Chapter 3

"This is the same dream from before…" Aarbie looked around the familiar setting of the room. This time, he could distinguish words from the people.

"Hey, could you help us dig him out?" one voice pleaded. The other person stood still, back towards the rest of the group.

"That man hasn't helped anyone at all. Why should we help him?" Aarbie heard an icy bitterness in the voice, causing everyone to silence. One of the figures slowly crept up to the one in dismay, grabbing the other's hand while doing so.

"Do it for me."

His dream was broken by Ichigo shaking him awake again. He sat up, the rest of his friends were still unconscious from being blasted with the force of Lassi's rocket ship. His stomach churned when he realized Lassi could end up in danger. Jumping up, Aarbie dashed into a rocket.

"Sorry sis, I have to go save her!" he yelled, right before launching off after Lassi. The dark mage could not stop her brother either, holding her ground as the next wave of rubble and smoke rushed at her.

"Damn it!" Ichigo shouted, kicking a piece of metal. There was only one thing she could think of doing. She glanced back to her friends, noticing Chai and Mokka were stirring, and went quickly to take the third rocket ship before they could stop her.

It was a very tight squeeze into the ship, although the control room could easily fit two. She pressed random buttons, wishing that it would give a sign for lift off. After pushing a red button, a lever appeared out of now where. "This has to be it." She bit her lip and closed her eyes, pulling on the lever and feeling the ship being launched into space.

Ichigo was zooming into space, meteors missing the ship by inches. All the while, she was screaming, only thinking of her friends and hoping that she might see them once more. It seemed to come out of nowhere as the ship plummeted to the surface of a foreign planet.

/

Ichigo was thrown from the ship, hearing a snap as her right arm made contact with a huge rock. It was the middle of the night, and a desert storm had picked up, drastically obscuring her vision. Doing her best not to scream in pain, she observed one of the school's ships nearby. She winced at the slightest touch to her right arm, figuring that she must have broken it. As she grew closer to the crash site, Ichigo spotted someone's body sprawled, unmoving.

"Oh no. Lassi! Lassi, is that you?"

It didn't answer. Letting her right arm dangle, Ichigo ran over to Lassi's body. The dark mage poked her friend with her foot.

"In the ship…water." Lassi started coughing up sand, struggling to rise to her feet.

"You're asking for water? I thought you had died!" Ichigo's eyes teared up in happiness, helping the rabbit-morph get the water from the ship. After having a refreshing sip, Lassi took notice that Ichigo was not using her right arm.

"Ichigo, I think the rocket I took has a healing pad, if you need to use it." Ichigo didn't like to be helped by others, but at the slightest movement, pain would swiftly move up her arm. Accepting the offer, Lassi pressed a button. A yellow light enveloped both of them, her arm becoming perfectly usable once more.

"Thanks." Ichigo quickly murmured, face going red in embarrassment.

"For a moment, I thought you were going to refuse and insist it would be ok. Are you sure you're alright?" Lassi teased. Ichigo sighed, deciding that now was the time to lighten up, or else take everything personal and end up fighting with the only friend she currently had.

"Oh my god! Aarbie took off in a ship too. We need to find him!" remembered Ichigo, ready to face the storm in order to recover her brother. Lassi snatched her arm before the dark mage did anything reckless.

"We just need to wait until the storm passes, and I have an idea that just might work." Already, Lassi was more confident than she used to be. Shoving Ichigo behind a large red rock, she moved into the open and started a wind incantation. The desert storm howled past them, not having any effect on the wind mage. Ichigo, however, was clutching the rock for dear life.

A moment went by, and the storm was over. Luckily, overhead was a full moon, a soft light glowing onto the rather harsh terrain and giving enough light to see. Unluckily, there were no signs of any more of the Academy's rocket ships. Walking around, they found a gate, which proved to be locked.

"Great, now what?" Lassi moaned, inspecting if there was any way to open the sturdy gate. Ichigo scanned the area.

"There seems to be an opening on the other side of the plateau that we can go through." Racing across the sand to the narrow opening, they observed a large spot of the sand beginning to rise, revealing a gigantic, ugly ant lion, scissor-like pincers snipping at them.

"EEEEEKKKK!" Lassi squealed, using her basic move, Wind talon. It had little effect, and the ant lion moved closer, trying to take hold of the girls. Ichigo had no faith in her poor magic skills, going in for physical attacks. Although she was exceptionally strong, this too had little effect. Only angering it more, it swooped down, taking hold of Lassi.

In desperation, Ichigo tried to use Shadow die. It failed.

"Hurry! I don't wanna be eaten!" Lassi screeched as the ant lion's mouth opened. "I have to help her. But I'm no good at magic!"

"Ichigo…just believe in yourself." Ichigo gasped. It was the voice of Miss Madeline, running through her head. Had it really been their missing teacher? But with each passing moment she thought, Lassi was closer to becoming ant food.

"Ichigo!" Lassi's cries were more frantic. Ichigo calmed down, her hands starting to glow purple. Concentrating, she stretched out a large Shadow die and sent it off in the direction of the ant lion. It consumed the hideous beast, destroying it in one hit as the Shadow die closed in. Lassi landed on her feet, unscathed.

"Wow, you sure can use magic when your mind is put to it, huh?" The wind mage was impressed by her friend's power. Ichigo smiled, but fell to the ground.

"Oh no oh no! Are you ok?" The rabbit-morph ran in circles, not sure what to do or how to help.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Unlike you or my brother, magic doesn't come easy for me." She decided not to tell her already concerned friend about Miss Madeline's voice. "She'd think I was crazy."

Helping Ichigo up and brushing the sand off their clothes, they continued to trudge along the path, hoping to find some means of civilization.

/

"BZZT. INTRUDER DETECTED. INTRUDER DETECTED. SHALL WE ELIMINATE THE INTRUDERS?" A robotic voice came from behind the rock, unnoticed by Ichigo and Lassi as they walked away from the plateau and up a series of stairs. Another voice came from a different rock,

"DO NOT INITIATE ELIMINATION. IDENTIFY…IDENTIFY…THE TWO BEINGS SHOW STRONG TRACES OF MAGIC. INITIATE CONTAINMENT OF THE TWO SPECIMENTS."

/

At the very top of the stairs was a huge building that looked abandoned for some time. It was very much like a floating metal castle, giving off a sinister air. The dark mage stepped forward as her friend's eyes became huge and scared.

"I don't think we should go in. This place gives me the creeps." Lassi stood immobile by the site of the looming building, her left hand clutching her other arm.

"Fine," replied Ichigo, "I guess that means you can stay out here. All by yourself." The usual devilish smile flickered across her face as the rabbit-morph became pale with horror.

"D-don't leave me behind! Why would I b-be afraid of some s-s-silly building?" It was sad to see how brave Lassi was trying to be, even though fear had taken full control of her. She was literally shaking in her shoes as the two approached the door. Ichigo ruffled her friend's hair.

"If you want to stay outside, you can."

Lassi glanced at Ichigo, realizing that maybe her friend was nervous about entering, and that Ichigo would be too proud to ask for someone to join. She would think it meant she was weak, or was it that Ichigo didn't know how to ask for help?

"I'm coming with you!" She puffed her chest out a bit and put her hands to her hips, trying to act brave. Ichigo sported a blank face, wondering what had come over the timid girl. She shrugged it off, and they entered the dark metal building.

It was quiet. Too quiet. The entire inside was made of cold metal, and it smelled like iron. Every step they took echoed off the walls, causing Lassi to jump at the thought of being attacked. The two did not dare talk in case of the possibility that someone was present. After a few moments of exploring the area, Ichigo found an elevator to the second floor. She motioned for Lassi to enter first as the door opened up so the two could move onwards.

/

When they reached the third floor, Lassi gave a huge gasp.

"Isn't that a rocket ship?"

"No, it's a funny lookin' statue on a launch pad," sarcastically spoke Ichigo, "Of course it's a damn rocket…now let's hijack that and get out of here!"

The two raced onto the launch pad, only to hear a voice from behind them.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED. CAPTURE AND CONTAIN VIRUS." It came from four huge, silver robots as they swiftly surrounded Lassi and Ichigo. Two robots firmly gripped Ichigo's wrists as she tried to fight back.

"Ichigo, help!" Lassi was apprehended by the other two robots, although she had given up on fighting back.

"What do you want me to do? Use your magic and get us out!" She shouted angrily as her capturers lifted her off the ground by her arms.

"I can't! I used the last of my magic power to move the storm and fighting off the ant lion."

"ANTI-VIRUS LOADING. PURGE. PURGE." By now, a red, evil looking robot appeared, and electricity was visible around its hands. Lassi had one look and almost fainted, realizing that she was the "virus". She glanced over to Ichigo, summoning the last of her magic. Suddenly, the two robots holding Ichigo let go and tumbled onto the ground.

"RUN!" Lassi ordered before a scream of pain erupted from her as the red robot punched her in the gut with his electric arm. Ichigo had no time to witness what happened; Lassi had sacrificed herself so Ichigo could get away. However, more robots came from the elevator and took hold of Ichigo. They spun her around, giving her a perfect view of Lassi.

She was limp as a doll, her head drooping towards the ground. There was no sign of movement.

"Damn it! What did you do?" Demanded Ichigo, although she knew asking was pointless and that she would find out soon enough. The red robot moved in front of her, obstructing the view of Lassi. It punched Ichigo in the gut, and she screeched in pain as it electrocuted her. Shaking from the impact, she glared up into the robots face. It gazed back down, unhappy the magician had not fainted. The robot placed one of its hands on her head and used his electricity. She screamed as the electricity went through her body, spitting out blood as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She couldn't feel anything around her as she became lifeless.

Stay tuned for the next part, and please read and rate!