Chapter Eight:

From the Inside

"Come on, let's go!" Derek shouted at the five girls as HuiLing landed on the floor beside Wanda. "Now that Moonshine's gone, Phobos knows we're here."

They did not even have time to register the magnitude of their first real victory.

"We have to hurry." He said, and he led them down a narrow passageway into the darkness beyond the entrance to the hideout.

Everything around them was dark, but Derek knew these halls well, as he had snuck through a few times before bringing the new Guardians in with him. At one point, Wanda stopped. The others turned to look at her.

"HuiLing, you go in the air and fly ahead. Alert us if you see anything." She instructed.

"Roger." HuiLing gave a mock salute and took flight.

"And Cerel', we'll need you to keep in touch with the earth around us. You can use it to sense anyone approaching from any direction, right?" Wanda looked at her, and she smiled as if to say 'of course I can.' "And Ingrid, Tress and I will be the first wave of retaliation if anything happens until HuiLing gets here. This way Derek can just focus on getting us to our parents and not be distracted."

"Sounds good." The others agreed to the plan, and they followed Derek to a narrow cliffside that was up against a flat wall with nothing to hold on to if part of the cliff gave way.

"This is the most dangerous part, girls. Only two of us can be on here at the same time otherwise it will be too weak." He explained. "Plus, there's that chasm." He pointed at the deep ravine. All they saw was shadow, they couldn't even see the bottom.

HuiLing came around the bend at high speed.

"Bad news, there's those guys on the other side." She said, unusually quiet. "I caught a glimpse of them just in time before they spotted me."

"They probably know why we're here." Muttered Tress.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Ingrid said suddenly.

"Ok, you don't have to shout." Cerella put a finger in her ear temporarily.

"Sorry... But here it is..." She apologized quickly.

"That Guardian has probably told them about us by now." Scar said.

"Let them come." Growled Adamant.

"I'm going down below. I want to play with Ingrid again." Smiled Fusagu.

"Be cautious." Instructed Rhea as Fusagu jumped into the air and in to the chasm below.

"Right... there are only five of us now." Abrade stated.

Fusagu did not look back as he faded in to the darkness.

Derek, Wanda, Ingrid and Cerella were running on the thin trail, while HuiLing and Tress were flying directly above them.

A burst of water erupted from the bottom halfway across, and Ingrid raised both of her hands. A second wave of water met the first, and a resounding crash echoed throughout the cave system.

"That was pretty fast, Guardian." Came Fusagu's voice. "You're improving with your power."

He appeared out of the darkness, riding on a pillar that was rising from somewhere down below.

The group paused.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up." Smiled Ingrid as water circled around her.

"But Ingrid...!" Wanda looked up at her.

"Go!" Snapped Ingrid in a firm tone of voice.

"Think you can take me on?" Fusagu asked, amused.

"Kid, I KNOW I can take you on." She flexed her hands as the others moved ahead.

There was a loud crash as the two waves of water slammed in to each other.

Wanda looked back, but Derek called her to reality again.

"Come on." He said, grabbing her arm.

"Right." She nodded, looking ahead.

There was the sound of metal rushing through air, and a tree branch extended from the wall to block the needles. Wanda looked back and saw Cerella with a hand on the wall, a furious look on her face.

"Surprise attack, huh?" She asked Rhea. "That's pretty dirty, considering."

Rhea appeared above them in the air, and Cerella looked up. The branch that extended from the wall then whipped around and slammed in to Rhea, forcing her to the ground.

"I'm not letting you one step closer." Growled Cerella.

Rhea looked up at Cerella.

"Well, boy, looks like I have a new opponent." She said to Derek as she stood up and more needles appeared in her hands.

"You guys go on ahead." Cerella smiled. "I'll take care of this wench."

Cerella touched a nerve at her comment.

"You'll pay for that, little brat." Snarled Rhea, her eyes flashing silver.

"Let's go, before Cerel' gets any more pissed off than she already is." Tress said quickly.

They hurried along the trail, the sound of the water and earth battles fading away.

There came a loud noise ahead of them, like lightning cracking in the distance. Wanda jumped forward when HuiLing told her where it was coming from, built the energy in her hands then shot it in the direction of the attack. The resulting boom echoed around them and shook the underground cavern.

A blast of fire came after the black lightning, and now Tress shot forward, sending her now favored fire arrows at the fireballs that were aimed at them at the same speed as the black lightning from the previous attack.

"Nice." Wanda smiled as Tress dusted off her hands. Fixing her glasses, then she put her hands on her hips. "It's going to take a lot more than little fireballs to get rid of us." She nodded.

"So you've made it this far, even after we sent Moonshine after you." Abrade appeared before them. Adamant stood next to her, as well as Scar.

"Just get out of our way and let us go to our parents." HuiLing demanded angrily.

"Not going to happen." Adamant frowned. He raised his hands, and so did Tress, fireballs appearing in both of their hands.

Derek now unsheathed his sword at the sight of Scar and his weapon of choice, and HuiLing took to the air after seeing Abrade.

Will, Irma, Terrane, Cornelia, HayLin and Matt all felt the shock waves from the battle in the distant cavern.

"Sounds like they're getting close." Terrane said.

"HayLin, can you use any of your powers from before to hear how close they are? Maybe we can help them." Suggested Will.

"I'll try, but it's been a while." She nodded. She closed her eyes and 'reached' outward with her hearing, focusing on the direction of the shock wave.

Wanda, HuiLing, Tress and Derek dodged a black lightning attack as well as they could on the trail.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Cerella shouted from behind. "You nearly got my hair!"

"Oh what a tragedy." Ingrid's sarcasm caused a smirk to split across the other girls' faces.

"All right, now I'm pissed." Cerella growled, using words she rarely spoke. She slammed her hands to the ground, which instantly began to shake like an earthquake was brewing. The cavern shook so violently that dust and rocks fell from the ceiling.

"We've got to make this quick, before Cerella causes this place to cave in." Tress covered her ears as the noise increased.

"Right." HuiLing raised her hands in to the air, and clenched them in to fists. "Everyone, brace yourselves!" She called out to her friends as a tornado appeared around her then began to grow.

"Wait! Tress, you thinking what I'm thinking?" Wanda flew up next to HuiLing, Tress nodded, then flew to her other side.

"Derek, get out of the way!" Ordered Wanda.

He looked up, and his eyes went wide at the sight. Wanda and Tress were pooling their power in to the tornado that HuiLing was summoning. Fire and lightning crackled in random spots, hissed everywhere as the tornado expanded. The three then directed the tornado at their attackers. Derek jumped out of the way at the very last second, to avoid getting sucked in to the tornado.

From below, a pillar of tree roots and branches shot upward at Rhea, slamming her in to the ceiling, causing a large hole to appear in it. Her mask fell off her face with the impact of her head against the hard rock, and blood trickled down because of the angle.

Cerella was surprised at the sight of what she could do when pressed on a matter.

"Fusagu, you're on the wrong side!" Ingrid shouted.

"Says who?" Asked an irritated Fusagu. Sure he was having fun with Ingrid, but the length of their battle was annoying. And he could sense that the others had failed by now.

"Do you even know why you're fighting for Phobos? Do you even know what he's done?" Asked Ingrid as she blocked another wave of water from Fusagu.

Fusagu did not reply. The more he thought, the more he wondered. All he had been told was that the Guardians were evil creatures who stripped Phobos of his powers and status. But now that he had been faced with them, he saw otherwise. He stopped attacking Ingrid and looked at her.

"You say this as though you understand what's going on Ingrid. When you've only been a Guardian for a short while... Why?" He asked.

Ingrid smiled.

"Because Phobos kidnapped my mother without warning, and the mother's of my friends as well. Not to mention, my leader has lost both of her parents to him and wishes nothing more than to see them again. I imagine you too must miss your parents, Fusagu." She said sweetly, reaching out a kind hand. "If you come with us, we can take you back to Meridian and help you find them."

Fusagu stared at Ingrid long and hard. He remembered being told by someone to always look for the truth in things, and his heart was telling him she was right. He had been in the wrong and must make amends now. But thinking about it was easier than doing.

"It's ok, I'll be with you one hundred percent of the way. Think of me as an older sister, ok?" She saw the struggle in his eyes

Finally he reached out his own hand and accepted hers. She pulled him off the wave of water that he was standing on, to the trail that she was. He looked back at the wave and it fell silently down into the depths of the abyss.

"Let's go. I'll clear things up with the others before we continue, ok?" Ingrid smiled.

Fusagu nodded, still holding on to her hand, unsure what to think right now.

The two walked forward to where Cerella had been fighting, and Ingrid waved at her.

"Hey!" Smiled Ingrid.

Cerella was about to say hello back when she saw Fusagu. She was about to put her hand on the wall before Ingrid held up her hand to stop her.

"WAIT! He's on our side now!" Ingrid said quickly as Fusagu hid behind her.

"How can you be sure? After what he and his friends did to HuiLing?" Glared Cerella.

"He was only being fooled by Phobos. He was tricked." Ingrid explained quickly. "Come on, Cerel', give him a chance. He deserves one. Please?"

Cerella looked at the boy now cowering behind Ingrid.

"Fine." She turned around sharply. "Let's go see how the others are doing."

"Looks like they didn't need our help after all." Smiled Terrane.

"They certainly have improved on their skills in such a short time." Matt leaned against the wall as he thought about the incidents that HayLin recalled for them.

Wanda, Tress and HuiLing landed in front of Derek, who stared up at the girls in shock.

"That was awesome!" He said as Wanda helped him to his feet.

"So, everything's hunky-dory here?" Cerella asked when they reached the four.

"In a sense." Nodded Tress. "Hey Ingrid, who's that hiding behind you?" She asked.

"It's Fusagu." She smiled in response. "But it's all right," She went on without pause. "He's on our side now. He was being tricked by Phobos, and believed me when I told him that. He thinks his parents might still be in Meridian, and if we take him back with us, we can reunite them."

Wanda looked at Fusagu, who poked his head out from behind Ingrid.

"I-I'm sorry about everything that happened." He stammered.

Wanda walked up to Ingrid, then knelt down, to be at eye level with him. Everyone stared at her as she stared at him.

Then she did the unexpected and smiled.

"I understand." She said. "It's easy to be fooled by someone in a strange world." She reached out a hand, and he shook it, smiling brightly for the first time that he could remember. "I was nearly brainwashed by Moonshine's tricks and illusions, so I can understand." She stood up and looked at the others.

HuiLing thought that this was good enough for her.

"That's Wanda for you. Able to see the good in everyone!" She said loudly.

"That's your job, HuiLing. I'm just giving this kid a second chance that he deserves." Smiled Wanda.

"Anyways, let's get going. We're so close to seeing our parents again." Tress said.

Ingrid was smiling down at Fusagu when he looked back up at her in surprise.

"I told you it would be all right." She patted his head before following the group down the rest of the trail and to a large hallway that looked like it was carved out of the mountainside. Fusagu looked after them for a few moments before running to catch up.