Rio was very much in her own world. Serena wanted to stop Rio from going any further. She looked at Reenie and Hotura. She said very quietly, "Yes…take you cell phone with you… Please stick close to each other. I don't want to lose you!"
"We will!" Reenie nodded.
"I better go with them..." Ryoko said as she stood up.
"That's a good idea. There are a lot of dangers hidden in this place!" Stephanie said. She needed to stop her cousins before she would lose Rio for good.
Reenie and Hotura went with Ryoko back on the trail with the aid of an elf guide who was close by.
"Now that's out of the way…" Serena breathed with a hand up to her chest. Her own heart was beating very quickly. She was getting a little more excited than normal. She had some fear of losing Rio to the troll king. She had to be careful with her own steps.
Rio had smelt something very sweet, almost like it was blooming instead of just being in the air. The air was warm and gentle, like her aunt's touch. She noticed the fireflies dancing in the air. She blindly tied to catch one in her cupped hand as she raised it to swipe down a few spider webs.
A young man who could have been Dusty's age was standing on a large tree limb. He was dressed in dark brown shirt and pants. His long spiky hair glowed black and blue as the light from the tree top. He had watched Rio walking on the dirt trail. He wanted to get a better look at this woman child. He leaned forward as best as he could. Then, he let his feet drop down a little.
Rio was instantly broken out of her state. She gasped as she stared wildly at the stranger. She said, "Who are you?"
She was totally surprised to see him.
"Who are you?" he asked with a sharp gaze.
Rio trying to find herself gasped. Then, she stared at him and asked the same question.
"I'm not going to tell you..." he glowed. He walked around for a minute. Then he pulled out a small dagger. It caught the weak light with a glow.
"What are you going to do to me?" she felt cold surrounding her. She had to find a safe place for herself.
There was nowhere to be had.
"There is nothing really you should get upset about?" he said. He held out a small dagger at her. She feared him, but she did not want to look at him with her eyes. She had learned to fear without showing it.
"What a small, small mouse…" another voice said above their heads.
"Get it…you!" the young male growled loudly.
"What are you?" she asked rather shyly. She did not know who or what she was running up again. Was this an elf or a troll? She wondered very gently in her mind. Although, she was not totally defenseless, she was not going to let her fear show.
"What a nice voice this one has!" the second creature groused. It sounded very male.
"I'm just a girl…that's all!" Rio said rather innocently.
"A girl…human…" the first one spoke softly. His worlds sounded soured to the end. He had mistaken Rio for just a plain girl.
"What are we going to do with her?" the second one asked.
"Shut it!" he first one said.
Rio had some idea of on how to fight these elven boys, yet she did not have a sword or even a large rod on hand. She let her feelings search out a small branch of sorts on the floor of the woods. She hoped there were some fallen branches of sorts no matter how small.
Her hearing was stilled to a heartbeat. It was still very much razor sharp. The air seemed to be mingled with the scenes of an oncoming rain, the distance fires and the sweet decay of every wood themselves.
Rio had to be careful on letting she go like that. She had a hidden power that she kept on a tight grip.
"Who are you?" she breathed loudly. Her heart nearly leapt out of fear with each minute gone by.
"She wants to know…isn't that so like a woman!" the second one smirked. He placed a hand on his sword hilt just be careful in order not to get himself into any sort of trouble.
"What's that?" the first one sighed.
"Are you an elf…or a troll?" Rio asked. She was starting to get nervous about the two. her hearing was still sharp.
Looking at the tree tops, Rio couldn't make out if it was day or night. She hoped time didn't pass her that quickly.
"There was no way of getting out of this one!" she thought. She glanced widely at the two elves. They were about the same height as Taiki or Darien. One could pass as jerry's twin, while one had clear grey eyes and long brown hair.
"There is always disadvantage in fighting a girl," the first one said.
"Oh?" the second one amused.
"I'm a good fighter!" Rio snapped. She was just a girl who did not want to fight, but forced into it, she had no choice.
"What are you going to do…little cub?" he asked. He was going to put her to up to a bet. He knew that she was all human and no back bone. He was going to be proven wrong.
"I'm going to fight you lot one at a time or both!" she said in harsh tone of voice. She had to find a stick or a pile of stones nearby.
"What a silly little creature!" the second one chided.
"I am not…" Rio said. She had to be careful in order to keep her secret of being a sailor solder that…a secret. "Who are you anyways?"
"We are guards of the pone true king of this realm," the second one said as he leapt off the tree. He had made a graceful landing omen a pile of leaves.
"Great…" she thought to herself. She watched as the first one glanced over his sword. "Either they are my grandfather's kingdom…or I'm really in the fix!"
The second elf said, "My name is Burch…he's Coom!" pointing to himself, Burch was going to give Rio a quick lesson on losing.
Rio felt a long stick covered in moss with her feet. There was no idea of how old it was. It was just them waiting for her to pick it up. She was very lucky to find a stick that quickly.
"Does she have a name?" Coom asked. He was growing inpatient.
She had a feeling one was a sharpened knight. She had to be careful as she picked up the stitch. She felt the weight of the stick when she picked it up. There was no way this stick was going to be able to make it through with a seasoned sword fighter.
Stephanie was in another part of the woods, trying to find Rio. She strained her ears on any faint sounds. Seiya was helping with the aid of a large flash light. Stephanie hoped against the worst as she followed seiya's lead. She knew this was a dangerous part of the woods leading up the silver healing waters pools. She had to be careful as she came down the path. Everyone jumped at the sound of an owl.
Luckily Renee and Hour were not there to see Serena's outburst of fright. It would be a hard to life it down.
"What was that?" Ryoko asked. She gazed all over the place to find the bird.
"I hope it's not the king of the trolls!" Stephanie said with a warning. Then, she ordered everyone who was with her to pay the strictest of attention to where they were going. She was not going to have someone who was going to walk off.
"Who?" Serena asked. She had heard Rio mentioned the king of the tolls once when she was temporarily blind. She had never had even a chance meeting with this king of the trolls. All she knew was the king of Goblins; Jakten who was a distance cousin of Jareth of the king of the earth bound goblins.
"And he must be out," Ryoko added in her own curiosity.
"He's out…and is willing for a fight!" Stephanie said as she shuddered.
"Who?" Ryoko asked. She knew Jakten had a job with a horse farmer in another part of town. He would spend long days working. Yet, he had also time for the others.
"The troll king!" Stephanie said as she could nearly pin point the smallest sound of two swords in combat.
"What will we do if we come across them…remember we are unarmed," Seiya said as he stopped to hear the same sound.
"What was that…?" Serena asked as she nearly stopped breathing. She could hear the sound of sword hitting.
"What…Serena?" Ryoko asked. She knew that Serena had a keen sense of something outside of the norm for the woodland sounds. Then, she heard it too. She calmed herself very quickly and said, "That's a sword…metal!"
"And who has one out here?" Ryoko asked as she wondered out loud.
"There are a few who do…but not right now!" Stephanie said. She figured out on the elves were not at war with trolls. They were both night bearing captures. This was on the middle of the day. There was nothing to be so alarmed about. Stephanie noticed some thick mushroom which grew in the forest. She knew they had a smell to them. She had to be careful as she picked up the stick. There was a way of throwing the mushrooms off and causing them to be a sort stink bomb. Seiya had omen thing on his mind. It was to fight. He had no place to transform. It was too dark and he was afraid to let the rest of the world he was sailor star fighter. He did wanted to protect Serena as burst as he could. Yet, there had to be a clue to his problem.
Rio felt the grass turning wet. What was going on? She gasped as she asked, "Have you turned the grass into water?"
There was a smirk to the dark elven creature smile.
Rio noticed with a great deal of her own fear. She had not too loose everything. She had to be calm and brave. Rio felt like she was going to lose. Yet, she had to fight.
Then, out of the blue a large hail of nuts came out of the trees. Somehow even the fairies knew that Rio was their princess. Rio threw herself onto the ground, letting out a sheik.
"What in the world is that?" second night creatures howled as he tried to avoid the hail storm of nits.
"Stupid fairies!" the first one said. There was nothing she could do if there was anything to do. The fairies were putting up as great fight.
"Why are they doing this all of a sudden?"
"I think they see their princess."
"There is bad blood this lot!"
One of the trooping fairies noticed Rio standing with her stick. He gasped at her as she nearly took a swing at him. He was not going to be flattened if he had to move his way out of hers. Rio noticed that fairies for just a split second. She hoped he was ok.
"What are you thinking?" the first darken creature asked as he leapt in front of her.
"I want to go home!" she said.
"I don't think so…" the second one hissed.
Rio was not ticked off. Placing all of her weight into the next ark, she nearly toppled the dark creature with one blow. He screamed as he fell. There was power coming from somewhere inside of her. She felt so mad, buy wore out. What was driving her?
She had such power that she had to stop or else, she would end up hurting herself. She pedaled backwards in a slow movement. She could feel the weight of the stick. She could also have the power to end his life, but choice not to. She had no idea what was going to happen if she had the powers that her father or her mother had. She had to still grow in the ways of being a princess
"Where we are going with this?" Seiya shouted.
"I'm not sure!" Stephanie shouted back.
There was a great deal of thunder building up. She had to control her powers. The elves were coming towards her with swords drawn.
"Steph…." Serena gasped as she tried to catch up with Stephanie.
"What?" Stephanie around on her heels in a heartbeat. She half strained her hearing until she had followed the direction of where the sword fighting was taking place.
Both Seiya and Ryoko had stopped in their tracks. What was going on with Stephanie? Shifting her vision from side to side, she heard the sounds of Sliders Dragons nearly gliding alone the grasses of the forest floor.
Elves were drawing on their weapons as the lighting began to dance around the tree tops. This was not safe at all. Rio felt all the power being drawn to that one spot surrounding her.
Ryoko took a glance at the shadows in the forest. There was a great deal fire power in the elves which were coming up towards the small group of people who were not trying to find Rio.
"What are you doing here?" a female elf asked. She had been riding on a blue dragon as she circled the small group. She had never seen humans like Serena or Seiya or even Ryoko. They were a strange looking lot to her.
"Us?" Serena gasped. She nearly fell over from running so hard. She felt seiya's hands reaching out to steady her.
"And about you?" the female asked as she pointed the sword hilt at Serena's neck.
Serena gulped hard and she glanced nervously at the elves, then, at seiya.
"Don't you dare hurt her!" seiya hissed quietly. He remained calm, but a; little shaken up. He knew that if Serena got hurt, Darien would not forgive Seiya for letting Serene get hurt.
"Calm…my dear human!" an older elven creature walked along side of the group. He was flanked by two long small dragons.
"Who are you?" Ryoko asked as she came close to the male elf. She could see the prissily robes of this creature. She did not want to take any chances of being picked off by a dragon. She had seen he was carrying a sword at his side.
"I'm called Tigia the high one!" the male elf bowed slightly.
"What an odd lot?" her male champion uttered loudly. The male elf had red hair and long threads of beads wrapped around his chest. He was a medicine man.
Ryoko turned to see Stephanie trying to talk her way out of a possible arrow being stuck in her belly. She and others felt like they were tricked and now outnumbered. She wanted to help, but now was not the time.
Seiya looked at the young elfin maid and said, "We are looking for our friend!" it was the truth and Seiya was sticking to it.
There was a murmurs of voices coming from the others of the unseen party were coming into a slight view of Seiya's torch. The female of the tribe uttered to the midsize man, "One of theirs."
"Oh?" the medicine man elf uttered in same low tone.
"He is a child of the other world…" the female said.
"Yes…." Seiya said as he swallowed hard.
"Are you human…child…do you know of the royal…" the elder asked as he and others heard a scream coming from the woods.
Seiya felt he urge to fight. He glanced at Serena who had her hand on her pocket. She had carefully placed the brooch before entering the woods.
"You have no idea where you are at!" the elder said as his eyes grew cold. He knew Seiya and the others were indeed trespassing into danger.
"I'm sure that we are not…" ayeka said calmly. She had grown into the sense of being in danger if they had stepped over the line if they were going to start something. She was not going to fly off the handle if pushed into a corner.
Then, a group of fireflies shot up from the grass and twisted in the air. At first Seiya was not happy. He brushed off the flies. Serena started to yell as a little kid. Ryoko leapt into the air trying to avoid the bugs, While Stephanie took a stick to sweep away the bugs.
There was not more than they could do.
The elves on the pother hand were trying to block them out by using their mental tricks.
Everything was getting out of hand. Rio knew something had to give. She was not going to back down very quickly. She had to count every last heartbeat.
"What will you do?" the elf sword fighter tossed her as a brilliant beam of light shot of the air which nearly blinded everyone. Rio was instantly snapped out of her trance. She looked around at the area she was standing at. She was surpassed to see she had been fighting with a sword.
"What's going on here?" she gasped. Then, she threw down the sword.
"You are strong…but, you had helped…" the elf sword fighter hissed as he covered his face with his hands after he dropped his sword.
The light seemed to come from one place. It was near the tree tops and someone who knew the power of magic had control.
"Why doeth this fighting has to be?" a voice called out.
Rio felt the power forced her to her knees. Veering had changed quickly in mind. The fighting spirit had been wiped clean from her. She was instantly changed into a young frightened girl. She stared wildly at the glitch.
The others felt the power as well. They felt calm as they stopped in their tracks. There was something to be said in the light.
"Where are you going with this strange new power?" the voice said.
The light seemed to come from one place. It was near the tree tops and someone who knew the power of magic had control.
"Why doeth this fight?" a voice called out.
Rio felt the power forced her to her knees. Everything had changed quickly in mind. The fighting spirit had been wiped clean from her.
"And what do you need of me?" her voice became small and still. Her uncle taught her to calm if a power which was great than hers.
"You still need training. There is so much of training you have to take in, little one!" the voice said.
"Just as I thought," she sighed. She was going to bend down to pick up the fallen limb; she felt her arms being picked up in the air. Every muscle was pulled back very tightly. She wanted to scream from the pain she was feeling.
"She's a fiery one!" the second elf said as his eyes narrowed.
"Why that little…" the first elf hissed as he felt his own hands began to burn red hot.
Seiya looked up at the sky and noticed the stars began to hum in a strange formational. "What the.." he sighed deeply.
"I smell trouble!" Stephanie said. She noticed Serena and Ryoko standing with surprised shock in their eyes.
"They're mere humans from our sister world, Earth!" a second voice said, quite humbly.
Two young men stepped out of the darkness to see what was going on. They looked at the others with surprise. "Who are you my child?" the older of the two asked with surprised smile. He tried to ease the frightened bystanders.
"I'm Serena!" Serena said slowly. She felt the ease of his word trying to calm her down.
"I hear the one who is the Loinness fighting absent the monsters!" the second one uttered in a huff.
"What lioness?" Seiya cased. He had never heard of anyone calling Serena a lossless. Rei had teased her and called Serena meatball head. This was different. It was the choice of words that he had stopped and to think if only for a minute or two.
"Yes…the child who has two worlds at war with each other!" the first voice said.
Then, out of the blindingly light someone stepped out.
To everyone surprise, Jareth the earthly Goblin king and his cousin, Jakten were standing side by side in the light.
"What on earth are you doing to her royal highness?" Jakten scolded the one elf.
"You are not my king!" the elf hissed.
"You have no respect!' Jareth snapped coldly at the young elf.
There was always bad blood between the elves and the goblins in Acardia. There were bitter lines drawn in the sand with the help from the Troll king.
"What are you doing to this girl?" Jakten asked. His eyes narrowed into hard lines of disgust.
'Oh!" gasped the second elf. "We are just having fun!"
"Thanks much!' Rio huffed. She felt the air being painfully pulled out of her body. Fighting with a large stick was not like fighting with a sword which was lighter in weight.
Jakten shot a sour glance at his cousin. There was a strained air of mistrust which was starting to bubble to the edge. "Why do that? He asked,
"I like to!" the elf huffed for the second time.
"Then, there is no choice in the matter," Jereth said. He waved his arms out to the opened air to see what he could feel. In an instant, the air changed form and became heated. It changed it into a sword of clear crystal.
Rio felt a little out matched by her teacher. Then, she heard Serena's calling out to her. Jakten ordered her to leave and find safety as she had to look for her friends.
"What will you do?" she asked. There was an innocent gaze in her eyes.
"Just go!" Jakten ordered. He did not even dare to look back. His eyes were full of rage. He heard her footsteps as they left him and Jereth to the elves.
Rio felt cold and a little frightened. She didn't want to disobey her master, yet in the same breath. She wanted to get in there and fight with him.
"WHERE ARE YOU…RIO?" Seiya cried out. He knew she was still in there, in the woods. He believed she was still safe.
Rio wanted to call out, but felt the urge to fight it.
Seiya stood in the darkness just waiting for someone to find him. He told the others to stay put. There would be a troop of friendly elves or other woodland creature on a march in the woods. He had to remind himself about the idea of not being so scared in the woods. He was nearly nineteen and been May tough battles. What's a little standing in the woods like?
Rio spouted Seiya standing in the woods. She had some help in a small band of fairies that were on a fly over in the woods. She noticed Seiya standing in the woods. There was a strange look of fear in his eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked as she came up to him.
He just looked at her with a great deal of relief that was washing over him. He reached out to take Rio in his arms and cried out, "I was so worry about you!"
"Me?" she said. She was not surprised at his reaction. She tried to break away from his embrace.
Serena nearly jumped out of her skin as she uttered loudly, "Did you get lost?"
At first Rio wanted to say no. she stopped herself from even speaking.
"Are you o.k.?" Ryoko asked as she came running. She had a feeling Rio was always looking for excitement of any sort.
"I'm fine!" Rio sighed with face red.
"Are you sure?" Seiya questioned her as he stopped hugging her. He looked at her with a strange look on his face. He wanted to be sure that she was safe. Was he just thinking of her instead of him?
"Where is here?" serene asked. She had a no idea what was going with Rio.
"This is not home…not even by a long shot!" Stephanie said with a weary glance. Her senses like Rio's were drawn tight.
"There are forces in these woods for good and evil!" Rio said as she closed her eyes for just a minute. She had a feeling there was nothing she could have felt before. This was something out of the norm.
"What do you tell?" Stephanie asked she could see and taste a bad omen.
The wind had stopped. The scents of sweet grass were there. Seiya noticed Rio's face. She had been keeping an eye on the surrounding area. "We are being watched!" she gasped.
"By who?" Serena asked. An ache was pitting itself onto her belly. Serena had a bad feeling since they had refund Rio.
"What a little prize I have found!" a voice hummed in a cold tone.
"Great…we've been followed!" Ryoko groaned. She placed a hand up to her forehead. There was a small headache forming in her mind.
"When are we going to catch a break?" Rio asked.
"Never," the voice purred. There was something to that voice. It felt cold and dark. Rio had a feeling Alex was back, built he was not himself.
Rio spun around so very quickly that Seiya thought she was going to fall. He reached out to grab her by the arm.
"What in the heck are you doing?" he questioned her sharply. He knew Rio was always fast on her feet.
"I think we have company!" she uttered infer.
"What is really going on here?" Ryoko asked. She had to stop and think.
"This place is crawling with every thinkable creature in the fair folk realm," Rio said. She had her run INS with the not so cute and sweet elves and trolls. These were the fighting troops that had protected the world for two thousand years.
"Keep your cool…" Stephanie said. She had not even a sword to her name, yet she had to protect herself.
"I have a plan!" Ayeka began to say.
Then, she and the others were nearly tossed to the ground. A force grabbed Rio and made her threw her one arm down. She could not control the power surge in which case began to flow through her. She was just another part of the connection.
Serena was the first to notice the flow of energy pouring out of Rio's body. She had a feeling it was a great deal of the planet that was Rio's home world trying to break thought. She wanted to scream and she did, "RIO!"
The power Rio had was coming from somewhere in the planet core.
"You've got to stop her…." Seiya said as he tried to reason with Serna. Serena was just a pile of nerves. She had stop Rio from destroying herself, yet how. It unnerve red her to the no end.
She had no idea on how to control it. She felt the pain of the energy. Then, she mustered up her planet power to stop the flow. It began to fight for control of.
As quickly as the power came, it left. Rio fell to the ground with a thud. Yet, she knew she had to keep awake. There power inside of her was starting to change. She had to control for now. She leapt back on to her knees with the aid of pushing herself backwards.
Serena looked Rio in feared awe. She wondered if the dark moon kingdoms had finally started to break through with their promise of an uprising.
Rio had staggered a little as she said, "What was that?"
"Such powers…can a little girl like you hold on to such powers?" another voice asked.
It sounded like Nick Knight's voice.
There was a deafening quiet if only for a minute.
"What was that?" Ryoko thought. She spun around bevy carefully to see who was coming. She had a bad feeling about the owner of the voice.
"Poor little children," the voice cooed darkly and evilly.