Me: Woohoo! New chapter!
Aoi: I kind of have a bad feeling about this.
Me: *whispers* You should.
Aoi: O.o
Me: Ehehe, gomen Aoi-chan, please don't mind me!
Aoi: A-alright then, please enjoy this new chapter, minna! Att-chan doesn't own Inazuma Eleven, Level 5 does.
Me: On with the story!
Somewhere, far away from our heroes, was an encampment. Small, plain green tents formed neat rows for as far as the eye could see. From the looks of it, the tents were designed for two to three persons, except for two bigger ones.
In the biggest one of the two - the biggest tent in the whole camp for that matter - was a man pacing up and down. He wasn't slim, but he wasn't fat either. His hair was already silver-coloured, which indicated that he was rather old, but his body was still muscular. From the way his feet stomped on the ground, one could tell that he was angry.
He walked from the bed to a small cupboard on the other side of the tent. When he reached it, he turned around and headed for the table that he used to display his maps. A small wooden chair that was in his way, was mercilessly kicked away as the man let out an animal-like roar. Yes, he was angry. He was furious! Everything went according to plan, but then those rotten soldiers decided to steal and run away like cowardly dogs.
He raised his hand and reached for the necklace around his neck. He didn't need to look at it to know that there were still three colourless pendants. It was tempting to use the power that the other two would provide him. He would find those deserters in less than a day and he would kill them. And then he would take back what belonged to him.
The merman and the vampire.
But he couldn't. He had to stay here and watch over the idiots around him, or they might ruin everything. Besides, he needed to preserve the power he had collected. On the off-chance that something went wrong and he wouldn't be able to charge his necklace again, he wouldn't be able to execute his plan. That was a risk he couldn't take.
He stroke the middle pendant, the one that was still colourless. The movement calmed him down. It would be alright, it wouldn't take long anymore. The first one, the vampire, was wounded and that's why it took so long to collect all the power. As for the merman, that one had been exhausted from the journey he made. Of course, the Leader had let the creature rest a full night before he started to take its power, but it had been too soon and it still took very long. One of the scientists in the camp had recently discovered why: the water hadn't been salty. The man had hurried to the great tent, telling his superior about his findings. However, the Leader had grown so angry about the man's stupidity that he hit the man in the face. He was knocked out immediately.
"Leader-sama!" A voice came from outside the tent and the man inside turned to the entrance, just in time to see one of his subjects entering. "Leader-sama, we got one!"
The Leader, who was about to scold the poor guy for acting against the protocol, smiled slightly. "Lead the way," was all he said, and he followed the enthusiastic boy quickly. In his enthusiasm, the boy tripped over a rock and fell to the ground, but he kept on running. The Leader watched the boy for a while and wondered about how foolish someone could be. But this boy wasn't the only one: the Leader was completely surrounded by idiots, except for a few scientists who predicted where the next mythical creature would be.
But that was alright. Idiots would listen to him and obey him without a doubt. Besides, he thought, it won't take long until I collected all the creatures I need. And then I won't need these idiots anymore.
.
They reached the edge of the encampment and went deeper into the woods. When they walked a few hundred feet, the Leader saw the trap. It was a glass cupola, small enough to hide between the branches of a tree, but large enough to capture something as big as a human. He squinted his eyes, but he didn't see anything.
Turning to one of the men beside him, he asked: "Where is it?"
"It is in there, Leader-sama," the man assured. "We captured it immediately, so it shouldn't be exhausted, and it doesn't seem wounded either."
"Then please tell me why I can't see it," the Leader asked softly. Despite his soft voice and polite words, the man gulped.
"I-it's in there, Leader-sama, I swear!" he squeaked. "It's probably just panicked, but I saw with my own eyes how the cupola fell over it."
"Hmm." Without further explanation, the Leader walked closer to the cupola. Yes, when he squinted his eyes and looked closely, he could see a faint black smoke. He suppressed his evil smirk and crouched down near the cupola. "Hello? Is someone in there?" He knew that there was, but he needed it to be in its solid form. "If you are in there, you don't have to be afraid. Just show yourself and we can get you out of there."
There was still no response, although the Leader saw a small swirl in the smoke. So the creature had heard him, eh?
"Hmm, it seems like there is really no one in here," he sighed. It seemed like he was talking to himself, but he spoke loud enough for the creature to hear him. "Well, I guess we should just move on. There is no point in moving that thing without a purpose." He turned around and started to walk away. However, a wicked grin decorated his face and he slowly halted his steps when he heard a soft voice.
"Stop, please."
It was high-pitched, like the voice of a young girl. When he turned around, he saw indeed a young girl inside the cupola. She had short dark-blue hair and a fair skin. Her light-blue eyes emitted fear when she stared at him. He smiled and hoped to calm her down a little with it. He tried to be gentle, but inside, he felt like screaming. This was it! She was real! A real shadow, he had found one!
"Hello there," he smiled. "I'm sorry, but I didn't see you before. Are you alright? You're not hurt or anything, are you?"
She shook her head. "N-no, I j-just... I want to get out!" He saw a tear glimmering in her eyes and admired her fear for a moment. Then he stepped out of it. If this went wrong, it would take just as long as with the other two!
"Of course, I understand. My men are working on it, don't worry. You see, this was never supposed to happen. It was just a coincidence that the rope snapped when you were here. I'm relieved you didn't hurt yourself." He lied every word of it, except for the last sentence. He was genuinely relieved that the girl wasn't hurt in any way, for it would only delay everything.
"I-I was just picking herbs. I-I-I'm sorry if I..." Her voice trailed away.
"Shh, it's okay, there's no harm done, is there? I'm not at all angry with you." He said it in a tone that could almost be described as 'fatherly' and to his satisfaction, the girl completely fell for it. He could see that she already calmed down. "May I ask you for your name?"
She hesitated for a bit, but then she took a deep breath and said: "I'm Sorano Aoi."
His smile widened. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Sorano-san. Would you mind helping me out with something to pass the time? It seems like they are almost able to lift the cupola, but in the meantime, I need your help." During those last words, he reached for his necklace and unfastened the middle pendant.
"I'll help as long as it lays in my capability," Sorano immediately replied. So naive, the Leader thought.
"I'm glad you say that." He pushed the pendant against the glass wall and after a moment, a ray of light shot out of it. The girl started screaming as soon as it hit her body. She tried to move away, but the light and the glass held her captive. The muscles in her arms and legs started contracting at random, resulting at weird-looking, shocking movements of her body. Her body tensed up in a desperate attempt to keep the energy that was being drained by the light, but it was a lost battle.
The Leader looked at the stone between his fingers. If he looked closely, he could see that it changed from colourless to dark-blue. However, the colour was still faint. "Why are you doing this?!" The pained cry drew his eyes back to the girl. She was the first one so far that was able to produce a whole sentence. Tears dripped down her cheeks and her body made convulsive movements to escape the torture, but it didn't help.
Suddenly, Sorano's body became a bit more transparent. The Leader quickly caught on and realized that she tried to go to her shadow form. The creatures of her species, which were called 'shadows', had not one but two physical forms. They were able to switch between them to their heart's content. Both forms had their advantages and disadvantages. For instance, in their solid form, they were able to carry and touch things, while in their shadow form, they completely acted like shadows or spirits. That meant that they could move unnoticed by others, but as said before, they couldn't touch anything. In order to do that, they had to switch back to their solid form or use the shadow of the object. For example, if a shadow were to attack a human in its shadow form, it would attack the shadow of the human. That was the ultimate attack, for the human often wouldn't realize where the attack came from until it was too late.
Right now, Sorano was trying to switch between her forms in order to escape the pain. She had been in her shadow form before, when the Leader approached the cupola. That was why it had seemed like there was no one in it. Maybe she thought he wouldn't be able to hurt her when she was a shadow. Or maybe she thought he was foolish enough to believe that she had disappeared when he couldn't see her anymore. Or maybe it was just an automatic reaction of her body, caused by her mind that was clouded with pain.
Whatever the cause was, the Leader was happy she did it. During the moment of switching, a shadow was vulnerable. The energy in its body needed to be diverted in order to change to another form and these diversions exposed the energy to the surface for a brief moment. But that brief moment was enough, because the light absorbed it all and drew the energy into the stone. The blue colour became intenser by the second. The stone became warmer because of the extra input of energy.
Aoi let out a pained cry and in one moment, the transparency of her body was gone, letting off another flood of energy. It must have been too much for her to change to another form. She sank to her knees and soon completely fell to the ground. She curled up into a ball, but nothing worked. The ray of light kept shining, no matter how much she whimpered. She had long stopped producing sensible words. All that was left was a nearly monotone wail that intensified every time another wave of pain ran through her body.
The Leader looked down at her helpless form and felt nothing but excitement. Excitement, because he was now one step closer to obtaining his goal, his dream, his purpose in life. Sorano stopped producing sounds, but the Leader still didn't let her go. He would do so when the stone was fully charged. He barely finished that thought when the ray of light faded away. He looked at the stone in his hand and smiled wickedly when he saw that its colour was just as intense as the other two. He calmly hung it back on the necklace and gestured to the others that they should lift the cupola. They did as he told and within ten seconds, the glass cage was hidden between the leaves of the tree.
The Leader moved a bit closer to the lying figure of the shadow girl. Grabbing her chin with one hand, he moved her head a bit. Her skin felt abnormally cold against his fingers. But if he focussed a lot, he could feel a very shallow breath against his fingers. If he looked real closely, he could see how her chest slightly rose and fell. Only slightly. He got up and walked back to his men, who were patiently waiting for his next order.
"Get the cage back down and pack your stuff, we'll be moving along to the next spot."
"Where will that be, oh Leader-sama?" one of the men asked humbly. The Leader didn't snap like he usually would, saying that it wasn't of the man's concern. No, he was too much in high spirits right now to be bothered by that.
"There are clues that the next one will also be in this forest. Since they are the complete opposite from shadows, it is logical to assume that they live elsewhere, but they are most definitely somewhere among these trees."
"And what is it that we are looking for?" the same man asked again.
"If I were you, I would start by looking out for fire. You might just find them too."
"Fire?" the man mumbled to himself, but it wasn't heard over the next question that was asked.
"What about the girl, Leader-sama?" another one asked as he cast a look at the motionless figure in the distance. Sorano hadn't moved so far and from here, it seemed like she was already dead.
The Leader shrugged. He really didn't care for her. Sure, he had when he still needed her, but now... "Leave her here. She's as good as dead and I can't use her anymore." After looking at the sky, which turned darker by the minute, he said: "Pack as much stuff as you can before you go to sleep tonight and make sure you rest well. Tomorrow at sunrise, we will prepare for the journey and an hour later, we'll depart."
"Hai, Leader-sama." The exclamation came from different people at the same time and the Leader couldn't help but smile to himself as he started to walk again. Not because of the obedience that his men showed him, though. Ha, he didn't care at all about them. No, he smiled because he felt the weight of the necklace around his neck, as a silent reward for what he had just accomplished.
The said ornament glimmered in the light of the setting sun when he walked back to his private tent. Not one, not two, but three of the pendants had an intense colour that reflected the light. Yes, he though. Three done, two more to go.
Me: There you have it, folks, the thirteenth chapter of 'The Final Battle'! This was supposed to be just a small part of the chapter, but I just kept on writing and writing until this came out. I figured it will be too long if I put more in it, so I just made it a chapter on its own.
Tenma: O.o Did you kill another person, Att-chan?!
Me: Waa-? NO! No, I didn't! Dear readers, please note that Aoi is STILL ALIVE! I repeat: she is still alive! (and I plan to keep it that way, don't worry). I just needed an excuse as to why the Leader would leave her behind, because I couldn't stand it if Aoi was his captive.
Also, another mythical creature was introduced: Shadows! I made them up myself, so I hope everything is clear about them. If not, please PM me or leave a review (the usual drill, you know it, don't you?). And the Leader left a cryptical hint for the next creature. I'd love to hear what you think it'll be and which characters will belong to that species!
Aoi: Please leave a review when you have the time, minna! *bows*