a pounding from the ice chips and heavy raindrops trying to hold itself together as wind and debris assailed it from all sides. Sakura gritted her teeth and concentrated with all her might, thrusting more magic into the wards, Kerberos could only watching on helplessly as the Angel fought with forces of nature.
Suddenly it all stopped. The wind died down as last few remaining drops of rain and balls of hail glided gently down to earth.
"What happened?" Sakura whispered not liking the strange silence.
"I don't know," Kerberos replied softly.
Sakura studied the aftermath of the storm, the ground was smothered under layer upon layers of glittering white hailstones, here and there battered tree limbs poked out from underneath the deluge, broken but not destroyed by the chaotic weather.
"He's give up?" Sakura suggest hopefully.
Kerberos snorted.
The clouds above were breaking up allowing pale shafts of light to poke through the canopy striking the forest floor; the sunlight became stronger and stronger and stronger…
"AHHHH!" Sakura screamed in pain as she was blinded by the brilliant glare of sunlight glittering off the hailstones.
She blinked furiously, tears flooding her eyes as she tried to clear her vision. This had happened to her before but on snowfields not in a rainforest for crying out loud! Snow glare, she even knew the name of it but she never suspected that it could happen with a thick layer of hail.
Sakura had to grudgingly admit Heilang was smart.
"Cunning bastard," she muttered under her breath.
Once her vision finally cleared, she looked around for any signs of danger. The sun was powerful; it beat down on her like skeins of golden fire enflaming her skin with its searing touch.
"Is it hot or is it just me?" Sakura panted.
"I'm a beast of fire and I'm getting uncomfortable," Kerberos moaned, "This is not natural."
"You think?"
Sakura could see the hailstones were melting, faster than was naturally possible. Ice became water, which turned to vapour soon the forest was as dry as tinder. Leafs began to wither and brown falling down from the canopy in a shower of death.
"What's he doing?" Sakura cried.
A bolt of lightning zipped down from the azure blue sky, Sakura and Kerberos stared in horror as it struck a tree. The whole plant, baked dry by the fierce sun, immediately burst into flames.
Red devoured green and brown leaving black in its wake before leaping gleefully to the next tree.
Sakura gulped.
They were facing an inferno.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo looked around uneasily.
"This place gives me the creeps," she muttered, "Also the sudden urge to pray like hell."
Yue silently agreed with her even though his face betrayed none of his emotions. They had fought their way out from a particularly dense copse of wood only to stumble into what would be best described as an open graveyard. Bleached white bones lay scattered across a stony hard plateau, even as they walked more fragile remains cracked under foot.
Tomoyo could see what were distinctly human remains, skulls that unnerved her with staring blank eyes, hands stretched out to the sky as though they had died praying to the heavens. But there were also animals remains, huge ivory bones that could've only come from elephants lay here and there, white towers amongst a sea of white death.
The mist was also doing nothing to relieve Tomoyo of her fears; it clung to everything like mournful ghosts haunting this field of ghastly remains. It felt like cool fingers were lingering on her skin, the coldness of the ethereal veil chilling her very soul.
"What is this place?" Tomoyo whispered, her voice sounding uncomfortably loud in the dead silence.
"I do not now nor do I wish to find out," Yue replied shortly.
Tomoyo grimaced as something crunched underfoot.
"You think Heilang is trying to gross us out?" Tomoyo asked suddenly shuddering as the damp coldness of mist settled over her like a ghostly shawl, "Cause, I've got to say kudos to him. It's working."
Silence descended onto the ghastly boneyard as Angel and guardian trudged through the seemingly endless sea of bleached white bones.
Tomoyo shivered.
"God, it's freezing," she whispered.
Yue stopped right in front of her, lost in her own thoughts Tomoyo almost stumbled right into him.
"What is it?" she asked concerned.
Yue's eyes were darting around suspiciously, a small frown gracing his face as a gentle breeze rustled his pristine white hair.
"There's something wr… OOF!"
Tomoyo's eyes widened in shock as Yue was sent sprawling by an invisible force. Was it just her or had the mist gotten even denser? Tomoyo had no time to ponder his as she felt cold fingers slip around her arm.
"ARGH!" she tried to break free but the invisible hands that had assaulted Yue before now wrapped itself around her arm and with supernatural force strength her across the boneyard.
She landed with the crunch of bones breaking beneath her, scratched and battered Tomoyo crawled to her feet.
"What the?" she whispered.
Crack.
Her head snapped to the left as an invisible fist struck her across the face.
"Hang on!" Yue cried.
He blasted a stream of crystals at her attacker but it had no effect on her attacker. Tomoyo hurriedly flung herself onto the ground to avoid getting shredded by the magical attack. Yue growled in frustration and leapt towards her but was batted from the air by spectral hands. He landed painfully on the hard ground but had no time to recover as the bones lying around him rose into the air, his eyes widened in shock as they crashed around him, sharp edges digging into hard rock.
"YUE!" Tomoyo cried, watching in horror as a cage of bleached bones gathered around him.
Elephant tusks became curving walls as bones continued to fly towards him, moulded by invisible hands they were shaped into a rough cube sealing Yue within. A femur bone slammed into place sealing the last gap and plunging him into darkness. From within the bony tomb, Yue gritted his teeth and tried blasting through the structure but his magical attack merely splashed against ghastly wall and died out.
Tomoyo desperately tried to help him, trying to bring her mirror to bear but she was spun around roughly by her unseen attacker. She was slammed to the hard rocky ground, bones digging into her body as she struggled to get back up onto her feet but a powerful force crashed into her back pinning her back down.
The Japanese Angel struggled against the vice-like grip clamping her back, she bucked and thrashed but still it held on.
With the mirror pressed against her chest, its reflective surface facing down, she had no means to retaliate. Unless…
She concentrated.
"Get off!" Tomoyo snarled as her plan came into action.
A beam of pale energy burst from the mirror surface striking the rocky ground, the force of the energy crashing against hard rock propelled Tomoyo upwards into the air freeing her from her ghostly bonds. Spinning around in mid-air, Tomoyo shot another beam at the grisly prison that entombed Yue and smiled in satisfaction as she saw some of the bones knocked loose.
She landed nimbly onto the ground and waited, senses on high alert, waiting for the next attack to come.
It didn't take long.
Tomoyo gasped in shock and backed away hurriedly in horror as bits and pieces of bone began flying into the air. Like a gruesome jigsaw puzzle, these flying remains began fusing together. A yellowed skull sat perched on top of a ribcage that wasn't even human, arms and legs began forming, some grossly oversized others ending in talons. Tomoyo raised her mirror and blasted the deformed skeleton with energy but it barely phased it. It began stumbling forwards on its feet, its jaw opening and closing wildly. Another leg jutted out from tis stomach, violently kicking the air. It had three arms, two on the left and one on the right. The left arms all ended in talons whilst the right was made of bones that could've only come from elephants or something just as large. Skulls were embedded in its empty ribcage, their jaws opening wide to reveal broken stumps of black and yellow teeth.
"Oh god," Tomoyo blasted it again, "GET AWAY FROM ME!"
For something that ungainly and awkward-looking, it moved incredibly fast. Tomoyo was thrown backwards as it cannonballed into her. The mirror was knocked free from her jarred hand, cart wheeling through the air before landing amongst a pile of bones with a gentle thump. Tomoyo looked at her only weapon in horror but had no time to dwell on her loss as rough taloned hands grabbed her cheek and forced her to look up into the monster's skeletal face.
Black fire burned in its eyes, the glare chilling Tomoyo to her very soul. She squirmed trying to break free but it was strong, casually lifting Tomoyo and slamming her back into the ground with nary a pause. The air was driven from Tomoyo's body leaving her gasping, lying there her whole body trembling with pain and staring up into the monster's ghoulish face Tomoyo felt the first panicky twinges of fear.
"Get away from her," a cold voice cut through her sheer panic.
The monster was blasted away from her by a rain of blue crystals, Tomoyo sucked in a deep breath soothing her burning lungs as she looked up at her saviour.
"Thanks," she croaked to Yue.
Yue nodded distractedly, the bulk of his attention on the skeleton monster he had just attacked. The crystals had done their damage cutting the monster's spinal cord and shattering part of its arm but whatever dark magic had possessed those bones were far from finish. With a soundless roar, it leapt at Yue crashing into the guardian. The two flew across the boneyard, landing in a rain of shattered bones. Yue seemed to have the upper hand managing to crawl to his feet first. Coolly he aimed an attack at the monster's face shattering the skull with a hail of crystals. The monster was still going, lashing out with one foot hitting Yue above the knees, the guardian went down as the monster pounced on him. Tomoyo crawled towards the mirror, every part of her body screaming in pain but she fought on.
She was almost there; she just had to stretch out and gra…
"BAM!"
The invisible attacker had returned slamming Tomoyo down onto the ground pinning her down. She was roughly turned over until she found herself staring up into the sky, the mist had returned forming into a dense cloud around her. It seemed to condense forming a rough human-shape bent over her prone body. Tomoyo could just make out a smoky outline, ethereal arms outstretched.
One ghostly hand settled over her jaw, an iron-grip forced them open as Tomoyo struggled helplessly but the wraith bent over her tightened its grip forcing a whimper of pain from her battered body.
She felt so cold…
The mist seemed to strengthen as Tomoyo grew weaker and weaker…
So cold…
She couldn't even feel her limbs anymore just a dull lethargy.
She felt something escape her mouth, something as weightless and insubstantial as smoke. It poured from her mouth escaping into the open air before being sucked up by the misty figure pinning her down.
So cold…
So tired…
Too tried to fight…
To move…
To breathe…
To live…
Suddenly her eyes snapped open and they were no longer pale lavender but pure darkness.
"Enough!" she snapped.
But her voice was not her own.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Ruby Moon dove downwards through the darkness and the cold searching, seeking, hoping…
There!
Grabbing onto Meiling's arms, the butterfly guardian began kicking back up to the surface powering through the water even as it tried to sweep her away. The river raged and thrashed with unmatchable fury trying to reclaim its victim back into its watery embrace.
It was nature in all its terrible might.
But Ruby Moon was the mistress of the elements.
Raging water and terrible torrents had no more effect on her than rain drops splashing harmlessly against her skin, ploughing through the riptides Ruby Moon sent her magic outwards in widening ripples trying to calm the river's fury. The dark magic laced within the water tried to resist but Ruby Moon drew on the water's only majestic power and thrust it at the spells powering this unnatural rage, light scythed through darkness and the water was still.
Whipping her wings around, Ruby Moon propelled herself through the air until she punched through the still water surface and burst into moist jungle air. Gliding towards the riverbank, Ruby Moon gently placed Meiling down onto the damp earth.
"Meiling?" she shook the Angel gently.
The girl was pale and still.
"Damn it," Ruby Moon hissed.
Placing her hands on Meiling's chest, she began pressing down trying to restart her breathing.
"Come on," Ruby Moon snarled, "Wake up damn it!"
Meiling began coughing wildly, her body thrashing as a stream of water burst from her mouth. Choking and coughing on the water, she tried to sit up and froze as the world around her spun violently.
"Calm down," Ruby Moon whispered softly, "Just take it easy."
Meiling coughed again expelling the last traces of water from her lungs once that was done she wearily brushed her soaked hair away from her face.
"What happened?" she asked hoarsely.
"You almost drowned."
Meiling turned around and glanced at the now placidly flowing river before turning back to Ruby Moon.
"You know what?" Meiling groaned, "I rather do the venom theme."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Rain card! Release and dispel! Snow card! Try to stop the fire!"
Snow and rain pounded the raging inferno but it had little effect, the two Clow spirits were soon overwhelmed by the sheer strength of the roaring flames and were forced to retreat back into their cards form flying back to Sakura.
Inside the Shield card, the temperature had risen sharply. With sweat rolling down her face in steady streams, Sakura looked around frantically searching for avenues of escape. But all she saw was red and yellow flames devouring the forest trees with demonic glee.
"Oh god," Sakura turned to look at Kerberos, "Any ideas?"
"Pray?"
"Not helping," Sakura muttered.
"This fire is too strong. There's too much dark magic in it," Kerberos growled in frustration, "I don't see how we can stop it!"
Sakura stared at Kerberos, an idea forming inside her head.
"Wait, this dark magic… but it's still fire right?"
"What?" Kerberos was confused.
Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration.
"This inferno. It's still made of fire right. I mean it's not pure magic is it?"
"It is still made of fire but…" Kerberos trailed off, "How's that supposed to help us."
"Easy," Sakura winked at him, "STORM CARD! SURROUND THE FLAMES! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
"STORM CARD?" Kerberos yelped, "That's just going to whip up the flames or spread them!"
Sakura smirked.
"Watch and learn, Simba," she teased, "NOW!"
The Storm card whipped around the ring of fire; grey wind trailing in its wake. Around and around she flew rising up into the sky with each completely cycle, Kerberos stared at the flying card as it summoned a roaring tornado around the inferno.
"What the?" he gaped at the fire as it began to die out.
Sakura smiled victoriously before turning to the winged lion.
"Fire needs three things to burn: heat, fuel and air," Sakura informed him counting off each point with her fingers, "In the eye of a tornado, there is no air… all of it has been sucked out. And since the inferno is still fire and not pure magic…"
"It needed air," Kerberos finished off.
"Bingo. No air. No fire."
The Storm card continued to intensify the strength of the tornado as it tore at the forest around them; the inferno had died down to mere glowing embers.
"Alright stop!" Sakura commanded.
The tornado faded as Sakura returned the Storm card to her and dispersed the Shield at the same time.
Looking around at her handiwork, Sakura smiled brilliantly.
"Come on, let's go," she motioned with her head.
She jogged into rest of the forest as Kerberos quickly followed leaving behind a patch of burnt out land surrounded by storm battered trees.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Enough!"
The mist figure seemed to freeze in mid-motion. Tomoyo glared up at it, her eyes now ebony black without a trace of white in those dark orbs.
"You're a just a pale shadow compared to what I am," Tomoyo snarled, her voice low and guttural, "I am beyond you. Beyond the scope of your pathetic understanding. You are a spirit summoned back from the dead. I am death. Touch me and mine again and I will crush you. Now… LEAVE!"
A trail of smoke seem to seep out of the mist figure's body and plunge back into Tomoyo's mouth, the mist vanished borne away by a gentle breeze as Tomoyo gasped the feeling returning back to her limbs. She blinked and her eyes went back to their pale lavender. She looked around wildly.
"What the hell?" she muttered.
A cry of pain drew her attention to Yue where he was still struggling with the skeleton monster.
"YUE!" she flung herself across the ground grabbing her mirror with both hands.
Whirling around, she aimed and fired. A blast of energy shattered the monster's legs as Yue's crystal attack tore through its chest. The monster fell apart, bones falling to the ground as Tomoyo slowly got up.
"Are you okay?" Yue asked hurriedly.
"Fine," Tomoyo frowned, "That's weird…"
"What?"
"I was under attack and then everything goes blank…" Tomoyo looked around slowly, "I came to again and then… it was gone. Did you see what happened?"
Yue shook his head.
"I was too busy fighting the beast," he explained dryly.
Tomoyo shook herself.
"Weird," she looked around at the boneyard, "Come on, let's get out of here."
After what seemed like another eternity of trudging through the sea of bones, they finally made it back into the lush green forest heading towards their final destination: the power well where Heilang awaited them.
Tomoyo shivered and realised that whatever horrors the forest had thrown up at them… they would be nothing compared to what was coming.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Mini-Meiling shivered as the sound of demonic screaming became louder, more pronounced.
"What was that?" Nadeshiko frowned looking around slowly.
Just a few minutes ago, both of them had felt a surge of dark magic ripple through the Limbo.
"Bad," Mini-Meiling whispered, "That was the bad thing."
"The bad thing?" Nadeshiko was confused, "Where did it come from?"
"From within."
"Huh?"
Mini-Meiling looked up at Nadeshiko and the child-like innocence was gone replaced by weary wisdom.
"Sometimes the danger is from within."
"Within?" Nadeshiko stared down at the little girl, "What do you mean? What's within?"
"Evil."
Nadeshiko opened her mouth to ask another question but was cut off as the whole Limbo shook. A solemn sound like that of a bell tolling filled the air followed by a symphony of soprano voices singing in perfect synchronisation. For a few seconds the demonic cries that had permeated the Limbo subsided as the singers' voices grew in volume swelling into a breathtaking crescendo of heavily chords.
"Heaven and hell," Nadeshiko whispered, "Both are spilling into the Limbo."
"The light and the fire," Mini-Meiling shivered, "Mommy Nadeshiko?"
"Yeah?"
"Will the chosen stop the black wolf?"
"Heilang?"
"Yeah, the black wolf."
Nadeshiko sighed.
"It's hard to tell. They've been battered and hurt but…" Nadeshiko trailed off, "If there's one thing I know about my daughter and her fiends."
She stared off into the distance.
"They never give up."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"I feel like giving up," Meiling moaned stumbling wearily through the forest, "How far is it to the power well?"
"Close now," Ruby Moon murmured, "Very close."
"Yay," Meiling moaned fidgeting uncomfortably in her soaked clothes, "No more trees."
Ruby Moon nodded distractedly.
Meiling sighed as she ran her fingers through her still damp hair; she frowned as she felt something land on top of her hand. Plucking it away, she brought it around to her face and stared at it.
It was a leaf: fragile gold stretched across delicate brown veins, Meiling frowned.
"That's weird," she muttered.
"What's weird?"
"It is autumn or something?" Meiling held out the leaf for Ruby Moon to see, "You only tend to see these around fall or winter or something."
Ruby Moon froze upon seeing the leaf.
"Rainforests don't do that," she whispered, "Most are in the tropics where seasonal changes barely affect them."
"So it's not nature…" Meiling trailed off and sighed, "Magic."
She paused, thinking about it.
"Hmm… autumn leafs… not that scary," Meiling shrugged, "But hey it's not a venom or a drown-me-in-a-river theme so I'm happy."
More leafs began to falling from the canopy above, showering the two women with dancing gold and brown with the occasional slash of brilliant red weaved within.
"It's very pretty," Meiling noted.
Ruby Moon shot her a strange look.
"What?" Meiling protested, "It is."
"I doubt Heilang would give us a free dancing leaf show for nothing."
"You're right," Meiling brightened, "Unless he's giving up!"
"Right… because we've done so much to stop him?" Ruby Moon demanded, "Are you sure there wasn't something in the water?"
"Then it must've affected you too," Meiling retorted.
Ruby Moon looked up to regard the cascade of brown-veined gold and red, her ruby eyes worried at this unexplained magical phenomena.
"Brown leafs," Ruby Moon said quietly, "Doesn't just happen in fall… it also happens when a tree is…"
She stopped, her eyes widening.
"Is what?" Meiling demanded.
"Dying."
Meiling's eyes widened as well.
"Oh cr…"
Both women looked up as a peculiar sound filled the air, it was like a snapping sound but slower… more torturous and mournful. Something fell through the canopy of leaves, something heavy and dying. Meiling hurriedly jumped out of the way as a tree branch easily the length of her body crashed down to earth, its jagged edge embedding itself into the ground. Meiling and Ruby Moon stared at the quivering ballast in shock, a dead silence filling the air. Gold and red leaves continued to dance down from the trees as the two women tried to absorb what they had just seen.
"Still not a venom theme," Meiling whispered, "It can't be that bad… can it?"
Another sound filled the air, Meiling and Ruby Moon looked up in time to see three dark shapes plummet down to the earth. Meiling managed to dodge one immense branch but was clipped on the shoulder by another. A scream of pain was ripped from her throat as fire rolled up her arm and through her body before subsiding into a dull numbed ache, gasping loudly Meiling looked, her eyes widening in horror as she saw the third branch plunge through the air towards her.
"DUCK!" Ruby Moon cried firing a rain of crystals.
The massive branch was obliterated, smoking wooden splinters flying everywhere. Meiling slowly crawled to her feet her body trembling with pain.
"Let's get out of here," she whimpered gently probing her bruised shoulder.
They took off at a run, through the shower of falling leafs, their ears cocked for the tell-tale sound that heralded the next barrage of falling debris.
Meiling threw herself to the side as another branch, this way easily twice her size and weight crashed down onto the ground ramming the dirt where she had been standing just a few minutes before.
Another ear-splitting groan filled the air as Meiling looked around hurriedly waiting for the next incoming hazard, to her left Ruby Moon had to throw herself into a clump of bushes to avoid being crushed to death by a piece of rotting wood that fell from the sky with incredible speed and deadly aim.
Meiling raced over to her.
"Are you okay?" she yelled.
Ruby Moon looked up at her.
"WATCH OUT!" she screamed.
Meiling whirled around and gasped as she an immense tree, its woody limbs stretching up to the azure sky above, begin to fall. Its base had been rotted through and with no support, the ancient tree soon became a deadly weapon.
Fractures began to zigzag up the trunk as the sound of wood splintering filled the air; with agonising slowness it began to keel over slowly at first but picking up speed as its centre of gravity shifted. Meiling looked around wildly but there was no room to run, the tree trunk was easily ten metres long in diameter. It was simply too big, no matter where she ran it would still crush her beneath its wieldy bulk.
Gritting her teeth, Meiling raised the Clow sword and prepared to do battle. The base was breaking up by now, the tree going into free fall, its top ripping through the canopy. Leaf and branches, knocked free by the tree, began to rain down around her. Ruby Moon was knocked out cold by a direct hit in the head but Meiling ignored her as she glared up at the falling tree.
"WOOD CARD!" she yelled, "RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura stared at the forest around them and swore. All around them came the whirring of a thousand tiny wings, the clatter of caprice grinding against each other and the crunching of a million jaws. A sea of tiny black eyes stared at them, waiting for their first move.
"Locusts," Sakura shivered.
The greenery around them had been devoured until only dying limbs were left. The air was filled with these swarming insects, the ground just as covered and on every tree, every crawl space available the insects chirped and waited.
"Kerberos, care to jump in with your flamethrower mouth anytime soon?" Sakura whimpered.
Kerberos glared at her before turning to the plague of locusts and opening his mouth, all of them instantly took to the air. A blast of fire incinerated every locust in its path but it barely made a dent in the overall numbers. Sakura's eyes widened in horror as some zipped around the fire's path and headed straight towards them.
She reacted instantly.
"STORM CARD! BLOW THEM BACK! RELEASE AND DISPEL!" Sakura cried.
A cyclone of grey wind emerged sucking up locusts up into its towering body, Sakura smiled in satisfaction as between the fire and the wind, all the locusts trying to reach them were stopped.
"Hah! Take that!" she cried.
The locusts began to swarm around them once more but this time no even trying to penetrate the barrage of elemental attacks, they fell on their dead companions feasting on their dead bodies as Sakura and Kerberos looked on with morbid curiosity. As they gouged and feasted, their body began to swell and grow.
"Eww," Sakura muttered, "Gross."
The locusts began turning on each other, the stronger ones eating the weaker, in a hideous parody of the 'eat or be eaten' rule. Sakura soon realised that they had some good news and some bad news.
The good? There weren't as many locusts as before.
And like many times before in her life, the good didn't outweigh the bad.
The bad? The remaining locusts were huge and seemed fire and wind proof.
"ARRGGGHHHH!" Sakura cried as the handful of remaining locusts, now about the size of small children, brushed past the flames and roaring tornado and charged straight towards them, mouth parts crunching the air loudly.
"THUNDER CARD!" Sakura yelled, "RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
Kerberos shot mouthfuls of fire at the locusts but it only served to hamper rather than destroy them. A bolt of crackling electricity leapt from the tip of the Star wand and struck three of the locusts wrapping them up in orbs of blue static. Within the spheres, they began spinning around wildly, current coursing through their body. Smoke began billowing out of the writhing bodies before they exploded showering the surrounding forest with burnt remains and thick yellow ooze. Sakura grimaced as she felt it splashed her body.
"Eck," she muttered disdainfully.
But there were still about a dozen of those massive locusts streaking through the air towards them, gritting her teeth she directed her next blast at the biggest one succeeding in stunning it. It fell to the ground; its body crackling with electricity but it didn't explode like the previous three.
"What the?" Sakura shook her wand wondering if something was broken.
"No," Kerberos saw what she was doing, "These creatures they're building up resistances to whatever we are throwing at them."
The Angel wilted.
"Oh man," she whimpered.
She tried blasting a few more locusts but each time she struck, the electric bursts had smaller effects on the armoured insects. She threw another bolt at one of them but this time the locusts just charged straight through the blast and kept coming.
"Now what?" Sakura demanded.
"Wait," Kerberos aimed a fire blast not at the now completely fire-resistant locusts but at a nearby tree.
The fire tore straight through its trunk sending the tree toppling, it managed to crush at least four of the locusts as it thundered to the ground but the others merely flew around it or even more spectacularly chew right through the wood. Sakura gaped at the sight as woodchips flew everywhere, the locust's mandibles working furiously as the wood splintered under the pressure of its jaws.
"Oh man," she turned to Kerberos, "Now what do we do?"
"Fight or flight?"
Sakura pretended to think for about two seconds.
"Flight."
Kerberos nodded as the locusts continued pumping their wings cutting down the distance between them.
"Call the Fly card."
Sakura instantly obeyed.
"Fly card! Give your wings unto me! Release and dispel!"
A pair of wings sprouted from her back in a blaze of light, Sakura gave them an experimental flap smiling in joy as her feet left the ground.
"Now," Kerberos gestured with his head, "The power well is that way."
Sakura looked at the indicated direction and gulped seeing that the locusts were blocking their way.
"Ready?"
"What? What's the plan?"
"We try to outfly them."
Sakura groaned. Kerberos ignored her as he spread his wings and took flight, Sakura following right behind him. They charged straight at the locusts, Sakura grimacing as she saw their grotesque faces close up.
"NOW! VEER TO THE LEFT!"
Sakura tilted her body and whipped her wings around, shooting off to the left as the locust swarm charged by barely missing her. Kerberos whipped around to the right as they sailed around the plague of whirling wings, it took several seconds for the locusts to realise that they had missed their prey but they soon gave chase devouring whatever foliage was their in way. Sakura and Kerberos sailed into the thickest copses as possible, folding their wings to avoid breaking them against hard trunks, the locusts just metres behind them.
With adrenaline pumping away in her body, Sakura find her fear soon left her.
"WOOHOO!" she cried suddenly give her wings an extra pump, "COME AND GET US!"
Soaring through the trees, the two dived and swooped as ravenous mouths chewed up the forest behind them.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
They were under attack.
A barrage of stones, rotten fruits and branches were hurled at them with deadly accuracy, Tomoyo was forced to take refuge behind a clump of trees as a hail of debris slammed into the trunks tearing gashes in the thick bark.
"What is Heilang on?" Tomoyo ranted screaming at Yue who was crouched beside her, "Honestly! CRAZED MONKEYS?"
Yue shrugged as he kept his eyes on their attackers, a troop of ferocious monkeys with glowing green eyes. They hooted and called loudly to each other as they swung through the trees, flinging whatever they could get their paws on at them. Tomoyo had already gotten whacked in the head with what appeared to be a rotting melon and aside from the stinging ache that had brought, she felt uncomfortably sticky.
She peered around the tree but had to quickly retreat as a large stone sailed past. Yue tried to blast some of them down but they were too nimble in the trees, easily dancing around the crystal blasts.
Tomoyo aimed and fired a beam of energy but that too proved uselessly as they all leapt away.
"Argh!" Tomoyo yelled disgustedly, "Stupid monkeys!"
She turned to Yue.
"Make a break for it?"
The guardian nodded.
"Count of three… one… two… THREE!"
The human and guardian dashed from the trees ducking and zigzagging as they went, the monkeys' missiles barely missing them. Tomoyo threw herself to the side as a jagged tip branch zipped through the air narrowly missing her; she instantly flipped back up onto her feet taking off again through the scrubland as more missiles arrowed towards her.
"ARGH!"
Tomoyo stumbled over awkwardly, her leg throbbing with pain as a chunk of rock glanced off her left ankle. Hitting the ground, she instantly rolled into a clump of bushes hiding behind the meagre protection as she waited for the pain in her leg to subside. Yue was instantly by her side, helping her up with one hand as he blasted incoming barrages away with the other.
"There's too many of them," he muttered, his sharp eyes managing to make out vague silhouettes swinging through the trees around them, "They're trying to circle us."
"Wait," Tomoyo held up her mirror, "Can any of the cards help?"
"I don't think there's an anti-monkey card," Yue snapped.
"No need to get grumpy," Tomoyo muttered glancing through her stack of Clow cards, "Wait."
She held one of them up for Yue to see.
"The Voice?" Yue asked incredulously, "What are you going to do talk to them?"
"Nope," Tomoyo smiled at him mischievously even as flying debris rained down around them, "Voice card, duplicate the roar of a tiger! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
Rings of pink light rippled out from the glowing card surface moving at supersonic speed causing the air itself to distort as a booming roar filled the air. The monkeys in the trees above began screeching wildly in panic as Tomoyo smirked, Yue looked around in surprise as the constant downpour of projectiles stopped.
"Tigers are monkeys' natural predators," Tomoyo explained with a wink, "I don't care how possessed these things are but I bet you they're still scared of their enemies."
"That's great but it won't last forever," Yue reminded her, "They won't be fooled for much longer."
"Don't worry," Tomoyo winked, "Now for phase two of my plan… SLEEP CARD! PUT THEM TO SLEEP! RELEASE AND DISPEL!"
Even as the Voice continue to generate thundering roars, the tiny Sleep sprite emerged from its card zipping around the tree tops with amazing agility, leaving behind a glittering trail of sparkling blue dust that settled over the panicked primates. One by one, the dust took effect plunging the animals into the peaceful realm of deep sleep. Tomoyo sniggered wildly as it started raining monkeys, sleeping causing them to lose grip on the tree limbs they had clung onto, furry bodies began to fall from the trees hitting the earth with dull thuds that resounded through the forest.
"And mission complete," Tomoyo grinned smugly at Yue's shocked face.
"That was…" the guardian trailed off, "… a unique plan."
"I'm sure you meant to say brilliant, fantastic and ingenious," Tomoyo smiled sweetly at him as she retraced the two cards she had summoned.
Instantly the jungle was plunged back into silence as the Voice card disappeared. Stepping over a fallen monkey, Tomoyo looked back at Yue.
"How far now?"
"It should be just beyond that clump of trees," Yue pointed at the clump he was talking about.
Nodding, Tomoyo jogged towards the direction he had indicated pushing through the dense greenery. As the last few branches were pushed away, Tomoyo saw their destination and gasped in shock.
"Holy sweet mother of sugary goods," she babbled dumbly staring up at the structure standing right in front of her in shock.
Even the temple at the Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan paled in comparison to this, it was massive, towering above the nearby trees as it stretched up to the sky. Gargoyles jutted out from the stonewalls at the irregular intervals, their scowling countenance scorning all those who travelled below, a set of broken stairs led to an immense cavernous black doorway that led to whatever laid within.
"The others," Tomoyo looked around, "Are they here?"
Yue shook his head. Tomoyo frowned, biting her lip as the fearful questions filled her mind.
"Come on guys… what's taking you so long?"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"WAH!" Sakura sharply veered to the right, the locust pursuing her zipping past chewing away at trees with its fast moving jaw parts.
Sakura winced as saliva coated wood splinters splattered her clothes.
"I am so burning these," Sakura muttered disgustedly.
Kerberos was burning the forest around them, trying to stop the locusts or at least confuse them as thick smoke filled the air. As one, he and Sakura whirled around and began speeding through the trees again, the sound of whirring wings and snapping mandibles ringing through the air behind them.
They burst through a thicket of dense foliage and seemed to enter a whole new world. Sakura gasped in amazement at the sight of thousands of gold and red leaves dancing elegantly to the forest floor, carpeting the dirt with a rich tapestry of fall colours.
"What is this?" she whispered, "It's beautiful."
"Sakura," Kerberos growled urgently, his sensitive ears picking up the sound of clacking caprice.
It was getting louder and louder with each passing second.
"Oh right," Sakura shook her self before taking flight again.
As she flew she took in the sights hurtling past below her, she frowned seeing immense tree branches some easily the size of Kerberos sticking out of the earth, jagged stumps tearing gouges into the soil.
"What the hel…" she looked up, "WAHHH!"
She hurriedly banked to the left narrowly missing a massive tree trunk, flapping her wings lazily she managed to just float there gliding on a gentle thermal as she tried to calm her thundering heart rate down. She stared at the immense column of wood she had just managed to avoid hitting, inwardly focusing on slowing her breathing down so she wouldn't choke on her every breath. It was only when she was breathing normally again, she realised that the tree was sitting at a peculiar angle.
"What the?" she dove down through the canopy, Kerberos yelling at her to keep flying.
As she was just flying through the thickest section, she heard a familiar voice talking loudly.
"Ruby? Are you alright?"
"MEILING!" Sakura swooped down to the forest floor landing beside her friend. Meiling jumped.
"SAKURA!" she gave her friend a brief hug, "What's with the angel look?"
Sakura shrugged and stared down at Ruby Moon, who seemed knocked out.
"What happened?"
Meiling sighed.
"Tree began falling," she gestured at something behind Sakura.
Sakura turned around and gaped at the sight before her, the tree she had almost ran seemed to have snapped off at the base and would've crushed everything in its path if it wasn't for the jungle of vines that had entangled itself around its trunk securing it to various other nearby trees.
"Ruby Moon warned me about it then she got knocked out by a falling branch," Meiling finished.
"Is she alright?"
"Ruby Moon is fine," the guardian's eyes snapped open, "Hello Sakura, Kerberos."
The lion beast landed beside Sakura and gave his companion a small nod.
"We better hurry, they're closing in," he warned Sakura.
"What's closing in?" Meiling asked.
Sakura opened her mouth to reply but the sound of ferocious wings beating through the air and ravenous mouths chewing through wood answered for her.
"Argh!" Meiling yelped as she saw the super-sized locusts.
"They're fire resistant," Sakura supplied helpfully.
"Man, just like the spiders," Meiling groaned.
"Spiders?"
Kerberos turned to Meiling.
"Hop on," he growled.
"What?"
He smiled at them.
"I've got a plan."
"Uh oh," Sakura whispered.
Meiling hesitantly mounted Kerberos's back clutching on his mane tightly as the winged lion took to the air, Ruby Moon and Sakura just inches behind him.
"Distract them," Kerberos commanded, "Get them under the tree. Once they do, Meiling retract the Wood card."
"Oooo… instant fly swat," Sakura smirked, "I like."
The locusts zipped towards them as Kerberos took off disappearing deeper into the forest, Sakura and Ruby Moon stayed where they were waiting for the locusts to come to them. By now there were only five of them left but staring into their large dull black eyes and their forever moving mandibles, Sakura felt five was five too many. Angel and guardian took off speeding towards the entangled tree dodging around thick vines with amazing grace and agility. The locusts whirred through the air behind them, chewing through the vines and unwittingly helping the Angels and their guardians.
With an extra burst of speed, Sakura and Ruby Moon zipped out from under the tree and darted into the forest, leaving the locusts behind. From somewhere off to their left, they heard Meiling yelling.
"WOOD CARD! DESTROY THE VINES!" she bellowed.
The vines holding onto the tree instantly disappeared, bereft of support the tree instantly crashed to the ground crushing the locusts in the process as it obliterated everything else that it happened to fall on. The resulting shockwave shook the whole forest.
"Ew," Sakura muttered catching sight of one of the locust's twitching remains.
"Come on," Kerberos called, "The power well is close."
With them flying through the trees, it didn't take them long to reach their destination. All four of them gaped at the sight that lay before them.
"God," Sakura gasped.
Meiling winced.
"We've got to invade that?" she demanded.
Further exclamations of shock and horror were cut off as a familiar voice called to them.
"MEILING! SAKURA!"
The two Angels whirled around.
"TOMOYO!"
Mizuki Kaho bit her lip as another raging headache assaulted her temple. The pain only subsided when she sat down and placed a cool hand against her damp forehead.
Her senses told her that something was wrong with the world; she could feel the pulses of dark magic thrumming through the air.
She could feel greed and hatred and fury.
But most of all she could feel the fire.
An ancient fire, locked away, forgotten by most but age had not quenched it. It still smouldered waiting to be stoked up again into a roaring inferno.
The dark magic coursing through the earth now fed it… nourishing it.
And once it had regained its full strength, it will burn the world.
Burn the world until there was nothing left but ashes.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo ran to her two friends but came to a skidding halt as she took in their appearances.
"What happened to you guys?" she asked worriedly.
"Spiders," Meiling muttered.
"Giant toad thingy," Sakura added dryly.
"Snakes and drowning."
"Crazy weather and inferno."
"Falling trees."
"Giant locusts."
Tomoyo stared at them.
"Oh."
"You?" they both asked at the same time, similar expression on their faces.
Tomoyo shrugged.
"Golems, boneyard, walking skeletons, weird mists and crazed monkeys," she remarked casually.
"Fun?"
"Not at the time."
They all fell silent.
It was Meiling who spoke up first.
"Okay," Meiling turned away to stare at the temple, "Now what?"
"We charge in," Sakura said grimly, "And finish this once and for all."
"Alright," Tomoyo nodded, "Let's…"
She took a step forwards. Thousands of thorny vines burst from the earth surrounding the temple in a protective dome as Tomoyo wilted at the sight.
"… go…" she trailed off.
"Not vines again," Meiling groaned staring at the barrier of writhing plants.
"Just as long as they don't grab us and fling us again I'll be happy," Sakura muttered.
"It seems Heilang is not done toying with us," Yue said dryly.
"You think?" Ruby Moon muttered.
The Angels turned around to study their guardians.
"Okay, you've got a plan?" Tomoyo asked, "Cause I sure hope so."
"Sure," Ruby Moon began, "It goes something like this, we… DOWN!"
"What?" Sakura muttered.
"DOWN!" Ruby Moon leapt forwards and tackled the girls to the ground as a dark shape dropped down from the sky, snarling in rage as it just avoided tearing the girls apart with its long talons.
Yue and Kerberos gasped as they studied their latest threat. A black armoured panther, the same size of Kerberos, glared at them with brilliant blue eyes. From its back sprouted a pair of magnificent blue and black butterfly wings that flapped through the air lazily as it circled the sky above them waiting for them to make the next move.
"What the?" Meiling gasped, "That thing is like a crazy version of you guys."
As if to prove her point, the panther-beast opened its mouth and a huge beam of magenta energy blasted forwards. Yue and Kerberos leapt away as it hit the earth, exploding on impact and tearing a smoking crater into the dirt.
"Crazy, powerful version," Meiling amended hurriedly.
Ruby Moon fired a stream of crystals at the winged beast.
"What is that?" Sakura gasped.
"Spinnel," Kerberos answered, "One of Clow Reed's earlier works that got corrupted by Heilang. He was sealed along with the Void card inside the fourth book."
"SPINNEL?" the three Angels yelped.
They had no time to dwell on this new revelation as Spinnel whirled around in mid-air and fired an energy beam at them, the girls flung themselves away as the energy struck the thorny barrier protecting the temple tearing a large smoking hole in it. The Angels' eyes widened in shock as they surveyed the damage.
"GO!" Ruby Moon yelled, "We'll handle him!"
Meiling nodded to her guardian as she took off at a sprint, Sakura and Tomoyo watched on as their friend sail through the smoking hole Spinnel had torn into the mass of vines disappearing through to the other side. Nodding to Sakura, Tomoyo was next disappearing into the hole. Finally only Sakura was left. She shot the guardians a final helpless look as they prepared to fight Spinnel before running towards the quickly shrinking hole.
Tucking her body into a tight ball, Sakura just managed to fit through the hole as it sealed shut behind her plunging the girls into darkness. Staring at the mass of writhing vines that thrashed the air with thorny shoots, all three of them realised that this was the point of no return.
"Come on," Meiling sighed, "Let's go."
"Like lambs to the bloody slaughter," Sakura muttered grimly as they turned around to face the dark cavernous temple entrance.
"Into the belly of the beast we go," Tomoyo added softly.
Meiling glared at them.
"Come on! Where's that Angel spirit?" she demanded, "I say we go in there, kick Heilang's sorry butt, get out of here and party! Who's with me?"
Tomoyo grinned at her.
"I'm in," she chirped.
Staring fearlessly up at the temple, Sakura allowed a small determined smile to grace her lips.
"We're so going to win," she muttered.
With that the three Angels plunged into the dark depths of the temple and into their destinies.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Heilang smirked feeling the chosen three enter his domain.
"Heads up," he whispered talking to a ball of black fire that he had conjured up into the palm of his hand, "They're coming."
He clenched his hand into a fist, the fire snuffing out as his fingers closed around it, casually he opened up his palm again revealing unburnt skin and a small trail of black smoke.
He whirled around, the black cloak he was wearing swirling around behind him like liquid shadows. With a simple gesture of his hands the powerful mage summoned the three pieces of the tri-sword to him:
Feng.
Shui.
Tu.
"And so it begins," he murmured, a wicked smile appearing on his face, "My destiny."
To be continued…