Disclaimer: I do NOT own Magic Knight Rayearth. It is the property of CLAMP, a four woman manga team that has become famous around the world. This story is based heavily upon the TV animation series, and hence I will not claim the scenario as my own. However, I do own myself (Ilkka) and all the scenes that did not appear in the original story. Now that this is made clear, on with the story!

The Trials of Fire, Water, Wind and Earth

Chapter 0: Prologue

"So this is the Tokyo Tower I've heard so much about", a tall boy said to himself. Although he was aware of his bad habit of talking to himself, he just couldn't help it. It was, in a way, natural. "Many manga and anime series seem to center around this place, but I don't see a special reason. I mean, it's just a tall building." There he went again. Maybe it was for his habit, but Ilkka was thought of as a freak by others. Not that he cared about it, anyway. This place was only a short sidestop for one like him. "Even if it is just a tall building, it sure is popular." he said, once again to nobody but himself. But after all, Japanese are rather weird people. For instance, why did the school students need to wear school uniforms specific to each school? Why not just go to school while wearing normal, everyday clothes? "Not that I complain about that. Especially the girls' uniforms are... rather cute." he said and smiled. "Come to think of it, there seems to be lots of students here. Is there a school trip or something? And from different schools, too."

Since Ilkka knew no one here, he just leaned to a wall, watching around. There must have been students from at least five different schools. Then, he sighed. "Must be fun, having friends like that.." he said, looking at a group of giggling girls who leaned to a rail before the giant windows. His thoughts were cut off when someone spoke to him.

"Umm.. What's wrong? Why are you all alone here?"

Ilkka looked at the direction the voice came from. He saw a short girl standing just beside him, looking at his eyes. "Are you waiting for someone?" She asked.

Japanese wasn't exactly Ilkka's forte, but thanks to the anime he had seen, he understood what the girl was talking about. Although he was bothered with the fact that someone came to talk to him, he

replied, "No, I'm alone." Ilkka wasn't exactly the social type, so he tried to avoid any further contact. However, for some reason, he just stayed there.

"People won't usually come to the Tokyo Tower alone", the girl said. Ilkka wondered why she couldn't just leave him alone, but then sighed and said,

"I'm just passing by, but I wanted to see this place for once."

"Passing by? Then... You're not from Tokyo?"

"No, I come from a faraway land... Well, not that faraway anyway. I'm a traveller from Finland."

"Finland?" the girl said and got a puzzled look. 'Seems like she wasn't very good in geography', so Ilkka said,

"It's in northern Europe. Not a big country, and it ain't exactly famous either, so it wouldn't be a wonder if you didn't know it."

"Wow.. You sure have travelled a long way." The girl said with an excited face.

"Not quite. It was just that..." Ilkka said, and fell silent. He closed his eyes and his face fell down.

"Just what?" the girl asked.

"There was nothing left for me, over there." Ilkka said.

"I see... Well, I--" the girl said when another voice exclaimed,

"Hikaru!"

"Ah, sorry, I have to go. It was nice to talk to you", the girl said and went to a group of other girls, wearing similar clothes.

"Hikaru... huh?" Ilkka said. He continued leaning to the wall, wondering why he had told her so much about himself.

"Hikaru, listen. You shouldn't talk to people like that. You never know what they might to do to you!" a girl said. I opened my eyes.

"No matter where I go, people always say bad things about me..." Ilkka said to himself, sighing. It wasn't the first unfriendly comment he had heard about himself.

"So Hikaru, don't talk to him again. Now, what would you like to do?"

"Umm.. I'd like to use the telescope, but I think I don't have any change.." Hikaru said.

"Oh, you're hopeless. Here, I'll lend you 50 yen, but be sure to pay me back!" a girl said, and handed Hikaru some money.

"Will do. Well then, I wonder if there are any free telescopes around.." Hikaru said and spotted one. "I'll use that", she said and went towards an unoccupied telescope. She inserted the coin to the telescope and began zooming around the landscape. "Waii! This is so much fun!" Hikaru said and laughed.

"That girl... She is so easy to please.." a girl said to another.

"That's true."

"Ahh!" Hikaru shouted and all the surrounding people turned to look at her. Ilkka did, as well.

"What's wrong, Hikaru?" The girl from before asked, running to Hikaru's side.

"...I need more money to keep using this telescope", Hikaru said. The girl sighed. Another one went to Hikaru's side and offered her a coin.

"Please, use this. I am happy that I can be of use to other people." She said.

"She is a polite one..." Ilkka said to himself. "I wouldn't just give money away for others' happiness, just like that. But she just did. Either she's polite... Or just plain stupid." he chuckled.

"Hey... That school uniform... It must be the all-girls school where most of Tokyo's intellectuals attend to." The girl from before said in a low voice, so that she couldn't be heard by anyone but those very near from her.

"Well, now Hikaru can keep using that telescope" Ilkka said to himself, but thought, 'Why am I so interested in her? I mean, she just talked to me for a short while and now all I care for around here is what she does. This isn't right at all!' "Ah well, it matter's not. I'll be leaving here soon, and will probably forget her the next day."

"Hey, look! It's that school! The one where the daughters of political figures go! And look at that girl! She's like a model!" a girl's voice said.

"No, she's prettier than any model!" another voice said, and Ilkka turned to look for this girl. She must have been the on with long, blue hair. Her eyes, blue like sapphires, were pretty. And her figure was cute too.

"But prettier than any model? That's going a bit far..." Ilkka said to himself. Just then, a flash of light appeared outside the windows. A girl's soft, cute voice spoke,

"Please... Save this world... Oh, Legendary Magic Knights..."

And the light disappeared. But along with it, Hikaru and Ilkka had gone missing. Along with the polite girl and the girl with blue hair.

They were nowhere to be found.

To be continued...

Author's note: Well, while I at first thought I wouldn't make this section, here it is anyway so I'll use this little space to make many things clear. First off, I won't put the disclaimer in every chapter (as if you were interested, but anyway) since loads the first chapter first when you click a story (why am I telling you this anyway?) Bear with me, and my desire for self-insertion. If you can stand a single OC, then I promise you I'll try my best to make this a good story. Even if you don't like OCs, you're free to read this. All I ask is that at least some of you people who read this story, please review as well. While I might be older than some fan fiction writers on this site, I am new to writing fan fiction in general. So comments and criticism is welcome (but no flames, please). Oh, and if you're already wondering about the pairings, well, I won't tell them yet. You'll have to find them out for yourself as the story progresses. Thank you for your time, and see you in next chapter.