Chapter 9
Fly Like an Eagle
Seto growled in annoyance. Stupid Mountain. Stupid quest. Stupid elements. He seriously didn't like anything at the moment. He shivered. He especially didn't like this mountain.
He had woken up under a tree in a peaceful valley a few hours ago. He had turned to see the others sprawled on the ground next to him. He groaned. His back hurt. Seto's groan had awoken Mai who was lying a few feet away next to the mutt. She groaned herself, rubbing herself and then sneezed out purple sparks.
Purple sparks.
Seto hadn't said anything. When she had sneezed again no sparks came out so he decided it was just the fault of him appearing in a totally different place.
A couple of minutes after finally Anzu came to (much to Yami's relief), there had been a clap of thunder that made the ground quake. Seto had turned to yell at the mutt since he was blessed with the earth-based magic and instead of just seeing Joey, he saw that freaky sprit girl. What was her name again?
"Hello, Fatima!" Serenity said cheerfully.
Oh yeah, the prophet's daughter.
"I thought we weren't supposed to see you again until we had all the stones!" exclaimed Anzu.
Fatima smiled. "That is true, I did say that. I just came to make the journey a little easier," she said, turning to Joey.
"Earth element. In your last journey in the forbidden jungle, you meet a strange fellow didn't you?" Fatima asked, although she already knew the answer.
Joey thought. He had met someone? When? Was it…was it that tiger? "The tiger?" he asked.
Fatima nodded. "Yes. That is your sprit; your guide. He will teach you how to use your power. Now, where is your stone?"
Joey started rummaging in his cloak pockets. Where did he put it? He then slapped his forehead, leaving a red mark, and took off his boot and shook it. The emerald dropped to the grass with a soft plop. "Nitesh's stone, come to me," Fatima said.
The emerald rose into the air and floated to Fatima, plopping into her hand She rubbed in thoughtfully for a second before talking again. "I will hold in to this until the rest of the stones are found."
Joey nodded and before any of them could blink, Fatima vanished. "You will find the next stone embedded in a tree near the middle of the mountain," a voice, Fatima's, whispered in the wind, "Good luck."
They had left almost immediately after that. The wind had been increasing gradually every mile or so. That's why he was shivering. It was a blistering wind now. He looked at the front of the line. It was lead by Joey and Mai, who were in deep conversation; then Serenity walking behind, shivering as he was; then Yami and Anzu talking as well. He was last.
He stopped walking.
He could have sworn he heard…was that…wings? He turned slowly around…and wished he hadn't.
That, he thought, is not real.
The bird was in fact not a bird at all. It was really a strange animal like thing with wings. It had the head of lion, talons (large talons) like a bird, and the body of a huge serpent. It threw its head back and roared. It then flapped its huge wings (that were like a bats) and flew right at Seto.
"Seto, get down!"
He felt himself being pushed to the ground hard and felt a rush of air. He bit his tongue to stop from yelling. A screech tore the air. "Help!"
Seto turned. Serenity was in the things talons, screaming and hitting the things claws. She screamed again, "HELP! JOEY!"
Seto looked over at Joey who had his fists clenched tightly in front of him. He yelled in frustration. "WHY WON'T IT WORK? MY POWERS AREN'T WORKING!"
"ANZU, LOOK OUT!" Serenity yelled.
The creature flew towards Anzu and picked her up as well. Anzu cried, "YAMI!"
Yami growled and took out his dagger. Preparing to throw, he got into the stance. One, two, huh?
His dagger was…melting.
Yami yelped and dropped the twisting metal, where it withered into mush on the ground. "JOEY!" Mai screamed.
Joey was in the claws next to Serenity. "SETO HELP!" Serenity shrieked.
Yami was next, next to Anzu that is. Seto threw a rock at the bird, lion, and snake-flying thing. It just swallowed the rock and grabbed Seto as well. It roared again and flew of, leaving Mai to her lonesome.
Mai fell to the ground, and stared at the far way speck that had been the weirdest creature she had ever seen in her entire life. She then looked down and began to shake. They were gone; just like that.
Mai had never felt so close to a group of people ever in her life except for possibly Duke.
Mai had been born in a small village close to the inn had worked at. Her mother had died in childbirth.
Mai was born alone into the world.
Her father had died two months before her birth in a scouting mission for the village. Mai had never known her father or mother. She was raised in an orphanage with 60 other children. She never had friends. The other children had shunned her, made fun of her.
She never liked remembering her past.
She didn't like being alone either.
Mai had met Duke when she was about 15 years old. That was about two years ago. She had been kicked out of the orphanage because when you turned 15 you were thought old enough to get your own job or in a women's case, find a husband.
She had been sitting on a bench near a small tavern in the town a few yards from her old 'home'. Mai had felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see spiky blacked hair man smiling down at her. "Um…hello?" Mai said awkwardly.
"Hello Miss! My name is Duke. May I know your name?" said the man.
"Mai."
"Miss Mai, are you looking for work?"
After that Mai worked at the Top of the Mountain. She had started as a dishwasher and now, she owned the place. Well, she shared it with Duke.
Then she had met the five of them.
Yami was charming and Anzu was a wonderful friend. Serenity was one of the sweetest girls and Seto was probably the coldest human being she would ever have the chance to meet. Then there was Joey…
Mai sighed. Then there was…Joey…
Mai had liked him from the second she made eye contact with him. He was handsome, funny, and a bit of a goof ball. He had charm and was insanely courageous.
She had…never liked someone…so much before.
Anzu almost started to cry. She had never seen anything as horrific as this creature before. The spider wasn't half as bad as this.
She struggled in the animals grasp again and accidentally hit her head on the snake part of the creature…
…and almost threw up.
Anzu was completely irked. What was going on? Where was Mai? Where were they going? She turned to look at the three in the other talon and almost laughed.
Serenity was next to Joey, looking ahead, squinting in the wind. Joey was glaring at the person next to him, who happened to be Seto.
Anzu turned to her other left and saw Yami asleep, snoring softly. Yawning, she closed her eyes and put her head on his shoulder, going to sleep as well.
SCREECH!
Mai turned and gasped. That is a really big bird.
It was true. A large eagle was flying towards her. Its golden feathers that rustled in the wind, and by the beak, that she thought, was made of gold awed her.
Yet, the most beautiful thing about it was its eyes. They were a deep amethyst that glittered in the light. That's when she realized it.
It was heading right for her. Turning to run, she heard it screech again. She was to late.
Preparing for impact she hunched her shoulder, awaiting the blow. It never came.
Instead of feeling its sharp beak go clean through her she felt her veins erupt in intense heat. Her eyes glowed a violent shade of purple.
Mai raised her arms up into the air… and slowly began to float up.
She turned east and headed in the direction the creature had taken her friends.
Joey groaned and rubbed his back. Why did that stupid bird have to drop them so hard!
He looked down to see that they were in a nest of some sort. It was made of twigs, small stones, and mud. He turned to see the others groaning. Everyone was there, except for…Mai.
Joey's ears perked. He had noticed that since he had merged with the tiger, his senses had increased. The sound was rushing air, moving very fast towards them.
Joey looked out of the nest and smirked. They were saved.
He watched as the streaming purple blot of fire that was Mai (he knew it was her) approach faster and faster. The creature screeched and turned to face Mai.
Ami stopped in front of it and said, "Give my friends back now!"
The creature seemed to chuckle and cried again and raced towards Mai. Mai simply twirled her arms in small circles, then big. As the five watched they saw that she was turning the air around her arms, creating small tornadoes.
The creature screamed in triumph and prepared to snap at Mai.
Mai shoved her arms forward. The tornadoes escaped her old and flew at the creature. It blew it right into the cliff behind them. It shrieked in fury and fell to the ground. Clumsily getting up it glared up at Ami and prepared to get up again.
Mai shook her head and seemed to through something. The thing tried to fly but it was immobilized! It couldn't budge. It thrashed and hit the cliff again.
Joey turned and smiled. Mai had won.
The cliff began to crumble. The beast was still frozen. It cried in fury. Then, it was silenced under two tons of rock. "YES! THAT WAS AWESOME MAI!" Joey yelled.
Mai smiled and floated over to the five of them. When she landed Serenity and Anzu immediately hugged her. Smiling, she hugged back. Yami gave her the thumbs up telling her good work. Seto nodded. When the girls got off her Joey then hugged her. She tried to hold back her blush.
"Hey, Mai! Look! The stone!" Serenity said, pointing towards the tree they were in.
Mai looked down.
Embedded in the trunk of the mighty tree was a large amethyst. Mai spread her arms out and floated down towards it. She grabbed the stone. It feel into her hand. Smiling, she turned back to show them.
She couldn't see her friends, only ruby mist.
Hope you liked it. I'm trying to update once a week but it's going to start getting harder with school and everything. First year in high school. Scary isn't it? Anyway, review please!
-Em