Chapter Twelve

POV: Mokona*

I felt absolutely horrible as Lilacheart, Crescentmoon, Katara, and Kayla helped the others towards the twins' house. I buried my head in Ryoma's arms, trying not to whimper. Even though I couldn't have resisted Yûko's call, I still felt responsible for injuring the others. Well, I had been hurt too; whatever shock that had been had passed through me to the others. I probably wasn't in much better condition.

It felt like forever before we finally reached Lilacheart and Soundstorm's house, but at last it came into sight. Lilacheart, still supporting Syaoran, led the way up the steps, fished her key out of her pocket, and unlocked the door. The entire group trooped inside, Ryoma trailing after them and shutting the door.

Lilacheart helped Syaoran to the couch before saying, "I'll go get the stuff we need," and racing down the hall. Crescentmoon, Katara, and Kayla helped the others sit down as well, and Ryoma passed me to Sakura.

"You all heard Sheila," Crescentmoon said, sounding stern. "Stay here, don't try to come to the battle."

Predictably, I could hear Kurogane muttering furiously under his breath. There was a long silence, then at last Syaoran let out a weary sigh. "All right, we won't," he relented.

At that moment Lilacheart came racing back down the hall again, a bow and quiver of arrows slung over one shoulder while she struggled to carry a chair. Looking like she was trying to bite back a smile, Crescentmoon took the chair from her. "Just stay here, all right? We'll do our best."

And with that the five of them trooped out, the door closing shut behind them. There was a brief silence.

"'Their best' isn't gonna be enough," Kurogane grumbled.

I giggled. "Kurogane is such a worrywart."

"What did you say, you white pork bun?" he snarled.

I giggled again and ducked into Sakura's arms. "Nothing!"

—

POV: Sevenclaws

I tried to be patient as Sheila strode among the Wandies, giving out advice and comfort where it was needed as she split the entire county into two groups. I placed a hand in my Absol's ruff, taking comfort from it. It uttered a low growl of acknowledgement; I could feel it trembling as it anticipated the coming battle.

I glanced out at the wave of oncoming Hork-Bajir and narrowed my eyes. "They sure be taking their time," I muttered. Absol rumbled in agreement.

I turned around suddenly and began to weave my way back through the crowd of Wandies, Absol trotting at my heels. I wanted to check on Spirithunter, to see if she had woken up yet.

I found her near the back of the group, still leaning against the tree where Kayla and Sakura had left her. She was awake now though—or at least, her eyes were open. She was staring blankly around us, as if she couldn't see anyone. I kneeled down in front of her. "Hunter-foot?"

No response. I grabbed her shoulder and shook her lightly. "Hey!"

She started violently, then her gaze locked onto me. "Seven," she muttered, trying to sit up. She winced suddenly and brought a hand to her forehead. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "Sakura, Katara, Kayla, and Ryoma be the ones who brought you back."

Spirithunter drew up her legs, cradling her head in her hands. "I remember going down to the lake to train with the Celestial Brush...the Hork-Bajir attacking us...and then waking up here." She winced again and muttered, "I have a splitting headache."

"Seven?" someone called behind me. I turned around to see Sheila walking towards us. She seemed about to speak when she suddenly noticed that Spirithunter was awake, and kneeled down next to me. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine enough," Spirithunter muttered dryly. "What's happening?"

"There's maybe a hundred or more Hork-Bajir coming towards us," Sheila reported grimly.

For a split second I could have sworn Spirithunter looked furious. No, I must have mistake it for the determined look she gave Sheila. "Let me fight in this battle. We're going to need all the help we can get."

Sheila hesitated for a long moment. "You sure you can fight in this battle?"

Spirithunter nodded vigorously. Sheila hesitated again before relenting. "All right, fine. You'll be in the defending group back here. Seven, I'm putting you in the attacking group up front. Roy's insisting on leading, so go meet up with him."

"Rodger that," I responded. Sheila rose to her feet again and disappeared back into the crowd of Wandies. I offered Spirithunter my hand and helped her to her feet. "You be lucky Sheila-san's letting you fight, you know."

"Why's that?" she asked resting one hand against the tree to keep her balance.

"Mokona tried to switch dimensions earlier. The Tsubasa group, they be electrocuted."

Spirithunter's eyes went wide.

"Sheila sent them to KuZ and Zound's house to rest. You be lucky she didn't do the same to you."

Spirithunter nodded, looking thoughtful. "You'd better get going before Roy tries to look for you."

I could not help but chuckle at the thought. "Luck be with you. RTA," I said, weaving my way back through the crowd to the front again. I found Roy near the head, already with a large group of people cluster nearby. I spotted Lostpaw, Rubystripe, Coalfang, Thunder, Cloudwind, and Kennen in the group, along with Danny, Ripred, Adriane, Stormbringer, and Dreamer. There was another girl there too, someone I didn't recognize right away, though I had seen her around the county before. A large golden eagle was perched on her shoulder; as I approached it cocked its head towards me and let out a harsh screech. Absol barked in return, and the eagle roused its feathers before settling again.

"Hello," I said once I was within earshot.

The girl turned around, and I recognized her as Heartwing. "Hey, Seven," she greeted. "Sheila put you up front too?"

I nodded. "You be ready to fight in this battle?"

Heartwing hesitated. "I hope so," she muttered. "I haven't really had any battle experience..."

The eagle shifted on her shoulder.

"Oh, right! I'm sorry, I forgot. A few days ago, this eagle came to me. Apparently he's my daemon. His name's Gyrino."

"Greetings, Gyrino," I said. The daemon dipped his head in return.

"Hey!" a voice called from behind me, and I turned to see Crescentmoon and Soundstorm running over to us. Soundstorm was carrying a sword in one hand, holding the sheathed blade just under the hilt for easy access. Crescentmoon was carrying a chair, and I noticed a pair of pistols dangling from a belt around her waist.

"Here," Crescentmoon said, handing the chair to Lostpaw. "We brought a chair back for you."

"Thanks," she laughed, accepting the chair and testing its weight.

"Where'd ya get those?" Kennen asked, nodding to the pistols.

"I ordered them when all these troubles started," she answered, sounding a bit reluctant. "I figured I might as well have some kind of weapon if we were going to get into messes like this."

"Well said," Kennen grunted, and I noticed his own hand gripping his AK-47.

"Are we all here?" Roy called out across the group. "We're moving out soon."

"Wait up!" someone shouted, and I spotted Rabbitfoot running over to us. She skidded to a stop in front of Roy and doubled over, trying to catch her breath. "I'm...with...you guys...too," she panted.

"Are you prepared to fight?" Roy queried.

"Yeah," she responded, straightening up again.

"What be your weapon, Foot?' I asked. She didn't seem to be carrying any weapon of sorts.

"This!" she exclaimed, pulling sometime out of her pocket and laying it on her palm to show me. It looked like a small purple pin, dusted with white snowflakes and sporting a black plus-sign in the center surrounded by a gold and orange outline.

"...What be it?"

"It's a type of pin with telepathic powers," she said. "Or at least, that's what Lilac was able to tell me before Sheila sent me over here."

"The World Ends With You!" Soundstorm exclaimed suddenly, and we all turned to look at her in confusion. "That's what it's from. You hold it and think about it, then you can move stuff with your mind."

"Cool!" Rabbitfoot commented, studying the pin thoughtfully.

"Is everyone ready?" Roy called again.

This time he was answered by a round of various yeses, some more enthusiastic than others, but a strong answer nonetheless.

"Good. We're going to go straight in and attack them while those...Hork-Bajir, I believe they're called...are simply standing around without attacking." He produced a pair of gloves out of his pocket and pulled them on. "Attack!"

Perhaps this was rather cheesy, but our entire group gave a single shout and suddenly rushed at the Hork-Bajir. I was in the middle, Absol running next to me, when I realized something seemed off.

"Why they not be attacking?" I muttered to Soundstorm. "They be the ones who lead this invasion after all..."

"I don't—"

A scream echoed from behind us, and I skidded to a stop, whipping around. What looked like a mound of grass was leaping out at the defending group, blades flashing in the weakening light.

Wait a—grass didn't have blades. Well, not quite like that.

"They tricked us!" Adriane shouted, spinning around with golden fire whipping from the stone on her wrist. "Some of them must've circled around while we were getting organized!"

Kennen swore loudly. Roy looked furious for a moment, but then he was back in charge. "We'll have to trust the others to handle it on their own! Continue the attack!"

Our group faltered slightly, still shocked at the sudden turn of events, but I pushed my way out to the front, trying to return their resolve. Rabbitfoot raced beside me, my Absol in between us as we rushed the Hork-Bajir head on. "Night Slash!" I commanded.

The crest on Absol's head glowed darkly, then it launched forward and slashed at the nearest Hork-Bajir, a sharp dark line trailing after it. It roared with pain as it was thrown backwards, bowling over several of its fellows in the process. Rabbitfoot reached out and gestured to a garbage can sitting on the side of the street. It trembled and rose into the air. She flung her arm to the side, and the garbage can hurtled into the Hork-Bajir, knocking several more down in the process.

"Nice!" I shouted at her while I ducked a Hork-Bajir's blade.

"Thanks!" she called back, using the pin to throw a Hork-Bajir into the air.

I wove through the battle, my Absol and I attacking the aliens and trying our best to force them back. At one point I found myself back-to-back with Coalfang. He was using a dagger against the Hork-Bajir, easily ducking their blades while lashing out with his own. I have to say, for us Wandies to have such little battle experience in general, he was rather good.

"Psycho Cut!" I shouted. Absol's crest began to glow brightly, then it tossed its head in the air and slashed downwards. The glow launched from its crest and slammed into three Hork-Bajir at once, throwing them backwards until they skidded across the ground, bowling over several of their fellows.

Apparently we were beginning to get on their nerves. Many of the Hork-Bajir drew weapons, small, hand-held things that looked like pistols.

"Dracon beams!" someone shouted from behind me. "Duck!"

I didn't pause to think; I hit the ground flat on my stomach. Bright beams of red light lanced from the muzzle of the gun—Dracon beam, whatever you want to call it—and shot directly above my head. One of the beams got so close that it burnt a hole the size of a quarter in a corner of my jacket. Any slower and the hole would have gone through me.

"Shadow Claw!" I cried, scrambling to my feet again.

Absol's claws pulsed with dark energy, and it launched itself at the nearest Hork-Bajir, giving it a quick slash across the chest. It flailed and fell backwards, its weapon skidding across the ground towards me. I picked it up; it was too large to hold comfortably, but it wasn't unusable.

One of the Hork-Bajir lunged at me, it's blades flashing. I swung around and instinctively fired the weapon. The Dracon beam shot a hole clean through its shoulder, and it went down, howling.

"...Perhaps this battle be less hopeless than it seems," I muttered, gripping the weapon and plunging back into the fray.

—

POV: Fai

I sat on the couch, Sakura and Mokona next to me, watching as Kurogane paced restlessly back and forth. I couldn't help but compare him with some kind of caged animal—which, when I thought about it, was practically what Kurogane was.

"There's no use getting all agitated about it," I pointed out. "Sheila-san told us we shouldn't go join them; Syaoran-kun gave her his word we wouldn't."

"Not directly," he snapped back. "He didn't give it to her directly. Clearly she's underestimating us though; we've gotten through worse than this before!"

"We have," I agreed quietly. I couldn't help but remember our time in Tokyo, when our group had been split and broken. It had been far more physically—and emotionally—painful than this.

But I couldn't resist. "The party at the Cat's Eye was so much more difficult, wasn't it?"

"That was only bad for Kurogane-san, Fai-san," Syaoran laughed. Mokona also broke out giggling; Kurogane shot both of them a glare.

Syaoran suddenly fell silent, glancing over my shoulder at the window behind me. My first reaction was to twist around, but a clear view outside was blocked by curtains; only a little bit of light and shadows filtered through. "You're worried about Lilac-chan, aren't you?"

He flushed slightly, and it took all I had to keep a straight face. "W-well, not just her...aren't you worried about Starsight-san too?"

So much for a straight face. "Of course I am," I replied, struggling to match my expression with my words. "I'm worried about all of them. I think that Kurogane's right in that they might not be able to handle it alone." I shifted slightly, then winced as a bright blue spark raced up my arm. Apparently we still had a bit of an electric current running through our bodies.

"Even if we shouldn't be fighting that doesn't mean we can't," Kurogane grunted, continuing to pace back and forth. I noticed another blue spark flash across his back, but he ignored it. "Like I said, we've pulled through worse than this. They need all the help they can get, so why won't they accept it?"

"I don't—"

A chime rang through the house; from my short time here I recognized it as the doorbell. We all exchanged a brief glance, Syaoran looking confused, Sakura looking scared, Kurogane's expression as unreadable as always. Mokona ducked into Sakura's pocket, and I rose to my feet. "I'll get it," I said, moving towards the door. Kurogane followed right behind me; Syaoran spoke quietly before leaving Sakura and trailing after us. I hesitated, my hand on the handle, before I turned it and pulled the door open.

Well, half-open.

The door suddenly blew off its hinges, barely missing me as it was thrown clear across the room. Three green, bladed, reptilian creatures stepped into the house, their heads scraping the ceiling. Hork-Bajir, I remembered they were called. One of them gave a shout and levelled what looked like a gun at me. I leapt to the side, barely escaping the bright red beam that shot out of it, burning a hole in the floor. Metal flashed through the air, and the Hork-Bajir roared in pain as the gun it was holding and half its arm skidded away across the floor. Another quick slash from Sôhi finished it. The other two paused, as if trying to analyze the situation.

"Too slow!" Kurogane snarled, lashing out with his sword again. The two Hork-Bajir seemed too shocked to respond, seeing as they both went down without a fight.

"What was THAT?" Syaoran exclaimed.

"Hork-Bajir, apparently," I answered, striding over to the door and glancing out to the street.

Kurogane hadn't been kidding when he said the others would be in trouble.

There was a battle literally raging on the street directly in front of us. I recognized Sevenclaws, wielding one of those gun-like things and with his Absol at his side, fighting with Coalfang, who was using a dagger as a weapon. A little farther up the street, Icestar and Cloudwind were working as a team to keep the Hork-Bajir at bay, one firing arrow after arrow, the other striking out with what looked like a giant key. Past that, Ripred was stomping down the street, leaving huge cracks in the road as he lashed out with sharp teeth. Actually, from what I could see, it looked like this entire battle was happening all over the county.

"If you were the kind of guy who would say 'I told you so'," I said slowly to Kurogane, "now would definitely be the time you would rub it in our faces, wouldn't it?"

He didn't respond, but I already knew what he meant.

"We've got to help them," Syaoran gasped. "I don't care if Sheila-san told us to stay put, we have to go help them."

I smiled at him. "She didn't tell us to stay put, technically. She just told us not to follow them into the battle."

Just a future note for you: Whenever Kurogane smiles, you know that everything is about to go to...well...heck. "She said nothing about the battle coming to us, now, did she?" he said, darting past us and into the street. He charged at the Hork-Bajir surrounding Sevenclaws and Coalfang, quickly taking out half of them before they even noticed he was there.

I glanced at Syaoran. "You're going too?"

"Of course I am," he responded, clapping his hands together and swiftly drawing his sword out of his palm with magic. He turned around, and I noticed that Sakura was standing behind us. "Please stay here, it's dangerous out there," Syaoran said.

For a moment Sakura looked like she wanted to object, then she gave a short nod. "Be careful, all of you."

"We'll be fine, Sakura-chan," I promised, then Syaoran and I raced outside into the battle. A knot of Hork-Bajir stormed at us from the right; Syaoran leapt at them, his blade whirling. I ducked and dodged their blades, using martial arts rather than magic as a form of attack. It didn't take us long to finish them off, despite the fact that we were still weak from being electrocuted.

"Where to now?" I asked Syaoran.

"I want to get through this battle, see if I can find Lilacheart-san and Soundstorm-san," he answered.

I bit back a grin. "Good luck then. I'm off to find Starry-chan, see if she needs help."

"All right. Good luck to you too."

He darted off down one street, while I took another. Though the county was a small place, I felt that it was going to take a while for us to find Lilacheart, Soundstorm, and Starsight. But it didn't matter, I decided. We'd find them.

—

POV: Wolf

First instinct: Run.

Second instinct: Don't run, you idiot, you'll either be run through with a blade or shot with some kind of red laser beam if you move.

...Wait, maybe I should back up a bit and explain a few things.

The last thing I remember before waking up in the county's town hall (where we usually held our meetings) was sitting at my computer, working on a new animation I was trying out. I remembered a sharp pain in the back of my head, but that was about it.

Well, until I woke up surrounded by a bunch of reptilian aliens, that is.

Even though I had tried to ask them what the heck was going on, not a single one of them would answer me. They kept speaking to each other in a different language, something I couldn't identify let alone understand. Every now and then they used a word in English though. "Battle", "invasion", and "flame" I could understand.

There was a sudden bang at the other end of the Hall, and the Hork-Bajir froze. At first I thought it was a Wandie about to walk in on this scene, and for a second, as the double doors swung open, I felt a little hope as I recognized Syaoran's silhouette. Then it fell again, as I realized the sword he carried was bathed in fire. This was his clone, the one who had attacked Lilacheart at the construction site the other day.

The doors swung shut behind him as Shaoran strode down the middle aisle, which was lined with benches on either side. We were standing at the front, on the stage, me and my guard of Hork-Bajir. The largest one stepped forward as Shaoran climbed the steps onto the stage. "As you instructed, phyorhaj, we have captured one of these so-called Wandies."

And for a moment there I thought they couldn't speak English at all.

"Good," Shaoran said shortly. "Soon the others will realize they're missing a comrade, and will come in search for her. Our plan to eliminate them all will soon come into effect."

"Eliminate?" I repeated without thinking.

Shaoran turned to glare at me, and I tried not to flinch at his mismatched gaze, one amber eye, one blue. "Yes, eliminate. I will let nothing stand in the way of my goal of collecting the feathers."

"Wh...wait a sec. The feathers?"

He gave me 'the look'. "You are one of these Wandies, correct? You read about our stories, you know our lives. I search for Princess Sakura's feathers, and I can sense that there's one in this country."

For a second I couldn't think. Then my brain began running wild, like a squirrel on Red Bull. The whole plot behind Tsubasa was that Sakura's memories had been crystallized into feathers and scattered throughout countless dimensions. Had one of her feathers really landed in Wands and Worlds County?

Shaoran nodded to the largest Hork-Bajir again. "Stay here on guard. The rest of you, we're waiting outside for the ambush."

"Phyorhaj, shouldn't we secure the human so she doesn't resist?" the Hork-Bajir inquired. Somehow, I got the awful feeling that it meant kill.

Shaoran hesitated, and I saw something flicker briefly in his eyes. But it was gone before I could identify it. "No," he said shortly, turning away. "Leave her alive. It won't draw them in otherwise." With that he climbed down the steps again and swept back down the aisle, the other Hork-Bajir following him. The door closed behind them with an ominous bang, and then there was silence.

"...So what're you doing running around with him?" I said, wondering why in the world I was trying to strike up a conversation with an alien from a book who could kill me before I could even blink.

"I am not 'running around with him', as you put it," it snapped. "He offers power, and has the ability to lead us. Without that, we cannot operate to our best."

"Oh, so what, you'd have like a dominance fight or something?"

No answer.

I decided to ask something else. "What does phyorhaj mean anyways?"

"It's a word of our own language, literally meaning 'flame blade'."

"Oh, so it's like a term of respect or something? I don't get how you can respect him, though."

The Hork-Bajir suddenly let out a furious growl. "You ask too many questions," it snarled. Out of the corner of my eye I saw it swing its fist directly at my head, then stars danced in front of my eyes and I blacked out.

—

POV: Starsight

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was surprised when the Hork-Bajir suddenly leaped at us from behind. Judging from the screams and shouts I heard up and down the line, that is. Instinctively I threw up a wide shield behind me, which protected me, Lilacheart, Magicyop, Minou, and Icestar from the initial attack. I couldn't make the shield much larger without the risk of it cracking. Fortunately everyone managed to either block or avoid the Hork-Bajir's attack, throwing back counterattacks of their own. I slashed my hand through the air, and my Kudan shot a barrage of icicles at the Hork-Bajir. I had been practicing since the last battle, so this turned out to be a little stronger than my first fight at the construction site. I won't go into details of the wounds they caused.

I spun around and raced down the hill into the street, trying to gain some room. Lilacheart ran next to me, spreading her wings and taking to the air. I skidded around and shot another barrage of icicles at the Hork-Bajir, which felled several of them, but didn't stop the mass in general.

This was where I started to realize that, while my Kudan was excellent in battle, the way I had been working with it so far wasn't really suited for hand-to-hand combat. I couldn't keep running away all the time in order to gain enough room to fire; I needed to have some kind of weapon that would work at close ranges too.

Almost as if it had read my mind, my Kudan soared down in front of me, let out a high trill, then began to melt, moulding itself into a long and straight shape. After a few heartbeats I realized that it had become a sword. I grasped the hilt, looking the blade up and down. The design reminded me of Syaoran's sword, except the blade was a sheer white ice tipped with blue at the end. The hilt was made of blue ice too, with a crest design that reminded me of my Kudan's wings. I couldn't help but remember how Kurogane's Kudan had also transformed into a sword, in order to match its strength with his.

A loud roar shook me out of my thoughts, and my head whipped up to realize that the Hork-Bajir was practically right on top of me. I yelped and flung the sword up, blocking its blade as it swung straight down at my head. The screech was as harsh as the ice shields I used, but I tried to ignore it as I shoved its arm aside and struck out at its shoulder. It twisted so that its shoulder blade blocked my sword, then flashed out with its other arm straight for my right side, the one that had been injured by Shaoran.

I need a shield! I thought desperately. Suddenly, a shield of ice appeared directly in the path of its claws, blocking the blow. I pulled my sword away and stumbled back a few paces. "So I can still create shields even without my Kudan physically beside me...in a sense," I muttered. "Cool."

The Hork-Bajir, probably furious now, lunged at me again, blades flashing. I didn't let myself think, just blocked blow after blow with sword and shields. It was so fast I couldn't find a single opening; it was all I could do to keep defending.

"Starry, get down!" someone shouted behind me. I ducked, throwing a shield of ice above my head, as a sharp line of ink drew across the Hork-Bajir's chest, slashing it in two easily. I scrambled to my feet again, glancing around to see Spirithunter standing a little ways behind me. "You okay?" she asked.

"Fine, thanks!" I called to her as we both turned back into the battle. I couldn't really keep track of everything that went on; it was mostly a whirlwind of blades and ice. I saw a few people here and there; Cloudwind fighting with her keyblade, Danny shooting plasma beams and overshadowing some of the Hork-Bajir so they fought their fellows, Kayla using any kind of objects within reach to throw telepathically at the Hork-Bajir. Sometimes even another Hork-Bajir.

When I finally had the chance to look around, I realized that we were getting rather close to Sheila's house. Not that this really helped much, but it made me wonder how the battle suddenly got so spread out when we had started at the park. It was like the battle was taking over the entire county...

I felt the attack just before it hit, and flung myself to the side. I wasn't fast enough though; the Hork-Bajir's blade cut deep into my left shoulder. I bit back a scream of pain and sliced at its leg. It whipped its tail up to block my blow, aiming another swing at my own leg this time. I stumbled backwards, barely avoiding the strike and completely losing my balance.

A lash of magic blasted over my head, catching the Hork-Bajir full on and throwing it backwards at such a velocity it tore up some of the pavement. I managed to regain my balance and turned around to see Fai racing towards me. "Are you all right?" he called once he was within earshot.

"I'm okay," I said, pressing slightly on the wound to slow the blood flow. There wasn't time to worry about it; five more Hork-Bajir were barrelling towards us down the street. Was there just no end to this?

A roar split the air, much heavier and deeper than the Hork-Bajir's. They skidded to a stop out of pure confusion—then something huge and gold dropped out of the sky, lashing out at the Hork-Bajir and knocking them all over in one swipe. Shardas landed heavily on the ground, sending huge cracks across the pavement, and roared loudly. The Hork-Bajir practically scrambled over each other in order to escape; I almost laughed.

Someone slipped down from his back, and my first reaction was surprise to see that it was Sheila. She was carrying a Dracon beam; I guessed that she had gotten it off one of the defeated Hork-Bajir. "Are you guys okay?" she asked.

"We're fine," I lied, letting the sword melt back into my Kudan and pressing my hand against my shoulder. There wasn't time to find Emily for a healing or anything.

Sheila didn't look convinced, but she didn't press me any further. "Shardas was kind enough to let me ride him over the town. The situation's pretty bad; there's little skirmishes happening all over the suburbs."

I tried not to gulp at the news.

"On the bright side, we're holding off pretty well," she continued. "I've done a Wandie count, though, and we're missing someone. I didn't see Wolf anywhere while I was above the battle."

"Sh-she could be inside one of the houses or something..." I muttered, but I had a feeling that this wasn't the case.

Sheila shook her head, whether in disagreement or at a loss I couldn't tell. "Can I ask you guys to look for her on the ground? I'm going to stick to the air, help out in the battle where I can."

"Sure, we can do that," I said. Sheila gave a grateful nod before she turned and climbed back onto Shardas' back again. The massive dragon gave us a nod before he opened his wings and took to the skies again.

"Have you noticed any kind of patterns at all?" Fai asked me suddenly.

"Eh? Patterns?"

He nodded. "While I was searching for you, it seemed to me that these Hork-Bajir are trying to push everyone in one direction. I think we're pretty close to said location that we're being forced to."

I paused for a moment, but not too long to think about it. "We'll have to worry about it later, I guess. Right now we need to find Wolf."

We took off down the street, picking a path that seemed to have the least amount of Hork-Bajir. At one point I spotted Adriane and waved her over. Stormbringer stayed behind to fight with Ryoma and Moony, while Dreamer bounded over with the Warrior. "What's up?" Adriane asked. "How're you guys doing?"

"Okay for now," I responded. "Listen, one of the other Wandies has gone missing. Wolf. We're going to look for her, and it'd be great if we could have your help."

Adriane nodded. "Dreamer and I'll come," she said. "Do you have any idea where to look first?"

I thought for a moment. "Let's check the town hall. It's a good place to hide, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's there."

Fai gave a short nod. "Lead the way."

I started down a catwalk, a little shortcut between two streets. It beat having to take the long way around to get there, anyways. Especially since the town hall was just on the other side of the street once we emerged from the catwalk. I checked both ways before I darted across the street and up the steps. Not to check for cars, but to check for Hork-Bajir. I couldn't see any; I guessed that the battle hadn't quite stretched this far yet.

The door was slightly ajar, leaving just enough room to squeeze inside. I slipped in through the doors, took one look up at the stage at the front, and dived behind the closest row of benches. We'd found Wolf all right. Problem was, we had also found a Hork-Bajir.

Fai, Adriane, and Dreamer crouched down next to me; I shifted over a little so there was more room. Since the Hork-Bajir hadn't shouted or anything, I guessed that it hadn't seen us. "What's it doing here?"

Dreamer slunk to the edge of the bench on his belly and peeked around the corner. Big green monster, he woofed in my mind. The girl is...silent. Sleeping?

"Unconscious, I bet," I whispered softly. I hope. "We're going to have to distract that Hork-Bajir so one of us can get Wolf out of there."

"Leave that to me," Adriane whispered back. She crawled over to Dreamer, and the two of them began to slink up the aisle towards the stage.

They only got about halfway there before the Hork-Bajir suddenly swung around, levelling a Dracon beam in their general direction. "Come out!" it growled in a guttural voice. "I know you're there!"

"Good, it's getting cramped down here," Adriane shot back, leaping to her feet and spinning a shield of golden fire from the stone on her wrist. The Hork-Bajir fired, but the Dracon beam just bounced harmlessly off the shield. Adriane shot out a long snake of golden fire, grabbing the weapon and ripping it out of the Hork-Bajir's hands. Dreamer caught it in his jaws and crunched down, shattering the weapon. With a snarl the Hork-Bajir leaped from the stage, blades flashing.

"Now!" I hissed, and we raced up the aisle, dodged the fight, and leapt onto the stage. I dropped down next to Wolf, quickly checking for a pulse. "She's okay," I sighed. "Just unconscious." I shook her shoulder. "Wolf?"

No response. I exchanged a glance with Fai before I shook her again, a little harder this time. "Wolf?"

She groaned slightly, let out a little cough, and opened her eyes. "Starry?" she muttered weakly.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

"Well, I've got a huge lump on the side of my head, which I think adds to the one I got earlier, but other than that I'm good," she said dryly, slowly sitting up. "What's going on?"

There was a loud crash from behind me, but for the moment I didn't worry about it. "Apparently the Hork-Bajir have launched an attack against the county. There're fights going on all over the place out there, and I think they're coming here soon too."

Wolf's eyes went wide. My first thought was that the news was startling—which, when I thought about it, it probably was. Then I realized there was a completely different reason for her shocked look.

Something sharp pressed against my back, between my shoulder blades. One guess what that was. "Stand," the Hork-Bajir ordered gruffly.

Not wanting to get run through with a blade, I slowly stumbled to my feet. The Hork-Bajir grabbed my arm and dragged me back a few paces, switching its wrist-blade to my throat. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Adriane, who was slowly struggling to pull herself out of a mess of shattered benches. Dreamer was nowhere in sight.

"What do you want?" Fai asked evenly, helping Wolf to her feet.

"To destroy you," the Hork-Bajir answered coldly. "As phyorhaj wishes."

"He means the clone. Shaoran," Wolf translated quietly.

Oh great. Now the Hork-Bajir were teaming up with Shaoran in order to wipe us all out? It didn't make sense though. What did he have to gain from this?

It was as if Fai had read my mind. "What's his aim for doing this? What can he gain from destroying the county?"

"His aim is one object. A powerful energy source, apparently. A feather."

We all froze. One of Sakura's feathers was in the county?

"Starry knows where it is," Wolf said suddenly.

"Eh?" I hissed at her. "What?"

She shot me a look, one of those 'just trust me' kind of looks. "She can tell him where it is."

The Hork-Bajir hesitated for a moment. Then its grip on my arm tightened painfully. "Or I could get it from you right here and now," it snarled.

Good going, Wolf, I thought. I had no idea what this business was about with Sakura's feather, but when I obviously couldn't give it an answer, I was going to have a rather short life span.

Then an idea popped into my head. I had done some flash-freezing before, as I liked to call it, but could I freeze an entire Hork-Bajir? There was only one way to find out.

"What would you do if I told you?" I said, trying to keep my voice calm as I slowly reached out backwards with my hand.

"I might keep you alive for a while, wait and see what phyorhaj has to say about this. Or I could kill you all on the spot right n—"

My hand met reptilian skin, and I poured as much energy as I could into the attack. Instantly the Hork-Bajir froze solid, a thick layer of ice completely covering its body. I sighed, nearly stumbling from the amount of energy it had taken.

"Are you okay, Starry-chan?" Fai asked.

"Fine, if you ignore the fact that I still have a frozen Hork-Bajir blade pressed against my throat," I said dryly.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Adriane muttered, climbing up onto the stage. "I wasn't fast enough; it hit me before I could react."

"It's okay, we can do apologies later. Right now do you think you could...er..."

"Leave it to me," she said as a whip of golden fire trailed from her wolf stone. She slashed at the iced-over Hork-Bajir statue, quickly cutting me free. I stumbled forward, but Fai and Wolf caught me before I could hit the ground. I clambered down off the stage and collapsed on one of the benches. "What happened to Dreamer?"

"I sent him for reinforcements. I think he went to search for Sheila."

I groaned and dropped my head in my hands. "The Hork-Bajir said he wanted to destroy us. I don't think he meant just us five in particular. It might be making their job easier if all the Wandies are grouped together in one spot."

The three of them exchanged worried glances, but before they could say anything the doors suddenly blasted open. Lilacheart and Soundstorm raced inside, closely followed by Syaoran, Spirithunter, Amaterasu, Icestar, Kurogane, Kennen, Danny, Heartwing, the Dog, Sevenclaws, Absol, and Rabbitfoot. Not to mention about twenty Hork-Bajir.

I leapt to my feet, ignoring the slight dizziness. Kurogane and Kennen were the first to turn around and try to keep the oncoming Hork-Bajir at bay, but there were just too many of them. The four of us raced back into the battle, my Kudan rematerializing into a sword again. I still wasn't skilled with it, but I managed enough to not get myself too badly injured.

"You're gonna need some serious training," Kurogane grunted when we passed each other at one point.

"Tell me something I don't know," I replied, fending off another blow.

"Duck."

I didn't ask; experience had taught me to just listen. I hit the floor, just as a Hork-Bajir's claws swung inches above my head. Kurogane quickly finished it off as I climbed to my feet. "That makes...twice now?"

He just rolled his eyes and turned back to the battle.

I don't know how long it took, but at last all the Hork-Bajir that had followed them inside had either retreated or were dead on the ground. I dropped to my knees, letting my Kudan melt away again as I tried to regain my breath. Then I realized that the air was beginning to smell funny. It wasn't as clean as it had been before; now it smelled like...smoke?

Without warning the doorframe at the end of the room burst into flames. Several people screamed, though I couldn't identify who. I scrambled to my feet, my heart skipping a beat as I realized who was standing there. Shaoran.

"Get out of the way, kid," Kurogane snarled, levelling Sôhi at him.

He didn't answer, just raised Hien and leapt at him. The two swords clashed together, creating a din that was swallowed by the roar of the fire.

"Everyone get out!" someone shouted, and I squinted through the smoke to see Sheila standing by the doorway. Spirithunter was the first one out, followed by a white wolf. No, wait...that was Amaterasu. I guessed that Spirithunter had drawn too much of her ink, since she had lost her godly look.

I struggled to get around the side of the room to the door, since Kurogane and Syaoran's battle was taking up most of the space. I could see people darting out the doorway into the open air, though just barely. The flames were spreading up the roof, weakening the support structures and threatening a collapse.

And collapse it did. Without any warning at all there was a giant crack, and about half the roof tumbled down, blocking the exit. I skidded to a stop, coughing and generally in shock. Shaoran, Kurogane, Kennen, the Dog, Wolf, Fai, and I were all still trapped inside.

"We're trapped!" Wolf shouted from behind me.

My vision was beginning to blur, from the smoke or from inhaling it I couldn't tell. "There's got to be another way out!" I coughed.

"A door in the back! You guys go for it, I'll hold 'im off!" Kennen shouted, gesturing wildly to a door to the right of the stage. He had traded his gun earlier for two Dracon beams; armed with this he lunged at Shaoran, sending shots from both hand-held weapons and forcing him back. The Dog leapt after him, her form becoming demon-like as she snapped at the clone, forcing him to retreat further.

Fai grabbed Kurogane's shoulder and practically dragged him after us; I could tell that he still wanted to fight, but now wasn't the time. Wolf pulled open the door, revealing a small storage room that had yet to be set alight. I stumbled across the room to the other side, shoving open the second door and tumbling into the snow outside. I pulled myself to my feet, leaping out of the way of the others. "Over there!" I said, pointing off to the street where I could see a large group of people standing well back of the flames. We raced over to them, and I felt relieved when I recognized several Wandies in the group, and no Hork-Bajir.

Sheila looked relieved when we ran up. "I was worried when part of the building collapsed. Are you all okay? What about Kennen and the Dog?"

I don't like to admit it, but I had forgotten about them in the confusion to get outside. "I don't know, Kennen told us to go for the back door while he and the Dog were holding back Shaoran..." I muttered, turning back to the town hall. Nearly the entire building was on fire now, which lit up the street as the sky grew darker with the setting sun. The entire group was silent, with only a few whisperings here and there. We all waited, waited for any sign of someone coming out.

After what seemed like an eternity I saw a lone figure walking out towards us. I ran forward, quickly recognizing the Dog as she limped towards the group. I dropped down in front of her and gave her a quick hug. Then I pulled back and looked at her. "What about...?"

The Dog looked at me sadly, then slowly shook her head.

I looked back at the burning building, tears blurring my vision, as behind me someone began to scream.

—

* After some discussion, it was decided to write Mokona's POV in first person as opposed to third person like it usually refers to itself.