Alright, back to the story.

ahem I don't own CCS, btw…sadly. (;;)

----------------------------Hidden Power: Chapter 5... Getting Up Again

As soon as the cafeteria caught fire everyone screamed and backed away from the window.

"Everyone run to the doors and DON'T PANIC!" a teacher instructed, trying to calm some 200 students down. Of course human instincts caused everyone to ignore him and immediately panic. The student body thus made a stampede for the exits. Something Syaoran couldn't have.

He stretched out two fingers and immediately all the exits caught fire as well. It started to spread rapidly bringing the students into a big pod at the center of the room, blocking off all hopes of escape. But it went no further.

Eriol looked at the panicked students, his face creasing with worry, "Syaoran, this isn't working. Nothing's happening."

"Just a little longer. Wait. I've got the fire, so it should be okay," Syaoran assured him.

"Un-leeeess someone has suicidal thoughts and decides to attempt escape," Aqua said thoughtfully.

"And then they'll go poof!" the earth sprite added.

As though suddenly realizing this Syaoran's eyes widened, "They freaking BETTER NOT! That fire is at least 13 feet! YOU IDIOTS BETTER NOT TRYING ANYTHING STUPID!" he yelled at the students just to be sure.

"Well…humans will be humans," Skye whispered rolling his eyes. "For their sake I hope that whoever is coming comes quickly before someone does something drastic."

"If…"

Suddenly there was a scream and an arc of what looked like a serpent slid into the ring of fire, dousing the flames. It was a water serpent. It thrashed to and fro slithering in a circle until all the flames were extinguished before crashing to the floor and becoming nothing more than a big puddle of water. Students ran for the exits as fast as they could leaving Daidouji Tomoyo, and a couple of other students who had also fainted in all the excitement, unconscious on the floor.

"Aw, crap," Syaoran cursed and followed Eriol who crouched on the floor trying to wake Daidouji up. The plan had been a total failure. All they had been left with was exactly what they had been trying to avoid. Someone who had gotten hurt.

"Daidouji-san! Daidouji-san! Daijoubu desu ka!"

Tomoyo opened her eyes just as they all heard the wails of sirens approaching. It was a little late for the fire department to come rushing in, Syaoran thought wryly.

Daidouji opened her eyes, "Hiiragizawa-kun? Is that you?"

"Are you okay! What happened?" Eriol's voice cracked. He was extremely freaked out, Syaoran noted. Maybe he had a crush on Daidouji.

"Hai. I-I think I just panicked. Nothing too serious. Is the fire gone? Is everyone safe?"

"Everyone's fine," Syaoran assured her from a distance.

She sighed with relief, "Good. I was afraid that we wouldn't make it out alive!" and then she lapsed back into unconsciousness. Eriol whimpered just as two men rushed in with a stretcher. They lifted the unconscious girl out of Eriol's lap and onto the stretcher assuring the boys that she would be okay.

As soon as they were out of ear-shot Syaoran dropped the act.

"HOW THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO THIS! HOW DOES THE PARFAIT ("Prophet!" the four spirits squealed simultaneously without notice) EXPECT US TO FIND 2 PEOPLE? THERE'S A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE! THE CHANCES THAT THEY WOULD BE IN THIS SCHOOL ARE 1 TO ZIP!" he roared, furious.

"We tried, Syao," Gaia said.

"WELL WE FAILED! THAT STUPID PLAN WAS A TOTAL AND UTTER FAILURE!"

"We're just going to have to try again," Skye said quietly.

"How?" Eriol said sadly. "How do we pinpoint two people in the whole world? What if they aren't even in Japan?"

"Oh, they'll be in Japan alright. The strings of fate are will draw the Guardians together. They should be somewhere close by. If not, the Prophet would have sent us to another world."

"Another world? Sh-yeah right. This isn't the only world!" Syaoran said incredulously.

The four spirits nodded.

"Aw crap.."

Eriol sighed, "That doesn't mean that we're going to go prancing around the other world's just YET. We have to deal with our world first and see if a Guardian is in THIS world first," he said noting the intrigued look on Syaoran's face. Immediately his shoulders drooped and the little spirits' shoulders drooped as well, floating in a straight line, mimicking him behind his back.

"So what're we gonna do? Ho---YOW!" someone had plucked the back of his jeans near his butt and when he turned around he and Eriol were all alone in the weird world which the Prophet seemed to reside. The four spirits were nowhere in sight.

"Pyro….what have you done so far to find the other Guardians? It has been more than two weeks. There is so much that must be done in so little time and yet, what action has been taken to find the next Guardian?" the Prophet sounded very very disappointed. Against his will, Syaoran felt a twinge of shame.

"We're working on it, alright!" he shouted.

"Really. What do you intend to do? How will you and Ciel find the next Guardian?"

"We don't know how to find the next Guardian without putting lives in danger or how to know whether the person is the Guardian or not, but we're trying to figure it out!" Syaoran replied.

"We've already figured come to the decision that we should search our own world before going to search other worlds," Eriol added.

"A wise decision, and yet one that need not have been made. The other two Guardians will be drawn to your world as it is Fate's doing," the Prophet said and Syaoran thought he heard the thing smiling! Whatever the Parfait was…

"How do you expect us to find two people in this whole freakin world! They could be my next door NEIGHBORS and I'll traipse all the way over to Hawaii looking for them! AN: Shoots:D They are in Japan right? Or are they in another country? You're payin' for travel costs aren't you!"

"They are. Fate has decreed it so. And my own servants will be there to aid you in your search."

"We get servants? Who?" Eriol said sounding a little surprised.

"You will find out when the time is right."

At that very moment, everything within Syaoran's range of vision went black and he let out a yell. If it weren't for the giggling little lights (the spirits) flashing before Syaoran's eyes he would have thought that he was blindfolded or something...he was. And when the blindfold flew off he came face to face with a floating little boy who grinned at him impishly and said, "Surprise surprise! I'm your new best friend..."

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6 pages! Was that too much! More? -- I was seriously running outta ideas for this one to be honest. Tell me what you think...hint hint