Author's Note (A/N): Umm, this was a fast chapter, but I assure you it has good material. Also, I want to mention that the two parts of this chapter happen simultaneously, or close to it. In other words, all the chapters since they parted and went to their own Realms are all happening at roughly the same time. Or as close as you can figure them out to be. I'll try to explain later.

Chapter 28: Unexpected Help

The Light Realm's castle dungeon was a well kept place. Despite being a dungeon, the floors were still well swept and the cells were regularly cleaned. The dungeon was brightly lit with lanterns and the prisoners very well fed. Two prisoners sat within the dungeon, both of which wouldn't touch the food served to them.

"Sigma, really, why don't you just drop the act? It's over, you've been caught. Ask Lord Abner for forgiveness and I'm sure he'll give it to you," the head guard said.

"Look, Kyle, you and I grew up together. You know me well enough to know that I wouldn't try to usurp anyone's throne. You were the one that spent day after day trying to convince me that I should try to become ruler of the Earth Realm. Why – "

"Sigma, give it a rest," Candice said from her cell.

"So you'll admit, Candice, that this is all an act?" Kyle asked.

"No, I'm just making the point that there's no point in Sigma wasting his breath with a fool like you."

"Candice…"

"What? We've been captured, beaten! Again! Every time it seems like we're winning in some way, something comes along and defeats us!" Candice ranted angrily. "There's really no point to me keeping my temper as you're about to suggest I do, Sigma!"

Sigma shrugged. "You should still keep your temper. It'll help if you could think straight as opposed to having your judgment clouded like it always is around Shadow."

Candice crossed her arms indignantly and turned her back on Sigma with a loud "hmph!"

Sigma heaved a sigh and tried to amuse himself by watching a small spider spin a tiny web between two bars of his cell door.

"Sigma, I want to hear your story," Kyle said after a while.

"What story?"

"The one about why you've come here claiming that Abner's turned evil and such."

"Oh, that one. Well, you should remember that me and Solana came to this Realm a little while ago to summon Abner to a meeting of the Council. Shadow, the new ruler of the Dark Realm sent us and all six of the other rulers came to his summons. After that, it's a really long and complicated story. Actually, I probably should've started with some visitors that came to my Realm, since that's really where the whole story starts for me." Sigma recounted all the incidents that led up to their current situation. A little more than two hours later, he finished his story and answered Kyle's questions.

"Kyle, look, if you want proof of the authenticity of my story, you can ask me and Candice questions about any obscure detail that you want and I'll bet our answers aren't that far apart," Sigma suggested.

"Alright, fine. I'll ask some detailed questions. First, where do these kids come from?"

Kyle handed the two prisoners two sheets of paper each and a pencil. When they had finished writing down the answer, he took the papers and read over the answer. Sigma watched Kyle carefully, trying to make out his facial expression. "Alright, next question. What does this Sakura girl chant to summon her staff? Also, what color is her staff and what's it look like?"

Sigma took his second sheet of paper and answered the question as well as he could remember, all the while hoping that Candice had answered the previous question the same way. About five minutes later, Sigma finished his answer and handed it to Kyle. Candice was still writing.

The guard took the sheet of paper and read over it, then waited patiently for Candice to finish. When she had finished, Kyle took her answer and read it. Sigma watched. "Next question: which of the kids can use magic? What kind of magic can they each use?"

Sigma received his first sheet of paper from Kyle and began to answer his question. This time, Candice finished first and turned to Sigma with a smug look on her face.

This isn't a race, Sigma thought, annoyed. When he finished, Kyle took his sheet of paper and read over his answer.

"How many more questions are you going to ask?" Sigma asked calmly.

"As many as I need to," came Kyle's reply. "Alright, what color hair does Shadow have?"

"Black," Sigma and Candice said together.

Kyle blinked at them. "Alright… You've either taken a lot of time to make sure that both of you know the complete story with all the minor details, you're both possessed by the same person, or you're telling the truth. I doubt you're possessed. You both act like the Candice and Sigma I know, petty rivalries included. Fine. I believe your story, but that leaves quite a problem."

"That Abner is a twisted, evil mastermind and that he's brought back the Summoner. Oh, and just one more, tiny, insignificant little thing. WE'RE CAPTURED!" Candice finished.

"Candice, calm down. I'm sure Kyle will find some way to let us go."

"I'll talk to the other guards. We'll fight with you against Abner."

"Thanks, Kyle. I knew you would understand, but I don't think you should go against Abner. He's powerful. You heard what he did to us back in the Dark Realm."

"We'll join your side against Abner. I'm not stupid enough to challenge him myself, or even with all the guards in this castle. I'll go talk to my most trusted guards first. Until I get back, don't say anything about this to anyone, ok?"

Sigma nodded in return a leaned back on the sparsely padded bench. "See, Candice, I told you that holding your temper could help in situations like this."

Candice sniffed loudly and crossed her arms again, turning from Sigma indignantly. "Stop telling me what to do!"

All the corridors in the Light Realm's palace were heavily decorated with chandeliers, extravagant wallpaper and various paintings painted by great artists of times past. Hundreds of doors lined the sides of these corridors, each leading to anything ranging from servant's quarters to guest rooms to the humble storage closet. Kyle moved briskly through the corridors with an air of purpose, stopped in front of one of the many doors, and knocked.

"Come in!" came a cheery voice from the inside.

Kyle stepped inside and found Haarqual's room just as it always was: cluttered with junk items that never seemed to have any use. Kyle stepped into the mess. "Are you ever going to clean out any of this junk?"

"Nope! Why would I do something like that? You never know when you might need something!" a tall, medium-build, dark-skinned man replied, stepping out of an adjacent room with a towel hanging over his shoulders and dripping, pointed, black hair.

Kyle stared in surprise. "What… did you do to your hair?"

"Do you like it?"

"Well, first off, you dyed it black. Second, it looks like an explosion, and third, no, I don't like it. Anyhow, I'm not here to talk to you about your hair; there are more important matters afoot, hmm?"

"Umm, ok, sure! Just wait a while for me to get you something to drink."

Kyle stared after his strange friend and sat down, marveling at the elegant curves and intricate design of the table in front of him and wondering when his friend had gone insane. A short while later, Haarqual returned with a serious look on his face.

"Kyle…"

"Oh great, what now?"

"You won't like the sound of this… but…" He paused.

"But what?" Kyle asked tensing.

"We're out of … WINE!" he finished, laughing wildly.

Kyle relaxed and threw a balled up sock he found on the bed at Haarqual. Sighing loudly, he spoke. "Ok, ok, I get it: you're very funny. Now, can we please get to business?"

"Alright, fine, what's so important that you would venture to the Land of Junk that you despise so much?"

"Abner's a fraud," Kyle replied simply.

"You sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. I spoke with Sigma and Candice. You heard the commotion, right? They came claiming that Abner had turned evil and were thrown into the dungeon for it."

"Right, so what makes you think, all of a sudden, that they're not lying?" Haarqual asked, his clear blue eyes staring off into the distance, out the window.

"I questioned them. Had them answer questions simultaneously. Every one of their answers matched."

"Oh. So, why are you telling me?"

"We're going to break them out and take as many guards with us as we can. I'll let them tell you the story."

"Sounds like fun!" the man replied, excitement visible in his eyes as he turned them from the window. "When do we start?"

"Let's go find some more people we can trust. Do you know any?"

"No, not really. Besides you, I think everyone in our little brigade of guardsmen just wants promotions. Actually, I wouldn't mind a promotion myself…"

"Oh, come on! You're the head cook! You can't get a higher position. Besides, you can't fight worth anything."

The two of them bickered for a while, one mocking the other's swordsmanship while the other retorted with jokes regarding soufflés. After a short while, the discussion turned to planning and Haarqual inputted suggestions with a serious demeanor.

"Alright, so the only person we can really trust is my wife and another friend of mine. Before we go talk to them though, I think you should go talk with Candice and Sigma about their story."

Haarqual stood up and extended a hand to Kyle to help him up. Kyle clasped his hand and to his immediate surprised, was rather painfully shocked by a toy in Haarqual's hand. "Ha, got you again!"

"You're just doing this because you know what'll happen when we meet up with my wife," Kyle replied flatly.

Haarqual put the toy away and helped Kyle up. "Nah! She can't do anything to me this time!" he said.

"Oh, and why's that?" Kyle asked as he picked his way across the junk covered floor.

"You'll see!"

The two friends stepped out of the room and headed back to the dungeon to find Sigma and Candice bickering over what color the sky in the Thunder Realm should be. As the two entered, Candice turned her heated stare at Kyle, sending shivers down his spine. "Hi," he said meekly.

"You tell me. What color should the sky be?" Candice asked.

"What?"

"The sky in the Thunder Realm! Sigma insists that it should be dark, gray and dreary all the time, and I insist on it being a rather light gray with clear blue where the clouds are parted!"

"Aren't they both still gray?" Haarqual suggested.

Candice stared heatedly at him and crossed her arms again. "Men!"

The next hour passed swiftly with Sigma recounting, yet again, the tale of his adventures since meeting Li. Haarqual listened, seeming distracted and bored. When Sigma finished, Haarqual stood up and spoke quietly with Kyle.

"Ok, fine, I get it. Abner's dangerous, so, how are we going to do this?" he asked.

"Let's go get a few more people," Kyle replied. Raising his voice a little, he added, "Sigma, I'm going to get a few more people and then we'll all leave. Haarqual can stay here and keep you two entertained. He seems to be good at that."

"If you say so," Haarqual replied. "Bye!"

Kyle rolled his eyes and walked off, leaving his two oldest friends and heading to talk to his wife.

Sakura woke up. The room was dark. "Hello?" she called out to the magical presence in the room. "Who's there?"

"You've awaken."

"Who are you?"

There was no reply. Sakura stood up and took a step toward the magical presence. Her foot landed in a puddle of water. "Hello?" Sakura called out again. Still, no one replied. Sakura backed away from the water and closed her eyes. She concentrated her magical energies and felt around her for the thin, crisscrossing lines of Dark energy that she needed to access her Cards. Abruptly, Sakura realized that they weren't there. In fact, there was nothing around her, no magical aura, even where it had been. Slowly, she opened her eyes again to see a growing, horizontal slash of light in the distance.

Sakura stepped towards the light and fell into a deep pool of freezing water.

"Sakura, taking a bath?" came an unfamiliar, silhouetted form's voice. "I'd get out of that water if I were you. It's barely above freezing!."

Sakura climbed out of the water, shivering. "Wh-who ar-are y-you?"

"That's not important," the figure replied, now somewhere unseen in the dark room.

Sakura turned towards the voice.

"I'm over here," it said from behind her.

"What do you want?" Sakura asked steadily.

"I'm not sure yet."

"What do you want me for?"

"Also not sure."

"Then why did you capture me?"

"Just for the fun of it, I suppose. Maybe I'll think of some things for you to do later. Oh, just as a thought, the pool you fell into is all around you. Think of yourself as on a seven foot diameter island, hmm? Anyhow, I just wanted to get a good look at you. I'll leave now."

Sakura sat silently in the dark as the figure stepped into the light and out of the room. Shortly after the figure left, Sakura took out her Star Key and attempted to release it. When she failed, she reached out for the strands of Dark energy and again felt nothing. The room seemed to be entirely void of any magical presence save her own. All of a sudden, the room lit up.

"Oh, by the way, Sakura, the next time you land in that water, it will immediately freeze around you. I don't think you'd enjoy being a human ice pop, hmm? Other than that, good luck surviving!"

"Wait! Surviving what!" Sakura asked frantically.

"Why, the large blasts of icy energy coming your way, of course. What, you mean you don't see those chutes over there? And you don't feel anything coming from them?"

Suddenly, Sakura felt the energy as it blasted out of a small hole in the wall. The energy sped towards Sakura who quickly ducked to dodge it.

"Very good!" came the voice. "Well, good luck! If you use your Cards, you might do better!"

"But I can't use them!"

"Sure you can! You just have to be very careful about how you do it! Good bye, now!"

Another blast of energy shot from the wall. Shortly after, a hole opened up below the first and a second blast closely followed the first. Frantically, Sakura dodged both blasts of energy as more holes opened up in the domed building she stood in. Frantic thoughts raced through her mind as she concentrated and still felt no magic in the room, all the while dodging more and more blasts of energy.

Three more holes had opened up, two placed to her left and one behind her. Cold, icy energy sped across the room, striking the walls and leaving a thin layer of ice. Sakura thought again about her Cards. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her: How does Shadow access the Dark Realm's energy outside of the Realm? Sakura concentrated again, found a safe spot on her little island where no energy crossed and reached out for the Dark Realm. Slowly, she saw, or rather perceived, a small, black orb of energy, far and distant.

Sakura reached out for what she knew to be the Dark Power Sphere and immediately ricocheted off some invisible barrier. She tried again, this time, more slowly and subtly. Sakura's reach passed through the barrier and slowly inched towards the Sphere of energy that lay in the distance. Another barrier presented itself and Sakura penetrated. More and more barriers popped up, and as Sakura reached past each of them, her spiritual energy was slowly drained and her reach began to falter. Two barriers separated her from the Sphere. Sakura reached.

Another hole opened in the wall.

Sakura passed the first barrier.

Energy poured from the hole and sped towards Sakura. Time seemed to slow as she penetrated the second barrier and drew on the Dark Sphere. "Fiery!" She yelled. The Card sprang to life and shrouded Sakura in a ball of flame. The icy energy collided milliseconds later and dissipated.

"Hard to reach that Sphere, isn't it?" the voice asked. "Well, I think that'll be all then. You must be tired."

Sakura collapsed from the strain of touching the Dark Sphere. Breathing heavily, she looked around the room. The holes in the wall all closed up; the door opened; the lights turned off.

"You didn't do too badly, did you? Well, the problem is, now I'm bored because I didn't get to see you encased in ice, so I've decided to shove you into that water, hmm?"

Sakura tried to speak but was too fatigued. The silhouetted figure approached the edge of the glimmering water and walked across.

"Oh, are you tired? Come now, you only used one of your Cards. You can't be that tired. I'll tell you what, if you manage to so much as stand up, I'll leave you alone. I'll give you until I get over there. Sounds like fun, hmm?" the figure asked.

Sakura attempted to move and failed. She tried again. She failed. The figure took another step across the water, walking at an almost taunting speed. Sakura continued to try, breathing heavily, yet her body refused to obey. Mountains seemed set upon her arms and legs, pinning her to the ground. Slowly, the mountains became lighter. Slowly, the figure stepped closer, and closer, and closer. The figure stood on the water perhaps 5 feet away from the edge of Sakura's island. Halfway, Sakura thought. I can do this. I still have time. Sakura tried again. Her hand moved.

"Oh, you're moving. How surprising that your body could recover so quickly. I think after I encase you in a block of ice, I'll hold you as a frozen trophy in my room. I'll keep the room cold."

Sakura moved her arm. The figure stepped closer.

"And every so often I'll thaw you and talk to you a bit. Maybe I'll have a shot at torturing you. That seems to be happening quite often these days, hmm?"

Sakura moved her feet. The figure stepped closer.

"Well, Sakura, you've managed to move a whole three inches so far, or something like that. Maybe I should speed up. I wouldn't want to lose a wonderful source of entertainment!"

Sakura slowly moved her legs. The figure reached the island.

"Looks like you won't make it after all. Well, you've still got another three feet of time, hmm?"

Sakura slowly tried to turn over onto her stomach. The figure stepped still closer.

"I do congratulate you, however, on a job well done. You even managed to use your Card without releasing your staff. It was a well fought battle. I think this is what they mean when they talk about winning a battle but losing a war, hmm?"

The figure took a step. Sakura slowly got onto her knees, and paused, sweat drenched and breathing heavily. The figure took another step.

"Well, looks like I'm one step away. So, just out of curiosity, of course, how would you like me to toss you into the lake? Head first? Feet first? Sideways? On your belly perhaps?"

Sakura put her feet under her and worked her muscles. Slowly, after stumbling a few times, she stood. The figure took its last step.

"Oh. You're up. How unfortunate. Now I have to leave you alone."

Sakura collapsed again, slowly losing consciousness. The lights switched on. Abner stood over her.

"Well, time for me to leave then, hmm? Good bye."

Sakura stared in horror for the moment or two that her consciousness remained with her. Broken thought filled her mind as she fell into a deep sleep plagued by nightmares which ran rampant with horrendous tortures.

Sakura awoke hours later with a terrible headache. Sakura rolled over and buried her head in her pillow after pulling her blanket closer for warmth. Why is it so cold? she thought groggily. Sakura sat up in bed and looked around, startled. I'm in a bed. She felt around and wondered what was going on. Footsteps approached.

"Sakura, you're awake," came the unfamiliar voice through the door. "Mind if I come in?"

"Umm… Sure…" Sakura said cautiously.

Abner stepped into the room flicked a switch which lit all the candles in the room. Sakura looked about and found a small, cozy room sparsely decorated with extravagant paintings. The bed Sakura had been sleeping on stood in a corner, covered with clean, white sheets and a large, thick comforter. Stuffed animals cluttered a shelf opposite of the bed, next to the door. Candles, lanterns and other sources of light lined the walls, all blazing fiercely, dispelling all shadows from the room.

"So, how was your sleep?" Abner asked politely.

"Uh… It was fine, thank you," Sakura replied uncertainly.

"Follow me." Abner walked out of the room. Sakura followed closely behind. Abner led Sakura into the center of a dark room and walked away. "Oh, Sakura, I forgot to tell you: you're going to be very badly attacked. Good luck," Abner said, closing the door.

The lights in the room flickered on and Sakura tensed as she felt magical energy surge through the walls. Frantically, Sakura reached for the Dark Sphere. The slow process began again as Sakura penetrated barrier after barrier, becoming weaker as the magic seemed to surge closer to Sakura's pounding heart. A large hole, nearly as tall as Sakura, opened in the wall. Sakura felt the onslaught of magical energy surge from it as a large ball of fire formed at its mouth. Finally, Sakura reached the Dark Power Sphere and drew from it.

"Try Sword," came Abner's voice.

Sakura, for a lack of any other ideas complied. "Sword!" she yelled. A sword formed in Sakura's hand just as the fireball launched from the gaping hole. Sakura slashed at the fireball and the magical energies split off of the sword and raced past her sides, leaving her unharmed save for the immense heat from the fire. A second fireball followed. Sakura slashed again, this time, with more force. The fireball collided with Sword and split more widely, leaving more space between Sakura and the flow of magical energy.

As a third ball launched from the mouth, Sakura fell to one knee. Holding herself with her free hand, soaked with sweat and breathing heavily, Sakura held her sword firmly in front of her, pointing it straight at the approaching fireball and focusing the remainder of her energy into it. Sword began to glow a dark pink. The fireball collided with it and burst into five separate strands of energy, each streaming past Sakura, none nearer than a foot. Sakura fell forward, miraculously maintaining consciousness. The sword in her hand dissipated and Abner stepped in.

"Won another battle, hmm?"

Sakura nodded feebly, amazed that she could move at all.

"Well, didn't think you'd make it. I should've sent one more fireball at you. I think you would've died. But… we can't have that, can we, hmm?"

Sakura's eyelids dropped and she felt herself being picked up by a stream of unfamiliar energy. Slowly, she was placed back in her bed and Abner walked off out of the room, politely switching off the lights as he did so. Lying in the dark room, Sakura's fatigued body refused to find rest. Dreams plagued her yet again, none of which made any sense.

A little more than three hours later, Abner stepped into the room and removed Sakura from her bed with the same stream of strange energy. Another hour later, Abner arrived at a Portal with Sakura floating in her sleep nearby. Chanting softly, Abner accessed the Portal.

Abner stepped through the Portal with Sakura still floating along next to him. He scribbled something on a piece of paper and stuffed it in Sakura's pocket before leaving her on the floor, carefully eyeing the dark castle that loomed nearby and knowing that a few minutes later, a black-haired boy would arrive to meet Sakura.

Carefully hiding his magical energy, Abner turned back to the Portal and chanted quietly. The Portal turned a deep, blood red and Abner stepped through after casting an erasure spell on the trail he knew the Portal would provide to his destination. Moments later, the Portal regained its normal colors and a boy took Sakura in his arms, eyeing the Portal suspiciously.

Humm… See, told you I'd write faster. What… three days to get this posted?

Anyhow… things you should probably figure out are… WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH ABNER?

And uh… ya… Also, what's Kyle up to? Is he REALLY helping out Sigma and them? Or is he just faking it? and what about Haarqual? He's a strange guy, isn't he? Rather insane, if you ask me.

Oh, the challenge still stands for people that want to solve it, though I think a few people already know the answer. Keep reading!