A/N: Ok, tenth chapter! And boy is it going to be good! Thank you all soo much for your kind reviews! Please, review more! I like to know what you think of my story! Ok, now, here we go on the tenth chapter. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Oh, just forget it. I'm getting tired of this.
Chapter Ten:
Bearding the Darkness in Its lair
The days passed, and slowly the Elemental Senshi began to grow stronger. But Lan was getting impatient. The enemies were getting stronger, and the Elementals could soon be over powered. They needed to eliminate the danger at its source. Aureole felt the same way, and daily searched for the secret hideaway of the Dark Energy, but day after day, his search came up fruitless. That is, until one fateful day.
-
The young Elementals were in one of their many training sessions. With their new weapons, they could take out many enemies at once, but they still needed to train. And, they had begun to uncover other attacks that they had never dreamed of. Radiance was just in the middle of attacking a line of straw dummies, when Aureole ran into the clearing.
"What is it Aureole?" Thunder said, worried about the Senior Keeper of Light.
"I have wonderful news! Well, sort of wonderful . . ." he admitted.
"Just spit it out . . ." Blaze murmured. Aureole shot him a fierce glance, but continued.
"I have finally uncovered the location of the Dark Base!" he cried. Everyone smiled and clamored at once, "Where is it?"
"It's in a place I never would have thought to look! In a way you could say it's been right under our noses the very time!"
"Yeah? Well, where is it?" Lan asked, looking around excitedly.
"It's not around here," Aureole said. "It's in a place that all of us older Sentinels knew about. However, it's been a long time since we were last there . . ."
"Oh my, no . . ." gasped Nova. "Not . . ."
"The ancient Temple? I'm afraid so, Nova. It's been deserted for quite some time now, and it's only fitting that the Enemy would decide to make there base in our place of strength. It's kind of a cruel irony."
"But if it's not around here, how will we get there?' Amore asked, voicing the thoughts of all the younger Senshi.
"Well," Tsunami said. "We'll probably Teleport. With all of us combining our powers, we can teleport to the Temple."
"We'll tell you how to when we're ready to go," Hurricane explained. "We've done it before, so we know how."
"We'll meet here tonight, about . . . seven? Will that give you time to get ready?" Aureole asked. The Senshi all nodded, the younger ones more nervously than the older ones. "All right. See you then. You'd better rest up. We'll need all our powers tonight." With that, the meeting broke up, everyone going their separate ways. A nervous shudder ran through all hearts as they thought of their upcoming fight. Could they win? Would they?
-
Lan tapped his pencil on the desk nervously, staring at the clock. Abruptly he dropped the pencil and leaped up to pace the floor. Megaman looked worriedly out at his Net Op.
"Lan, are you all right?"
"Yeah . . ." he said softly. "It's just . . . I'm worried. I'm not sure if I'm ready. I mean, what if they're too strong for me? What if I can't win? What if . . . I never come home? What then?" He bit his lip and turned away. The cobalt net-navi thought he saw tears in Lan's eyes.
"Well, I guess you kinda know how I feel. When I fight some of those navis, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to come back. But I know that if I don't try, there's no way that I can win. I just have to try hard, and give it my all. That's what matters. And Lan . . . . I have faith in you. You can do this. I guess you could say . . . it runs in the family."
Lan sniffed and turned back to his navi. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, his voice trembling. Besides, he thought. Aureole's been telling us about the Great Light. And if He's as wonderful as Aure says, then I'm sure he won't let me just die. I just need to have faith.
"Lan, it's time!" Megaman called. Lan's stomach tied itself in knots, but he picked up his PET and headed out the door.
"Lan, where are you going?" his mom said as he headed for the door.
"I need to go help Dex and Maylu with a project," he said, then on an impulse, ran over and gave his mom a hug. Then, he took off out the door, tears in his eyes. I may never see her again . . . he thought, then skated off towards the park.
When he got there, everyone was already congregating in the park. Aureole looked everyone over. "Alright, everyone. It's now or never. This is our final fight. We must do our best, and give it everything we've got. Don't forget, we have the Great Light on our side, and through Him, all things are possible. Including winning tonight. He will never forsake us. Now, everyone, let's transform!"
With a blinding flash of light, all thirteen were soon Transformed. Then, acting on Aureole's orders, they created a circle, and clasped the hand of the person next to them. Then, Aureole and Radiance called out with one voice, "Light Power!"
"Thunder Power" cried Thunder.
"Love Power!" called Amore.
"Water Power!" That was Tsunami.
"Ice Power!" Glacier's voice sang out.
"Fire Power!" called Blaze.
"Air Power!" Zephyr's voice was strong.
"Wood Power!" Oasis and Ivy said in unison.
"Earth Power!" called Crag.
"Cosmic Power!" That was Nova.
"Elemental Transportation!" They all shouted, and a dizzying, tugging sensation overwhelmed them, and they shut their eyes to block out the blinding flash of light. A few moments later, the light vanished, and they could open their eyes. Everyone gasped at what they saw.
It had at one time been a beautiful, verdant compound, but now it was dried and dead. They stood in the a circular courtyard, in the middle of which stood a marble fountain, now dry and dead. It sat in the center of a circle of tiles, at one time brightly colored, but now faded and cracked. From this circle, seven spokes radiated, each leading to a separate dwelling.
"This place . . . it's so . . ." Amore began.
"Dead." interrupted Blaze. "This place is a tomb." He bit his lip and shuddered. Ivy snuck over and slipped her hand into his.
"Don't think on those evil days. Think of the present," she murmured. He nodded.
"So, this is where you lived?" Lan asked.
"Yes. This was the home of the Elemental Sentinels during the time of the Silver Millennium. But that was centuries ago. It's now only a ruin."
"So, where is the enemy?" Zephyr asked. "I certainly don't see anyone."
"We'll probably have to search all of the apartments," Aureole said. "Let's get started." They headed off towards the first of the houses, a blue house, surrounded by a pool, now dried up. However, when they entered, it seemed different. It was covered in moss and the walls were cool and slightly damp. Tsunami's eyes brightened and he took the lead.
"This was my home," he explained. "I know it better than anyone." As he rounded a corner, a spurt of flame shot past his head. Everyone ran forewards, but he shook his head as he fought off the swarm of fire monsters. "Run! I can handle these!" Aureole nodded, and raced towards the door, herding them in front of him.
"Leave him be, he can handle it on his own. That's his turf." Hurricane gave a longing glance at the house, then followed to the next house: Thunder's.
It was almost entirely golden, filled with glinting and reflecting items, and elegant as could be. However, when they reached one room, they discovered a pack of harpy-monsters guarding it. They swarmed towards the Senshi, upset at being disturbed, but a wall of lightning stopped them.
"T-thunder?" Aureole gasped, staring at her. She was maintaining the wall of electricity, but with great difficulty it seemed.
"Go . . . now!" she shouted. "I . . . can . . . handle this." Aureole looked as though she'd slapped his face, but then nodded, and ran, the others following him. They ran until they were free of the house, and back in the center of the courtyard. Aureole's face was sad, but he turned to the others.
"We need to discover where the enemy is hiding. It has to be around here somewhere . . ." Just then, Blaze noticed something moving in the house that was once his.
"I'll be back," he murmured, and raced after the movement, and into the simple stone and wood dwelling. Ivy started forwards, scared, but was restrained by Nova.
"He'll be all right. He can handle himself," she assured. Then she shuddered. "There's something evil nearby. There!" She pointed to a shadowy figure that disappeared into a large house made of black granite. Wielding her staff, she took off at a run towards the house. A dark shadow seemed to swallow her up as she entered. Zephyr shuddered and leaned up against the closest thing for protection. Unfortunately that 'closest thing' was Crag. Crag's eyes went wide, but he didn't move. All of the younger Senshi were frightened. One by one they saw their older partner's being 'picked off' by the enemy. Who would be next? They couldn't tell.
"Did you hear that?" Hurricane asked.
"Hear what?" Glacier asked, straining to hear. No one else heard anything.
"That noise . . . like . . . breaking crystal. No!" she shouted, and leaped into the air, surrounded by her winds, and soared into the gray, crystalline structure nearby. Now, there were only two of the older Senshi left.
Ivy chewed on her lip. She heard something. Not with her physical ears, more like felt it in her mind. It was as if all the plant life around her was screaming in terror. Her home was under assault! Like the other's before her, she raced towards her old home, desperate to help. She too disappeared into the shadows of her ruined home.
"No!" Radiance shouted, fear clutching him. Now, they were all alone in the courtyard, save for Aureole. "Aureole, what do we do now?"
Aureole's face looked tired, ancient, and sad. He replied, "I guess there's only one place left to look. Follow me." He started for a white marble dwelling. The six children followed. The house was every bit as resplendent as the other houses they had seen, but there was a different feel to it. Like it was tainted, or cursed. As they entered a large marble courtyard, something fell on Aureole from above. He cried out, and threw it off, then turned to the others. "Get out of here! You're the last hope! Follow the doors on the other side of the courtyard into the temple!" He was about to say more, but another monster smothered his words.
The young Senshi wasted no time in getting across the courtyard, but Radiance paused at the doorway and looked back. "What about you?" he asked.
"I'll be fine. Just get out and help your teammates! And remember, the Great Light will never leave your side!" A monster attacked him, and he cried out, then seemed to summon his powers and created a large explosion of light. Radiance gasped, then turned and ran after the others. He wiped away tears from his eyes, for deep in his heart, he feared he would never see them again.
The others were already in the temple when he arrived. The temple had obviously been as beautiful as Aureole's apartments at one time, but now, it was shrouded and dark. What had once been a sort of sacred dais, or platform, was completely dark. As they looked at the darkness, it began to take on features, like eyes, a nose and mouth. Then it laughed.
"So this is what they send to fight me?" it growled. It's voice was dark, sinister and frightening. The sound of that voice alone chilled all six to the bone.
"Don't underestimate us!" Radiance shouted, sounding braver than he felt. "We're the Elemental Senshi! And by the powers of all the elements . . ." his fellow Senshi joined him in shouting, "We will punish you!"
"Do your best!" it laughed, then shot a ray of black energy at Glacier. Oasis screamed, terrified, but Glacier jumped out of the way just in time. Fury built up inside her. She gritted her teeth, then leaped forewards.
"Tulip Rose Havoc!" she shouted, holding her arms out to her sides. Two flowers appeared, one in each hand; a rose in the right and a tulip in the left. These she threw at the shadow, sparkling powder spraying from their petals. The shadow seemed to absorb the attack.
"Oh my . . ." she gasped. "It . . . didn't work!" She jumped forwards with her boomerang in her hand.
"No, Oasis, don't!" he shouted. She spun to look at his terrified face, and that was the moment the shadow had been waiting for. It unleashed her own attack at her, only this time, it was completely covered in dark energy. The flowers hit her in the back, and she screamed, then fell flat on the ground, the boomerang spinning out of her hand across the floor.
"Anetta!" everyone shouted, Glacier leaping forwards to pick her up. His face went white.
"She's . . . so cold . . ." he murmured, nearly dropping her. Radiance thought he saw tears in his friend's eyes.
"You . . . MONSTER!" Amore shouted. "Shine Prismatic Reflection!" She held up her wand, and a beam of golden and pink light shot out, hitting the shadow dead on. However the shadow just grew larger. Then, it unleashed a similar beam of dark energy- aimed straight at her chest.
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! Aint I a stinker? Another cliff-hanger ending! And what will happen to the other senshi and Anetta? Will our heros survive? Or are they doomed, doomed, DOOMED? Heh, I love doing that. Sorry about it's being soo long. The next chapter isn't as long. But it's just as good! You'll have to tune in next time to find out what happens! Yay! Almost done! Whoo HOOO! . . . .sorry. See ya'll next time. And don't forget to review! Bye!