Last time Bloom and the others shockingly discovered that Faragonda had been turned to stone by Vicky. But their headmistress was still alive, in a manner of speaking. Though her mind and soul was safe, Faragonda was in danger of remaining petrified forever, unless Bloom and the others performed a spell that would reverse time in the area around Faragonda. Three items were needed for the spell; two rare stones located on worlds on opposite ends of the Magical Dimension, and The Tears of The Black Willow, a unique tree found only of Flora's homeworld of Lynphea. It was decided that our heroes would split into two groups, each to recover one of the two stones, then meet on Lynphea in time to get all three items back to Magix. Just before leaving, Musa named the ship that she and her group would use, which happened to be Riven's, Sapphire Blaze.
At the same time, Icy and The Trix learned that Vicky had underwent several dangerous magical enhancements that gave her the incredible and dark abilities she's shown. The Trix also found out that their big sister also has one serious limitation that forces her to take a long rest. As Vicky settled down for her vacation, The Trix were literary drafted into helping the traitor witch Lucy in a special project from Zahidia, a task involving the enslaved students of Cloud Tower in a fate worse than death.
(just a reminder; Bloom, Flora and Layla, Helia, Tatewaki, Kurt, Mace and Elise are in this chapter. It should be noted that this chapter contains elements and characters from the hit anime Elemental Gelade, which I'm using without permission, so please don't sue me.) 'Nuff said, on with the show!
Chapter 16: Concerning Elde Raids
From orbit, Guardia appeared similar to any number of Earth-like worlds that Bloom and her friends had encountered. Yet even from such a high altitude, Bloom could sense that this world was different from anything she and the others had encountered before. It wasn't just the gravitation anomalies that Tecna talked about, which caused large chunks of rocks on the planet to levitate to heights of up to and including a mile, forming literal islands in the air. But what really set Bloom's senses on edge was the fact that she was about to visit a world that existed in more than one universe.
As The Night Rider entered the atmosphere, Elise informed everyone that she had picked up satellite transmissions and recent space travel activity. Apparently, Guardia had entered a Space Age within the past few years, and has also made contact with nearby space-fairing worlds.
"That'll make our job a bit easier," said Kurt, "if this world has had contact with extraterrestrials, then we'll be able to appeal directly to local authorities for assistance, for we'll never be able to find enough azonite in time without help."
Bloom was reluctant to agree, but she had to give this one to Kurt. This was a new world to Bloom and her friends, a world full of unknown dangers. If they were to have any chance of locating the azonite in the time allotted to them, then they would need to ask for assistance.
The first setback our heroes encountered was when they discovered through the multiple layers of radio traffic, was that Guardia had no unified world government, but rather multiple nations, most of them democracies and republics. There was no open hostilities at the time, but some of these nations sounded like they didn't like one another.
But then Elise found out that the primary space port for Guardia was located in neutral territory in order to prevent any international disputes, a positive by any other name. Even better, the spaceport was located right next to an international peace keeping/special forces organization, known as Arc Aile.
"If there's anyone on Guardia who can help us without going through miles of time-consuming red tape," said Elise, "it's Arc Aile." With that Beauregard piloted the ship to the space port, were our heroes exited and headed for the large, white complex that was Arc Aile.
It turned out that the administration of Arc Aile, whose members wear white and red uniforms mostly, with the occasional blue and gold here and there, were more than happy to provide assistance to Bloom and her friends. Apparently, with Guardia now a space fairing world, Arc Aile had taken upon the responsibility of handling interstellar affairs, a sure step in the right direction towards a unified world as Elise would put it.
But then Bloom and the others ran into another problem. Demons had been sighted on Guardia all over the planet and had been attacking small farms and villages without mercy, slaughtering anyone who got in their way. With the many nations arguing with each other and themselves on how to deal with the situation, Arc Aile had taken the initiative and sent help to battle the demons. So far every encounter between demonic invaders and Arc Aile operatives had been successfully won, but there wasn't enough operatives to protect the whole planet, leaving the organization severely shorthanded at their headquarters.
However, being that our heroes' visit was a rare and extraordinary event, new people from the stars being in this category, the administrators of Arc Aile promised to 'lend' a handful of operatives to assist Bloom and the others, and that their new guides would be here within the hour.
As they sat waiting in the Arc Aile lobby for their guides, Bloom and her friends learned a bit more about this strange yet wondrous world they've come to:
Guardia is home to a second intelligent species other than humans; Elde Raids. These creatures, appearing at first glance to be normal human women, maybe a bit more beautiful and alluring than normal, have the power to become living weapons when they form a contractual bond and link together, or 'React' as the official term is, with a chosen human partner or 'Pleasure'.
No one truly remembers when the first Elde Raids appeared on Guardia or how they came to be. It is known that they originated from a place called Elde Garden, a city built on one of the many floating islands that populate Guarida's lower atmosphere.
In the past, Elde Raids had been used as weapons of war, in terrible wars that threatened to destroy the world, that is, if the wars hadn't been stopped in time before things got way out of hand. A positive result of these wars was the creation of Arc Aile, whose founding mission was to protect the rights and freedom of Elde Raids, and to ensure that such terrible wars never happen again.
For the most part, Arc Aile was a success; finding and defending lone Elde Raids until they could be brought to sanctuaries across the world, Arc Aile Headquarters being among the largest. Arc Aile also sought after and brought to justice many wicked men and women who continued to abuse Elde Raids for their power. Again, for the most part, Arc Aile was successful in stopping these poachers.
But where there was good, evil had also taken root. There were Elde Raids who harbored great resentment for the ways their ancestors were treated during the wars. They saw all humans as evil and wished to punish them for past crimes. Many of these radical Elde Raids formed a terrorist syndicate, Chaos Choir, with the goal of subjugating the humans of Guardia, thereby reversing the roles of humans and Elde Raids, with human Pleasures being slaves to Elde Raids.
The strife between Arc Aile and Chaos Choir reached its height five years ago when the two forces clashed at Elde Garden, which Chaos Choir had taken over as their base. This battle threatened to erupt into an all out war across the planet that would have devastated humans and Elde Raids across the world, had it not been for the efforts of a handful of brave souls. Among these brave souls were several outstanding, yet underappreciated, Arc Aile operatives, some righteous Elde Raids and their respective Pleasures.
It was one of these righteous Elde Raids, and her Pleasure, who truly saved their world from total destruction. This particular Elde Raid was, or rather is, the strongest of her kind; Reverie Metherlence, or Ren to her friends, otherwise known as the Shichiko-hoju (The Shinning Jewel), and her Pleasure, Kou Van Garret (a former apprentice air pirate), who convinced both sides to end the fighting and seek a permanent peace.
But it was how Ren and Kou did it, that's what really brought peace to Guardia. During their travels as Elde Raid and Pleasure, Ren and Kou had slowly but surely developed feelings for each other. But they were hesitant to act on these feelings and form a closer relationship, partly due to the fact that they were both teenagers at the time and had no prior experience with love, and also because Ren had harbored an innate dislike of humans and had to really put a lot of effort into trusting Kou.
Eventually they fell in love with each other, but it wasn't until their darkest hour that Kou and Ren actually confessed their love out loud. Chaos Choir had sought out Ren for her power, for only the strongest of Elde Raids had the power to create more Elde Raids and artificial Elde Raids called Sting Raids, all to further their hatred of humans. Being the strongest Elde Raid alive, Ren was an irresistible prize that the leaders of Chaos Choir coveted and eventually seized.
Kou and his companions fought their way into Elde Garden and battled the leaders of Chaos Choir, while Kou fought with his heart and soul to free Ren from the control of Chaos Choir, which he did by saying out loud that he loved her. She broke free, saying that she loved him as well. But the leaders of Chaos Choir wouldn't let go of their prize that easily. They forced Ren into Reacting with them, for Elde Raids can React with each other.
Just when Ren would have been forced to destroy her one true love, Kou used a power that was thought to be long forgotten, a power that was believed that Elde Raids could only use. Elde Raids React with their Pleasures and perform special attacks through mentally speaking a complex poem or song, each song is unique to the Elde Raid.
Kou spoke out loud a song that shattered the contractual bonds of all Elde Raids in the world, thereby depriving them of their power, while at the same time purging the hate and rage from the hearts of the leaders of Chaos Choir.
A peace treaty between Arc Aile and Chaos Choir was later formed; the two organizations promised to work together to ensure that such hatred between humans and Elde Raids would never happen again.
Though their power was lost, for at the time being for nobody knew the full effects of the song Kou used, most Elde Raids who had contracts remained with their human Pleasures, while Kou and Ren stayed together and had been so since.
"I've seen some pretty incredible things since I fist discovered my powers," said Bloom as she and the others waited in the lobby of Arc Aile HQ, "but this world and its people really take the cake."
"I'm with you on that," said Layla, while Flora and the others nodded in agreement.
It was then that their guides arrived in the form of three individuals; two women and a man, all three wearing the white and blue military-style uniforms of Arc Aile. The first woman was short, about 5' even with short dark orange hair and brown eyes. She looked to be in her mid twenties. From what Bloom could sense, this woman had a short temper and was easily angered, but also possessed great courage and dedication to whatever task was at hand. But Bloom also sensed a slight taint of greed and ambition. She moved with the appearance of someone well versed in martial arts.
The man was also in his mid twenties, but considerably much taller, like Helia and the boys. This man had blond hair in a ponytail and blue eyes. Bloom sensed great logic and compassion from this man, as well as the impression that he was used to having his talents used for the sake of others, more often than not for selfish needs. Bloom saw from the way he walked that he was well adapt in sword fighting.
The other woman's appearance was a great contrast from the first. Tall like the man, with dark tanned skin, long spiky black hair and red eyes like rubies. This woman, Bloom sensed, emanated with eagerness for excitement and battle, but also had great loyalty for her friends. Then Bloom sensed something else from the woman, an incredible power that was repressed but still there, waiting for the time to awaken.
Bloom immediately guessed that this woman was an Elde Raid. Her guess was made correct when she saw the pair of red gems on the back of the woman's hands. Each Elde Raid is born with a special gem on some part of their body, sometimes they have two or more. These gems, Elemental Gelade's, are symbols of an Elde Raids' power.
The three Arc Aile operatives reached Bloom and the others. The shorter woman held out her hand for Bloom to shake, "Captain Cisqua Ramirez, at your service," she said with a smile, "but you can call me Cisqua, everyone does."
"Bloom of Domino," said Bloom as also smiled and shook Cisqua's hand, "but I'm just Bloom to my friends.
Introductions were made. The man's name was Senior Lieutenant Rowen Long, or just Rowen, while the Elde Raid was Kullweet Envatilia, or just Kuea.
"I'm really glad to meet you all," said Rowen, "you're the first extraterrestrials we've had to work with."
Bloom had to remember that on this world that was just taking its first steps into the universe, Bloom and her friends were the aliens.
"Meeting new people is part of what we do best," said Flora, "that and helping people."
"That's also our job," said Rowen, "that's what being part of Arc Aile is all about now; helping people, all the people of Guardia."
"And any visitors from the stars," said Kuea, "especially if they're interesting. There's something about you three," she indicated Bloom, Flora and Layla, "I can't put my finger on it, but you're different, in a good way I mean, no offense."
"None taken," said Layla, "we are different."
"Girls like us are highly gifted," said Flora, "not unlike Elde Raids, but very different as well."
"How'd you know I'm an Elde Raid?" Kuea asked.
"Your Elemental Gelade's are showing," said Cisqua in a slightly annoyed tone.
"Oh," said Kuea in a somewhat sheepish tone as she looked at the backs of her hands, "you're right, silly me."
There were a few more moments of conversation as they got to know each other as Bloom and her friends gave a bit more about themselves, while they in turn learned more about Cisqua, Rowen and Kuea.
Cisqua joined Arc Aile at an early age with the desire to help Elde Raids that was so intense that when she was given the choice to form a contract bond with an Elde Raids (the Pleasure can be a boy or a girl), she choose not to, thinking that it would be a crime to the Elde Raid to give up that kind of freedom, even though the less bloodthirsty Elde Raids believed that bonding with humans afforded them greater freedom.
Instead, Cisqua dedicated herself to becoming stronger by herself. Despite her short stature, which has been the cause of much humor among he peers, Cisqua possesses incredible physical prowess in terms of stamina and dexterity. She can easily bench-press 250lbs and is highly versed in unarmed hand to hand combat. But Cisqua's true passion is firearms; machineguns, semiautomatic pistols and grenade launchers are her pride and joy, sometimes border-lining on obsession.
Yet underneath this lay another passion that eclipsed all others; greed and ambition. Cisqua loved money and loved spending it. She also loved having authority in her job at Arc Aile and worked extremely hard towards being promoted. She hoped to one day be the top field operative, and with it all the benefits and privileges of rank
Rowen couldn't be any more different. Where Cisqua was hotheaded and ambitions, Rowen was patient and content. He was a man who enjoyed life for the sake of living it. He grew accustomed to Cisqua's eccentricities when they were partnered together, eventually the two of them balanced each other out.
Rowen's best skill in the field was his swordsmanship; he preferred fighting with a blade in each hand, not caring at all for firearms. Rowen is a hard worker who enjoyed the efforts and results of such hard work. He is highly talented in many fields ranging from mechanics to first aid to office work, and so on. This often led to Rowen being exploited by his peers in order to make ends meet, for in the past, being on Arc Aile's payroll didn't always compensated for all the expenses encountered in the field.
Yet despite all this, Rowen carried on with the knowledge that he cared for his friends and companions, and deep down they cared for him as well. It should also be noted that Rowen was voted one of the best cooks that Arc Aile had ever seen, something of which Bloom and her friends would soon learn first hand soon enough.
Rowen was Kuea's Pleasure before the contracts were broken at the end of the Arc Aile/ Chaos Choir conflict. Since then they have remained partners. Like Cisqua, Kuea is also versed in the martial arts, but is a much more ferocious fighter.
Often lighthearted and playful, Kuea is always ready for adventure, except when on an empty stomach. Elde Raids have one disadvantage; when they run out of energy, they can't React again until that energy is replenished, and each Elde Raid reenergizes a little differently from each other. Kuea for example, regains her power through eating, a lot. Her metabolism is at such a high level that she can satisfy her often voracious appetite and still keep her supermodel-perfect figure.
"So you three are fairies," said Cisqua, indicating Bloom, Flora and Layla, "and you're a witch," she pointed at Elise, "and there's more of you out there," she indicated the stars above.
"More than you can imagine," said Bloom.
"Like I said," said Flora, "we enjoy helping people and solving problems."
"My people," said Elsie, "witches, we've a horrible reputation for being villains. You should know that not all witches are evil. For the most part we're decent people who like to cause a little mischief here and there, but it's part of our way of life to leave no permanent harm, nothing that can't eventually be fixed."
"But there are some witches who are the worst of villains," said Layla, "we've met three of them first hand…make that four." She and the others gave a summarized explanation of what they were here on Guardia for.
"So you really think this stone, this azonite, it can help your teacher?" Rowen asked.
"It has to," said Bloom, "And we've not much time to find it."
"Well consider your teacher as good as cured," said Cisqua confidently, "'cause we're on the job!"
"Great," said Bloom, "our ship can help us find some azonite and get us there very fast."
"I don't think so, Bloom," said Helia as he hung up his cell phone, "I just talked with Amanda; The Night Rider isn't going anywhere for the next day or so."
"What's wrong with it now?" Flora asked.
"I really didn't get much of it," said Helia, "Amanda sounded really riled up." Even from inside Arc Aile, Bloom and her friends could hear on the wind another tapestry of obscenities that Amanda was weaving as she fought to keep the ship from falling apart. "What I do know is that it's serious enough that if we tried to take off now…well…ka-boom."
"I knew we should have taken another ship!" said Kurt, "now we're stuck on the other side of the Magical Dimension with no way home!"
"Worry not," said Tatewaki, "me thinketh that Ms. Amanda, along with Sir Ryoga and the twins can doth repair the good ship Night Rider in good time."
"Your friend uses some weird words," Kuea whispered to Layla, unaware that the Elde Raid was criticizing Layla's one true love.
"He sure does talk funny," said Layla as she looked at Tatewaki with admiring eyes, "but I wouldn't have him any other way."
"If we can't use The Night Rider," said Mace, "then we'll need another means of getting to the azonite, wherever it is."
"Not far apparently," said Elise "I've made a long-range geological survey before we landed. There's a small deposit of azonite approximately 80 kilometers due east of Arc Aile."
"I know just the airship that can get us there and back in time for your deadline," said Cisqua, "I just have to pull a few strings, if you know what I mean."
Bloom had a suspicion that she did know what Cisqua meant, for even in the most strict of military organizations, one would expect at least some corruption in terms of black market, behind the scenes money changing and other unsavory activities that are best kept private. In Cisqua's case what she did, though it would never show up on any official report, was threaten to expose some embarrassing secrets involving a few of her superior officers.
Within half an hour our heroes were onboard a large propeller powered warship that was twice the size and dimension of the famous Spruce Goose. Wings over 200 feet long, each with five large engines, a bright metal fuselage and armed to the teeth with large caliber machineguns, rocket launchers and launch bay equipped with a dozen single-seat fighters. Said fighter plains resembled P-47 Thunderbolts and were armed with 6, 50-cal machineguns and capable of carrying rockets or bombs. Unfortunately the ship wasn't carrying any fighters at the time, but that was an added bonus, or rather, a subtractive bonus, since the ship wouldn't be carrying that much more weight.
The warship was airborne within five minutes of everyone getting on board and on the way towards the coordinates provided by Elise.
"You sure we need all of this?" said Flora. She, Helia, Bloom, Kurt, Cisqua and Rowen were in the large cockpit of the ship, large enough to accommodate a flight crew of twelve and still have room for several observers. Flora pointed to one control panel that had an analog display of the ships weaponry.
"In times like these you can never have enough firepower," said Cisqua, "with all the demons invading our world, you'll need all the firepower you can get and more." Cisqua, who was now wearing a white and orange travel poncho with a matching hat, was currently going over her personal armaments which included a high-powered machinegun equivalent in stopping power to an AK-47, two 50-cal pistols and a grenade launcher, as well as a pair of short-range rocket launchers.
"What about these demons," said Bloom, "how did that start?"
"The first began appearing on Guardia about three and a half months ago," said Rowen, "they just stepped onto our world from whatever hellish dimension they came from and began killing anyone they saw. Nearly 60,000 civilians were killed in the first three days before any military response could be mustered. And when that finally happened, that led to another slaughter. The militaries of the world aren't equipped to handle such vicious creatures, leading to another 30,000 needless deaths."
"Arc Aile eventually took over responsibility," said Cisqua, "and since then there have been very few civilian deaths. Good thing those bastards aren't bullet proof. But the efforts of providing world-wide protection has seriously strained Arc Aile's resources. This ship, while still in good working order, isn't exactly the best of our arsenal."
"What she means," said Kuea as she came onto the bridge while munching on a large piece of a roast that Rowen had cooked for the journey, "is that we got stuck with an outdated piece of scrap."
"It's the best the guys in avionics could get us at such short notice," said Cisqua.
"Whatever combs your hair," said Kuea as she finished her roast, then began popping a bunch of grapes down.
"Well I think this is a good ship," said Kurt after finishing off a bowl of vegetable casserole that Rowen had packed, "much better than The Night Rider, in more ways than one." With that he took out his revolver and began cleaning it.
"How much better?" Cisqua asked as she admired Kurt's revolver.
"Well this ship has guns," said Kurt, "lots of big guns that leave nice big holes in whatever they're pointed at."
"Yes," said Cisqua, "nice big holes."
"Nice big holes," Kurt said again, "that's just one example. Another is that this ship, what's it name by the way?"
"We really don't have official names for our ships," said Rowen, "This one's registry number is J-87E-27N-082."
"Well let's call her 'Jen'," said Kurt, "Jen here is a well maintained girl, and is in outstanding condition for a ship of her age and experience. As for The Night Rider, well, her history of falling apart speaks for itself."
"Don't let Amanda hear you," said Helia as he and Flora shared a salad that had a really good dressing that Rowen made, "she might just make you regret it."
"Let her hear me," said Kurt, "I'll take any well-maintained military vessel over that rust bucket of a starship any day of the week."
Unknown to Kurt, Amanda did hear him insult The Night Rider, or rather, sensed it.
"You okay, Amanda?" Lucinda asked as she saw Amanda stop in the middle of her work, a distant look on the mechanic's face.
"I just had this sudden urge to beat the living daylights out of Kurt," said Amanda grimly.
Back onboard the Jen, Bloom and the others were trying to come up with an explanation as to why the demons were attacking Guardia. Elise, who had been inspecting the ship's power plant, had the theory that, having already heard descriptions of the various demons already slain, a dark magic user had already visited Guardia and had triggered a self-sustaining demon summoning spell.
"Such a magical feat is among one of the highest levels of advanced dark magic," said Elise, "requiring incredible stamina and strength of mind. Even more so since it's obvious that the demons are entering this world in different parts of Guardia. Whoever is responsible is powerful enough to set up a dozen self-sustaining summoning spells. I don't know whether to admire this dark soul or abhor him, or her."
"Who do you think is behind it?" Flora asked.
"Who do you think?" Bloom asked in an accusing tone.
"If you're putting the blame on Vicky…" said Layla.
"I am," finished Bloom, "this is exactly something Vicky and The Trix would do."
"Well I'm pretty sure that Icy, Darcy and Stormy aren't involved in this," said Elise, "They may be pure evil, but they lack the physical stamina for creating twelve summoning spells such as these."
"So what can we do?" Cisqua asked, "if the demons are being summoned to Guardia, how can we stop them?"
"I already have," said Elsie, "or I will once we're back on the ground. I have a cancellation spell already in mind and I can cast it in fifteen minutes. I just need to be somewhere high, like on a mountain or so."
"Well the azonite deposit you found is right on a mountain that has a flat area large enough for us to land on," said Rowen, "Weill that suffice?"
Elise didn't get to answer, for just then an alarm went off over at the radar terminal. The operator saw first ten, then twenty, then forty incoming boogies. Before anyone knew it, the whole radar screen around the ship was full of blips.
"Speak of the devils," said Cisqua in a serious but eager tone as she locked a full magazine into her machinegun, "we've got company."
"Those things have attacked bigger Arc Aile warships," said Rowen, "and destroyed them. We're too slow to outrun them, so we'll have to fight."
All throughout the ship, its crew were getting ready for a fight to the death, for to lose would mean being at the mercy of some of the most merciless creatures in all of existence. The large-caliber machineguns and rocket launchers were loaded and ready to destroy anything that got in their sights, while the bridge crew got ready to take the ship to a lower altitude in the event that the fuselage was breached and to avoid explosive decompression.
Bloom and the others stood at the windows of the bridge, horrified at the hundreds of winged nightmares approaching the ship.
Bloom headed for the door, when Kurt stopped her, "just where do you think you're going at a time like this?"
"I was just going to see what I could do to help," said Bloom.
"You were going to go outside," said Elise, "all three of you." Sure enough, Flora and Layla were trying to leave the bridge and head for the nearest exit hatch. Fortunately Helia was there to deter them.
"And here I thought you three had at least half a brain," said Elise in a reprimanding tone, "You can't honestly believe you can go out there when any minute the air around the ship will be full of lead and rockets. If you try to fight in your fairy forms, you'll just be in the way, or worse."
Bloom, Flora and Layla were reluctant to agree with Elise, but the righteous witch had a point. It was true that their fairy magic would be most helpful in any fight against any host of demons, but in this situation their presence in the fight would only endanger them; the chance of being hit by friendly fire was too great to risk.
"So just what do you expect us to do?" Layla asked in an annoyed tone, "just sit and wait?"
"Just sit and wait," said Cisqua, "and hope that none of the monsters get inside, 'cause if they do," she cocked the bolt on her gun, "then they'll have to deal with me first."
"And us to," said Rowen as he unsheathed his swords.
"And me," said Kuea as she stretched for the coming fight, "though I'd be happier if I could still React, then we'd show those things a thing or two."
It was then that the ship's machine guns and rockets erupted into life, shooting down any demon that got in range. But there were only so many guns and rockets launchers, leaving a handful of blind spots that the demons eagerly exploited. Several managed to get through the defensive fire, latched onto the fuselage and began ripping into the ship, while several more went after the engines.
On the bridge, another alarm went off above the roar of the guns and rockets, signaling that the fuselage had been breached and demons were inside the ship.
"Here we go!" shouted Cisqua as she kicked the bridge door open to find three demons just outside. She let lose a barrage of bullets at the creatures, turning them into Swiss Cheese in ten seconds. Fortunately the ship was below 5,000ft so there was no danger of a stray bullet causing explosive decompression in the ship. In Cisqua's case, there were a lot of stray bullets.
"Come on!" she said, "There may be more!" With that she charged into the ship's corridors. Rowen and Kuea followed her.
"Not much room on this bird for sword fighting," said Kurt as he checked to see that his gun was fully loaded, just to be sure, "and not much room to maneuver if you have wings." He spun the cylinder for luck, "Princess Bloom, I suggest that you and your friends stay here where it's safer. The windows here are several inches thick, so I doubt any demons can get through."
"We'll be fine," said Bloom, while Flora, Layla, Helia and Mace nodded in agreement, while Elise just stood there thinking.
"Just don't get yourself killed," said Mace, "I hate to explain to Carmen, Jake and the others that you died when you could have lived."
"I have no intention whatsoever of dieing in battle," said Kurt as he gave a reassuring smile, "like my hero, Vash the Stampede, I wish to live a full life full of love and peace." He gave Bloom and the others the peace sign and left.
Five seconds later Tatewaki ran onto the bridge, "We art surrounded by hell-spawn most foul!" he then saw Layla, "oh sweet ebony angel of my hart, are thou in any duress?"
"I'm fine," said Layla, "a little scared, but who wouldn't be at a time like this?"
Just then the whole ship shuddered violently, like they had hit a bad patch of turbulence. But Bloom suspected that it was something else, and she was right.
One of the pilots said that the demons had destroyed four of the ship's engines, while three more were severely damaged. With only three fully functional engines, the ship was forced into an emergency landing. Yet luck was with our heroes, for the mountain that the azonite was located was in sight, and the ship was lined up for a landing on the flat area that Rowen spoke about. But all this was assuming that they made it to the makeshift landing strip in one piece.
Fortunately the pilots were very good at their job, managing to get the ship on the ground without crashing. Yet that still left the problem of the hundreds of demons still attacking the ship. And to make matters worse, the demons had damaged the power cables that led to the majority of the ship's weapons, so now our heroes didn't even have the protection of machineguns and rockets.
"Now can we go out and help?" Layla asked Elise.
"Does it look like I'm trying to stop you?" Elise asked in an annoyed tone, annoyed that Layla interrupted her train of thought.
Flora, Bloom and Layla made their way to a dorsal exit hatch so they could go outside. As luck had it, Rowen, Cisqua and Kuea were there as well.
"Just what are you going to do?" Rowen asked as he stabbed a demon that was trying to sneak up on him.
"They're doing something amazing," said Helia as he charged up his wire gloves, while Tatewaki unsheathed his sword. It was clear that this fight would also take place on the ground as well as above the ship.
"Well count is in as well," said Cisqua as she popped a fresh magazine into her gun. Throughout the ship the gunners and technicians were also loading up with assault weapons and RPG's.
"Then let's do it already!" said Layla. She flung open the hatch, causing a demon to fall into the ship, which Tatewaki promptly stabbed.
"After you, fair ladies," said Tatewaki, ever the gentleman in the presence of his one true love.
With that Bloom and Flora shouted "Magic Winx!" while Layla used a new transformation phrase, "Winx Enchantix!"
All Cisqua, Rowen and Kuea could say at the sight of the three transformed fairies was a collective 'Whoa!'
Bloom, Flora and Layla took to the air and began destroying any airborne demon that got close enough. They knew that the ship's defenses had already killed many of the monsters, but the number of enemy slain by machineguns and rockets were negated as hundreds more choked the skies and began descending on the crippled airship.
Three demons faced Bloom, each more uglier than the last. Bloom easily incinerated two of them, then burned the head off of the third.
Flora threw spells that trapped several demons in constricting thorny vines, while disabling others with suffocating pollen and flower petals.
Layla kept alternating between trapping demons in spheres of crushing morphix, while impaling other demons on spears of morphix.
Many of the demons had landed and were attacking the ship from the ground. Helia, Tatewaki and Mace were holding their own, while Kurt took out his share of demons from a proper firing position, coordinating several of the ship's crew to provide counter-fire against any demons who tried to flank them.
Tatewaki would stab several demons in the torso, his magically forged blade extinguishing the life-force of the foul creatures. Then he would jump onto a diving demon and slice its head off, before leaping to the next one.
Helia would ensnare and vivisect his opponents with his wire gloves, while Kurt would shoot out any demons that tried to get behind him.
Yet the ones doing the most damage on the ground were Rowen, Kuea and Cisqua, and Cisqua was slaying more demons than her teammates. Having run out of fresh magazines for her machinegun, she used the but of her weapon as a club to smash the heads of two daemons, before drawing a pair of semi-automatic pistols and began blasting with those. And when those ran out of ammunition, she let lose with a pair of concealed, six-barreled rocket launchers. And when those were empty she threw off her hat and poncho and began kicking demon ass, old school style.
But then a demon got behind Flora and hit her on the head, knocking her to the ground. Helia ran to her in time to fend off several demons who had dove in for the kill. Flora regained her senses in time to ensnare with thorny vines a pair of demons that were trying to get behind Helia.
Bloom dove down to help make sure that Flora and Helia got back to the others where it was safer. But then she noticed that more demons were coming. It seemed that like she and her friends would be overwhelmed before the enemy ran out of meat for the grinder.
Just then Bloom heard the roar of a single engine zoom above. She looked up to see a red fighter plane that resembled a P-51 Mustang but was a bit bigger to allow for eight machineguns in the wings, five air-to-air/air-to-ground rockets under each wing, and a 1,000lb incendiary bomb under the fuselage.
The fighter flew past the hoards of airborne demons, turned around and flew straight at them, opening up with it's 8, 50-cal armor piercing machineguns and launching a pair of air-to-air rockets. The bullets eviscerated scores of demons, while the rockets airburst inside a large cluster of the fiends, destroying dozens more.
"Who is flying that thing?" an amazed Helia asked as the fighter turned around for another pass, killing at least another hundred demons before turning around again.
"I'll tell you who's flying that plane," said Cisqua as she, Rowen and Kuea had a look of ecstatic recognition on their faces, "a pair of real heroes."
"Oh, and we are not?" Tatewaki asked.
"Or are we just chopped liver?" Kurt asked.
"A little of column A and a little of column B," said Kuea, she then gave the two boys a look like she was imagining them to be a plate of chopped liver, "and right now the two of you are looking like you belong in column B."
"You can eat when Kou and Ren are done with the demons," Rowen said in a reassuring tone.
"Kou and Ren?" Bloom asked, "That's who's flying that fighter? Kou Van Garret and Reverie Metherlence?"
"That's Kou and Ren Van Garret," said Cisqua in a correcting tone, "didn't you hear it when you came to Arc Aile? Kou and Ren got married a year back."
By now over half the demon swarm had been destroyed by the red fighter. The plane made one more pass, firing the last of its rockets, then accelerated and flew up, then began diving down at the center of the remaining demons, who had clustered together and started flying up to meet the diving fighter. Said fighter then released the bomb and pulled out of the dive. The bomb dropped into the massed demons and detonated, incinerating half of them instantly and severely burning most of the rest with fatal wounds.
Those that weren't instantly killed and were still able to fly had lost their battle lust and began retreating. The Arc Aile agents on the ground shot after them and took out a few more before the fiends flew out of range.
The red fighter then landed at the opposite end of the makeshift runway and taxied over to the disabled airship. Two people exited the fighter, a man and a woman both in their early twenties.
The man wore a red, sleeveless jacket over a yellow shirt and brown pants and boots. He also wore off-white fingerless gloves. Attached to his belt was a grappling hook attached to a long length of cord that had the same strength as steel. He was tall and had spiky dark blond hair and gray eyes.
The woman was a bit shorter than her companion with long bluish silver hair and green eyes. She wore a blue flight jacket over a green blouse and blue pants and boots. Around her forehead was a blue and white ribbon of sorts.
As they got closer, Bloom sensed an incredible power locked inside the woman, a power nearly equal to the Dragonfire. There was no doubt that this woman was an Elde Raid.
"As usual," said Cisqua to the newcomers in a disapproving tone, "you waited until the last second to help. I thought I taught better than that, Kou."
"We got here as fast as we could, Cisqua," said the man, Kou.
"Things were a bit out of our hands," said the woman, Ren, "we heard that you were in the area and that there were also demons. We would have been here sooner but we had a head wind the whole way."
"Well I'm just glad that you're here," said Rowen.
It was then that Ren noticed Bloom, Flora and Layla, who were still in their fairy forms, "oh, you must be the aliens that everyone's talking about on the radio."
"We're not aliens," said Flora, "we're fairies." As if to prove it, she and the others hovered for a few seconds.
"I'd like to see an Elde Raid do that," said Layla. From what she and the others had learned at Arc Aile, no Elde Raid in living memory had the power of flight.
"How did you know I was an Elde Raid?" Ren asked as her hand went up to the ribbon around her forehead. She untied it and revealed a large green gem, her Elemental Gelade
Now that she was closer, Bloom could tell that Ren was indeed incredibly powerful, much stronger than Kuea by at least a factor of 2. Bloom thought that if the bonding contracts between Elde Raids and their Pleasures could be reestablished, then Ren and her Pleasure, Kou, would truly be a force to be reckoned with.
"So you're the famous Kou and Ren," said Kurt, "the saviors of Guardia."
"Oh we're not that famous," said Kou in a modest, slightly embarrassed tone.
"And it really wasn't that big a deal," said Ren, "saving the world that is."
"Not a big deal?" Helia asked, "you stopped a bloodthirsty terrorist organization, just by singing."
"If only Musa had been here to hear it," remarked Flora.
"Seriously," said Kou, "it wasn't that big a deal. We did what we did out of love, right, Mrs. Van Garret?"
"You are correct, Mr. Van Garret," said Ren. The two held hands and then kissed.
"That still doesn't explain how you found us so quickly," said Rowen.
"I told you," said Kou, "we heard on the radio that you were taking the aliens out this way, we figured we could help."
"The demons are growing in number much faster then before," said Ren, "if something isn't done, I fear that they'll completely overwhelm the world."
"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Elise as she walked about the field, "Yes, yes this is perfect. This is exactly where I need to be. Bloom, you and the others should start looking for the azonite. I'll cast the cancellation spell so that no more demons can be summoned. Then I'll see what I can do about fixing the ship."
Finding the azonite was relatively easy. Elise loaned her scanner to Helia, who then found a large deposit of the stone a few hundred yards further up the mountain. Part of the rock was protruding from the soil, so digging it up wasn't difficult either. The real problem came with moving it.
They had unearthed a large chunk of blue ore that weighed nearly 800lbs. But then came the trouble; all attempts to levitate the rock with magic failed. Apparently one of the properties of azonite was that it resisted most magic used on it. Fortunately Bloom and the others didn't need all 800lbs of it; Faragonda specified that they would need at the most 20lbs.
Then came the problem of breaking off the required amount without completely shattering the rest, for according to the data that Elise had already called up, azonite is nearly as fragile as obsidian.
"If only Ryoga hath traveled with us," said Tatewaki, "with his Bakusai Tenketsu it would be quite easy to extract the required amount."
Bakusai Tenketsu: Breaking Point
"I'll be right back," said Bloom. Learning how to teleport was one of her earlier challenges as a fairy that Bloom had soon overcome, and since she knew where she and the others had left The Night Rider, Bloom felt that she wouldn't have any trouble finding her way back to the mountain.
Before Kurt, Mace or anyone else could do anything, Bloom teleported back to the spaceport where The Night Rider was parked. Beauregard, Lucinda and Ryoga were standing to one side, while Amanda was still fighting with the inner workings of the ship.
"How's it going?" Bloom asked.
"Pretty good actually," said Lucinda, "this is really a good day for Amanda, she's only used five of the seven dirty words in this battle with the ship, so she should have The Night Rider all ready to go when you get back."
"Wait a second," said Beauregard. He, Lucinda and Ryoga then noticed that it was Bloom who spoke, "when did you get back?"
"I'm only here for a second," said Bloom. She then grabbed hold of Ryoga's arm, "I need to borrow you for a while, won't take a second." With that she began to teleport back to the mountain.
"Now wait just…" said Ryoga, but it was too late to stop Bloom. In less than a blink of an eye they were on the mountain in front of the downed airship.
"…a damn minute!!" exclaimed Ryoga as they materialized.
"There's no time to wait," said Bloom. She dragged Ryoga up to the chunk of azonite were everyone was waiting.
"I was going to go fetch him," said Flora.
"I thought I would do it," said Layla.
"Sorry to beat you guys," said Bloom, "but I was first."
Bloom explained the situation to Ryoga. Now that he understood the reason for his 'abduction' he eagerly broke off a 20lb piece of azonite that Mace accepted and placed in a padded backpack for safekeeping.
Bloom and the others made their way back to the ship, where repairs were already nearing completion.
"All thanks to the wonders of my Sonic Screwdriver," said Elise as she twirled said tool between her fingers.
"Did you take care of the summoning spells?" Bloom asked.
"They're all gone," said Elise triumphantly, "It was easy once I found their proverbial lynchpin, all sell-sustaining spells have a trigger that ends them. I couldn't do anything about the demons that are already on Guardia, but no more will be coming."
"That's fine with me," said Cisqua, "we at Arc Aile can handle the rest."
"How soon can we get this bird back into the air?" Helia asked.
"Another ten minutes," said Elise as she used her magic to estimate the amount of time needed to finish the repairs, "possibly eight or less, then it's wheels-up time."
"I can help get it ready in four," said Kou as he hurried to join the repair crew. From what Bloom had heard, Kou was a highly adapt mechanic, a talent he acquired from his earlier years living with an air-pirate crew.
"Can't we just teleport back to The Night Rider?" Flora asked, "It's not that difficult to bring another with you when you teleport, so why can we bring the stone with us?"
"The same reason why we couldn't cut it with magic," said Layla, "according to what Elise found about it, azonite can't be teleported with magic. So we'll just have to schlep it along the hard way."
"We'll go with you back to Arc Aile," said Ren, "I'm sure Kou would wish to see your ship. I know I do."
"You're not missing anything," said Kurt, "trust me on this, you're better off not seeing The Night Rider."
"You are so gonna get your ass kicked when we get back to the ship," said Ryoga, "Amanda is gonna tear into you like a monkey on a cupcake."
"No she won't," said Kurt.
"In a fish's eye she won't," muttered Ryoga.
True to Kou's word, he had helped get the engines repaired in four minutes. Our heroes boarded the warship and were ready to take off, when Helia noticed that Ryoga was missing, again. They found him nearly two miles away on the other side of the mountain, he apparently distracted by an interesting cloud formation and had wandered off. With the wayward martial artist safely aboard, as well as Kou's fighter loaded into a now empty alcove in the fighter bay, the airship took off and headed back to Arc Aile.
"Your teacher must be really something for you to go to all this trouble," remarked Cisqua once they were in the air. She, Layla, Tatewaki, Flora, Helia, Rowen and Cisqua were in the ship's armory where the last of the small arms ammo was being handed out. They didn't expect a fight on the way back to Arc Aile, but nobody was taking any chances.
"You better believe it," said Layla, "and we'd do the same for any of our friends."
"Wouldn't you?" Flora asked, "surely there's someone you'd do anything to do to help."
"I'd give my life for Arc Aile," said Cisqua, "assuming that my next of kin got properly compensated. Money is sacred to my family."
"You don't have to remind me," muttered Rowen, while Kuea, who was gnawing on a chicken leg, nodded in agreement.
"I think Flora means someone in particular," said Helia.
"Oh, that," said Cisqua, "well, I'd gladly help my friends, Rowen and Kuea especially, as well as Kou and Ren. But there was one person who I would have done anything for, anything. But he died when the first demons attacked."
"I'm so sorry," said Flora.
"It's okay," said Cisqua as she slapped a fresh magazine into her machinegun, "my friend and I were never close. It was more like mutual respect and honor."
"Oh," said Layla, "a superior officer."
"Something like that," said Cisqua as she cocked the bolt on her gun.
Elsewhere on the ship, Bloom was speaking to Ren while they watched Kou help make a few minor repairs on the ship's guns. Bloom had already told Ren a summarized version of what brought them here, and had just talked about what happened to Sky.
"It must be horrible," said Ren, "being separated from the one you love."
"It is," said Bloom, "but I've got my friends with me to help carry on. I know that Sky and I will be together again. I haven't given up, and I know that he hasn't given up on me."
"I understand what you're going through," said Ren, "when Chaos Choir used me to further their hateful plans, I had nearly given up on ever seeing Kou again. But I still had hope; I knew within my heart, that Kou would do everything he could to save me."
"Just how did the two of you end up together in the first place?"
"It's kind of a long story," said Ren, "and a funny one as well. I didn't really like Kou when we first met; I didn't like any humans at all back then, when I believed that all humans were selfish and only wanted me for my abilities as an Elde Raid.
"But as I got to know Kou, I learned that not all humans are greedy pigs. He showed me that there are some people who always try to do the right thing, to help others and such. I found myself linking this immature air-pirate, and in the end fell in love with him.
Bloom watch Ren and Kou smile at each other from across the room. She felt a bit jealous that these two lovers turned married couple weren't separated by the vastness of space. But she also felt happy that Kou and Ren wound up together despite incredible odds.
It was then that Kurt walked up to Bloom, "Elise want's to talk with us, all of us."
Five minutes later on the observation deck of the airship found Bloom and the others, as well as Kou, Ren, Cisqua, Rowen and Kuea as they waited for Elise to begin.
"I've been postulating an idea," said Elise, "and I've come to the conclusion that it is possible to restore the abilities of an Elde Raid."
"You did what!?" exclaimed Kuea eagerly, "you can give us our powers back?! How!?!"
"I'm getting to that," said Elise, "so just cool your jets. Anyway, I believe that the answer to restoring an Elde Raid's power lies in the Elemental Gelade of an Elde Raid."
At this Ren's hands went to the green gem in her forehead, while Kuea brushed her fingers over the two red gems on the backs of her hands.
"An Elemental Gelade is more than a symbol of an Elde Raid's power," said Elise, "I believe that it is a direct link to the heart and spirit of an Elde Raid, from where she get's her power. With the right tool, which I have here," she twirled her Sonic Screwdriver between her fingers, "and the right spell augmenting it, I can reactivate an Elde Raids' power. It would then be a simple manner for an Elde Raid to reestablish a contract with her Pleasure, or any new Pleasure for that matter."
Just then the pilot announced over the intercom that they were nearing Arc Aile and would be landing in the next ten minutes. Three seconds later the alarms went off, and the pilot shouted over the intercom that they have incoming demons, thousands of them this time. Bloom and the others rushed to any nearby window to see the skies choking with demons.
"I thought thou said that thou has prevented the fell creatures from coming into this world!" exclaimed Tatewaki.
"I did!" said Elise, "I disabled all the summoning spells. This shouldn't be happening. Unless…oh damn it all to hell! I forgot to account for any demon that was already on Guardia."
"There must be ten thousand of those things coming at us," said Cisqua, "but why us? Why are they all coming for this ship?"
"I can think of two reasons," said Elise, "Either they're coming for me, the one who has sealed them off from their demonic homes and brethren, or…"
"Or what?" Layla asked.
"Or they sense three very powerful fairies on board," said Elise gravely, "and seek to destroy you for what you are."
"This is probably the only time that I'll ever wish I had been a simple gardener," said Flora.
The airship had already begun it's descent towards Arc Aile when the demons attacked. The pilot had radioed for help, and Arc Aile responded by sending up several squadrons of fighter planes that shot and blasted hundreds of demons out of the air, but this barely made a dent in the numbers of fell creatures converging on the airship, which had just ran out of ammunition for it's defenses.
The airship was less than a hundred feet from the runway when several demons ripped away first one, then two, then five of its engines. The fell creatures had also damaged the airship's landing gear so the ship had to make a crash landing that ripped out the bottom deck as it skidded to a halt at the far end of the runway.
Nobody was hurt, but they knew that help would be a while coming. "Those things will eat us alive before reinforcements can get to us," said Cisqua.
"Then we need to buy them some time," said Bloom as she, Flora and Layla finished transforming.
"I'm already on it," said Elise as she pulled out a device that looked like a hologram projector that can cast its images in a full 360 degrees.
"Bloom, Flora, Layla," said Elise, "I need you to combine your magic and focus it onto my device. Trust me on this."
They did trust her, so the three fairies cast their magic onto the device, which then projected an energy field that surrounded the crippled airship. The energy field was as hard as Layla's morphix, destructive against the demons as Bloom's Dragonfire, and was self-replenishing as one of Flora's growth spells. The demons threw themselves at the barrier, and were destroyed as soon as they made contact
"It's working!" said Elise, "We have a fully functioning force-force field!"
"Try saying that when you're drunk," teased Mace.
"Wait a second," said Cisqua, "you did this without knowing it would work?"
"It worked in every test I did," said Elsie, "this just happened to be the first time I used my device in battle. But it works."
"Maybe," said Cisqua, "but for how long?"
"Not much longer," said Rowen as he looked outside. At least a hundred demons had gathered together, and through their own brand of dark magic, merged to become a gargantuan demon that was at least 80ft tall, had six arms that ended in claws and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. This oversized demon slammed into the force-field time and again. The barrier held and severely injured the demon, but more and more of it's lesser brethren merged with the larger one, healing its injuries and increasing it's strength.
"That shield won't hold much longer," said Rowen, "then we're really in trouble."
Bloom wasn't about to argue. She knew that when the gargantuan demon broke through, she and the others would be crushed inside the ship. If they tried to get outside, they'd be overwhelmed by the lesser demons within minutes before any help from Arc Aile could reach them.
But then Bloom had an idea, a desperate idea but a good one. "Elise, can you recharge Ren and Kuea's Elde Raid powers?"
"Huh?" Elise asked, "Well, of course I can, but now isn't the time."
"Of course this is the time!" said Kuea, "if Rowen and I can React again, then we'd really show those bastards a thing or two!" At this Rowen nodded in agreement.
"And if I can React with Kou," said Ren, "then our chances of survival would definitely increase."
"They would increase several factors," said Elsie, "but my theory is just that. I need time to make the necessary calculations and magical calibrations, or it won't work. At the worst nothing would happen, then we'd still be in trouble."
"But if it does work," said Kou, "it's worth trying."
"It is," said Bloom, "Elise, try."
"Better try soon," said Mace. Outside, the force-field was beginning to crack under the unrelenting onslaught of the gargantuan demon.
"Alright," said Elise as she began making adjustments to her Sonic Screwdriver, "I'll try. But I'll only get one chance to get it right, I doubt there'll be time to make any further adjustments after this. So, who's gonna be the lucky girl to get her powers back?"
Kuea and Ren looked at each other. Kuea spoke first, "you do it, Ren, you're the strongest of us."
"I always thought you would be the one to volunteer first for something like this," said Rowen.
"I guess living like a human for these past few years have mellowed me out a bit," said Kuea.
"Well you'll be back to your old self after I'm done with Ren," said Elise as she finished adjusting her Sonic Screwdriver. She then bade Ren to sit down and hold still, "this should take About ten seconds." Elise pointed her Sonic Screwdriver at Ren's Elemental Gelade and activated the tool.
Ten seconds later she finished. After an intense fifteen seconds of waiting the gem began to glow brightly. "It's working!" said Ren happily, "I can feel it! Kou, take my hands!"
Kou didn't say anything as he grasped hands with Ren, his expression, mixed with happiness for his wife, eagerness for the battle to come and joy at being a Pleasure again, spoke volumes.
Bloom watched as Kou and Ren clasp hands and they closed their eyes. Immediately there was a strong gust of wind that emanated from the pair. Ren's body began glowing bluish green and became like energy. She attached herself to Kou's right arm and began changing shape, becoming like a large, slender and slightly angular sword the same shade of blue and green as the energy that Ren had become. A long ribbon identical to the one Ren wore wound itself around the end point of the sword that jutted out beyond Kou's elbow. In the middle of the oversized hilt was a large green gem the exact dimension and color as Ren's Elemental Gelade.
All the while this transformation was occurring, Bloom, Flora and Layla heard Kou and Ren chanting, rather, they heard the words in their minds…
'…on a helpless but pretty night
soothing and comforting
and prospering on the eyelids
surrounded by the lively and bright fields of heaven
as I at this moment
make this promise to join like twins
like a string of breaths
winds grab a hold of us
I, at this moment and through eternity
wear the wings of the red soul
as I make this promise
and bind my soul to yours…'
"Wow," said Helia.
"You think that's impressive," said Kou, "You ain't seen nothing yet!"
It was then that the shield failed and the lesser demons swarmed onto the ship and began ripping into the fuselage. The first of them got inside the ship right in front of Kou, who stabbed it with the sword, then sliced the next one in half.
It was then that Bloom saw what appeared to be a ghost of Ren appear above Kou's shoulder, or rather, and astral image of her.
"They're behind us!" shouted astral Ren. Kou turned around to stab at a demon that had broken through from the other side.
Bloom and the others were also fighting back. After incinerating a demon, Bloom saw Elise using her Sonic Screwdriver on Kuea's hands, causing the twin red Elemental Gelades on her hands to glow. Kuea and Rowen clasped hands.
The song that Rowen and Kuea used when they Reacted was much shorter than the one Kou and Ren used. Bloom would later find out that this was due to the fact that Rowen and Kuea had much more experience as Elde Raid and Pleasure before the bond contracts were broken.
Engulfing great wisdom with a strong heart
This bond is hereby entered
Bloom and the others watched as Kuea merged with Rowen and became twin swords that he held in each hand. The blades were light purple with axe-like hilts and yellow hafts and a red gem in each. Both sword/axes were linked by a long chain that could serve as a distance weapon. Four black metal finds had protruded from Rowen's back that allowed for greater jumping distance.
"Now this is what I'm talking about!" said astral Kuea.
"Just like old times!" said Rowen as he sliced several demons with his worlds, jumped back to avoid being impaled on a demon's claw, then used one of his chain blades to ensnare the offending creature and hurl it at another.
It was then that Bloom noticed that the numbers of lesser demons was diminishing. Within minutes the attacking creatures were gone. Bloom and the others then heard gunfire from outside the ship. They exited the ruined hulk of the ship to see reinforcements from Arc Aile attacking the super-demon with machineguns, RPG's and tanks. Yet all their impressive firepower did was only infuriate the oversized demon.
"That thing is gonna kill everyone that gets in it's way," said Bloom, "we have to stop it!" She, Layla and Flora took flight.
Layla and Bloom distracted the creature with spears of morphix and fireballs, while Flora called forth thorny vines to ensnare the demon. Yet these attacks were like pinpricks to the monster.
Bloom, Layla and Flora flew back to regroup and think of another course of action. They noticed that on the ground, Cisqua had told her fellow Arc Aile operatives to fall back, and they were complying. Rowen and Kou were doing all they could to attack the creature from the ground, but again, noting but pinpricks.
Bloom then saw Kou fall back a bit. From where she was in the air, Bloom could sense an incredible buildup of energy from Kou and the transformed Ren. The air around Kou was pulsing with energy, causing the wind to stir around him like a small tornado. And even from up in the air, Bloom could hear in her mind the song that the two Van Garret's were chanting.
'…we shall join, as we do now, we shall join
with the voices of the winds from the fields of rich grain
it shall spin, as it's doing now, it shall spin
from the fields absorbing the light
as they lie illuminated by the light, we join now
in a shortened light, we join now…'
Kou raised his sword up and shouted, "Euro Lumens!!" and slashed the sword down, causing an incredible blast of wind that nearly knocked the demon down. The creature quickly regained its balance, but it was enough to give Bloom a really good idea.
She flew down to Kou, "Can you do that again?" she asked.
"As many times as you want," said Kou, while astral Ren nodded in agreement.
"I only need one more wind blast like that," said Bloom, "and I'll need a minute or so to get ready."
"We'll keep it busy for you, Bloom," said Flora as she and Layla flew back to attack the demon again, while Rowen and Helia tried to attack from the ground again. Cisqua and other Arc Aile operatives had taken up firing positions outside the reach of the demon and began shooting at the flanks.
Bloom and Kou had begun charging up their energies. "When I give the signal," said Bloom, "shoot that wind blast at my fire blast."
Bloom was the first to be ready, "Power of The Dragon!" she shouted, calling forth a large blast of Dragonfire that took the shape of The Great Dragon.
At the same time, Kou had launched another wind blast, "Euro Lumens!!" sending the attack at Bloom's Dragonfire. The dragon-shaped flames feed on the blast of wind, increasing it's height and overall power until it was easily four times as big as the demon.
Flora and the others got out of the way just as the super-charged attack slammed into the demon, engulfing it in pure Dragonfire. The creature was incinerated within a minute.
As they watched the charred remains of the demon smolder, Bloom saw Ren revert back to her human form, then collapsed into Kou's arms.
"Is she alright?" Flora asked as she and the others hurried over.
"She's fine," said Kou, "Ren's just sleeping." True enough, Bloom saw that Ren was indeed asleep. She then remembered that Elde Raids, after Reacting with their Pleasures, regain their stamina a little differently from each other. It was clear that Ren got her strength back by taking a nap after each battle.
"If that wasn't the last of them," said Cisqua as she looked again at the smoldering remains of the demon, "then I'll eat my hat."
"Damn! That thing stinks!" remarked Mace as he held his nose against the odor of charred demon, "If I'd known you were gonna burn that thing, Princess Bloom, I would have brought a gas mask."
"Well someone obviously doesn't think it smells bad," said Layla as she pointed at Kuea, who looked properly famished and was sniffing eagerly at the air. Clearly, Kuea regained her energy by eating.
With nearly two days before they had to leave, Bloom and the others spent the night at Arc Aile to recover from the day's battles. Everyone was amazed by the amount of food that Kuea gorged herself upon. The statuesque Elde Raid wasn't satisfied until she had consumed three salad bowls, twenty rolls, seventeen helpings of three different entrées, each, and five deserts, yet still looked as thin as normal.
Finally the morning arrived, and with it the news that The Night Rider was ready to go. The azonite was safely loaded aboard the ship, so the time for farewells had come.
"It was great working with you," said Cisqua to Kurt, "you're a hell of a shot."
"You're not so bad yourself," said Kurt, "but you might want to work on your aiming a bit, and ease off on using up so much ammo at a time; it's better that way."
"Thou art a most outstanding swordsman," said Tatewaki to Rowen, while Layla and Kuea were discussing dance moves.
"You're good as well," said Rowen, "I wish we could spar, see who is the better."
"Another time perhaps," said Tatewaki.
Bloom was thanking Kou and Ren, "I don't know what would have happen if you two weren't there yesterday," said Bloom, "both times."
"Well we couldn't have taken down that demon without you," said Kou, "but yes, we were pretty amazing."
"Fantastic," remarked Ren.
"You both are," said Bloom, "and if I ever get the chance, I'll come back and visit you two."
"We may see each other sooner than that," said Kou, "we're out there, in space. It won't be long before Guardia is truly part of The Magical Dimension."
"I'd like that," said Bloom.
It was time for everyone go get aboard The Night Rider. But there was one more item to discuss, and two more items to pass hands.
"This is my spare Sonic Screwdriver," said Elise as she handed said tool to Cisqua, "I've already calibrated it so it can reactivate the powers of any Elde Raid. The demons won't be able to come to Guardia through the summoning spells any more, but there are other ways for fell creatures to invade the mortal planes." She then handed Cisqua a data disk, "this can interact with your computers at Arc Aile, it has instructions on how to make more Sonic Screwdrivers. Trust me, you'll need them."
"I don't know what to say," said Cisqua who looked very grateful.
"You just spoke volumes," said Elise. With that she boarded the ship and it took off for space.
"You do realize," said Flora to Elise, "that by giving Cisqua and Arc Aile such advanced technology, you're interfering with the natural development of Guardia."
"Flora's right," said Layla, "This could have serious consequences later on."
"If it does," said Elise, "it will." It was clear that Elise was confident that she had done the right thing and her mind wouldn't be changed by any argument.
Just then Beauregard announced on the intercom that they were ready to make the jump into hyperspace. Lucinda then said that she had just received a message from Riven and the others on The Sapphire Blaze that they had obtained the travecite and were about to leave The Endless Illusion and head to Lynphea.
"At this rate we'll have more than enough time to get back to Faragonda," said Elise.
"So what are we waiting for?" Mace asked, "Let's go!" With that the ship entered hyperspace.
The end of chapter 16.
The Princess of the Sun and Moon, along with her companions, arrive at the bottom of the universe in search of the precious material. There they learn of a legendary savior, as well as encounter his heir. Together they must battle a dark force that threatens to enslave an entire world.
Next chapter: Armor Riders
'for those with wings, fly to your dreams'