Rayza pushed off the bathroom wall, flying towards the water demon, tackling her into the other wall of the semi large hotel room. Flicking both of her arms backward, she pulled two swirly decorated emerald colored daggers out of sheaths at her waist. She slashed at the demon, but was caught off guard by the demon leaping at her. Rayza crashed to the ground, landing on her wound from when the demon first attacked her earlier.
She winced, but only let the pain distract her for a moment before she pulled herself up. "Who are you, and what do you want?" she called out to her opponent.
"Not important." the demon replied, smiling at Rayza with a purely evil look in her eyes. "You are going to die, and I am going to enjoy killing you." she ran at Rayza, who 'eeped' and jumped to the side, wincing again, though this time not from physical pain, as the demon made an indent in the wall with the couch.
'Sorry hotel people.' she thought to herself as she stabbed at the still-nameless-demon with her daggers. The attacks didn't it well, partially because of Rayza still being disoriented from her wounds, and partially because the demon was too fast for Rayza to follow. Seeing a moment of weakness, the demon grabbed Rayza's arm and twisted it, causing the emerald warrior to shout out in pain.
Unfortunately for the demon, John had been heading up to Rayza's hotel room to help her finish packing, and was right down the hall when she screamed. The sound reached Rayza's manager's ears, and he took off running towards the hotel room.
The demon heard hurried footsteps and cursed, knocking Rayza over the head with one of the emerald princess's daggers, knocking her out and causing her to switch back to human form. With that, the never-named water demon flew out one of the windows, not having enough time to accomplish what she had been sent to do.
John ran in, only to see Rayza unconscious in the middle of her hotel room, surrounded by a mess of destruction.
"Rayza!" he yelped, running over to help the pop-star.
Rayza blinked, sitting up and looking at him, "J-john?" she asked, surprised the man was there.
"What happened? Are you okay?" John asked her, helping her sit up better.
Rayza needed to think fast if she was going to explain what had happened without giving away her status as a mermaid. Unfortunately for the emerald warrior, her head was THROBBING, so she did the next best thing.
She faked ignorance. "I… can't remember."
XXXX
As the lunch bell rang and the classes in the school building took their food out of their bags, Sara wandered down the hall towards her boyfriend's classroom, thinking up some excuse about having to deliver a message. Upon entering, her eyes immediately started over to the blond and blue haired girls laughing along with a couple of other people. Then her eyes drifted to the girl gazing out the window at the clouds with a very distant look on her face. Sara's own eyes widened and she forcibly tore her gaze from the daydreaming girl to smile at her boyfriend, who was heading over to talk to her.
"Hi." She said, handing him a sheet of paper and bowing slightly. Tarou picked up the uneasy look in her eyes, but he smiled back, accepting the paper.
Sara left without another word, breathing a sigh of relief once the door was shut. "A harpie… I haven't seen one in so long I didn't recognize her at first." She took a deep breath and began to walk down the hallway towards her classroom, "Oh, this can't be a good sign."
XXXX
"Hanon!" Luchia shouted, grabbing at the notebook the other mermaid was dangling just out of her reach. "Give it back!"
Hanon giggled, "Not 'til you tell me!" she insisted.
Kaito Dōmoto interrupted the pair by walking over.
"H-hey Kaito!" Luchia stuttered, surprised by his sudden appearance.
Hanon giggled again at the rosy red blush that was creeping across the pink princess's cheeks.
Kaito sat down. After a pause, he finally said, "What are you doing?"
Hanon abruptly answered before Luchia had a chance to embarrass herself, "Luchia won't tell me why she can't come shopping with me later." She said.
Kaito raised an eyebrow at the now blushing even harder pink mermaid. Pulling facts together, he asked, "Luchia, are you going on a date or something?"
"What? Of course not!!" Luchia shouted almost immediately, drawing a few stares from people in the classroom. "It's nothing like that!" she insisted, quieter this time, sinking a little further down in her seat.
"Then why don't you just tell Hanon?" Kaito asked.
"Because it's still private!" Luchia said, grabbing for her notebook again.
XXXX
From the window, Haizea Yukura closed her eyes, attempting to block out the noise that the two mermaids were making. She had a headache, and she really didn't feel like listening to her classmates being so loud. She opened her eyes again, looking out the window at the clouds, wishing school was over and she could spread her wings and help Aderyn, one of her closest friends, search for Merla, a friend of theirs that had gone missing a few weeks ago.
Haizea would much rather be out trying to do something productive, such as finding her missing friend, than be stuck in a classroom forced to listen to Luchia and Hanon argue over and over again about the same things. 'Maybe I can convince Aderyn to pull me out of school…' Haizea thought to herself, even though she knew the older harpie wouldn't budge on the fact that the younger girl had to at least get a high school education.
With a sigh, Haizea listened to the bell ring and cherished only one thought. 'At least it's quieter.'
XXXX
Miriella sighed, "Okay, screw it. This is impossible." She turned to Rina, who flipping through a phone book. "Of all the things to ask Aryl last night, why didn't I ask for her cell phone number?"
"There is no Kiri Cheung in this phonebook." Rina stated, shutting the book. "Or in any of the others you dug out."
Miriella sighed. Thinking for a moment, she suddenly had a bout of inspiration, "Try looking up Elik Kuroki." She said, remembering the name of Kiri's longtime boyfriend. Though she'd never met Kiri herself, she'd heard Aryl and Lexia mention the mermaid and her boyfriend several times, and she was pretty sure she'd heard Lexia say once that the two were living together.
Rina sighed, but opened the phone book again, falling silent as she looked for a phone number corresponding to the new name.
XXXX
The school day had ended minutes earlier, and Luchia had escaped Hanon to head down to the beach. Kiri was standing there, waiting for the pink princess. She had called the Pearl Piari earlier that day, saying she was back in Tokyo and needed to talk to Luchia, but she had said not to tell anyone else and that the subject was rather private so she couldn't bring anyone else with her.
"Hey." Kiri said, nodding to the girl. Luchia ran over.
"Hi." Luchia said, "So, what's this about?" she asked, stopping to catch her breath.
"I need to explain a few things to you." Kiri said, "And I also have to ask you to keep an eye out for several other things."
Luchia nodded, "Okay." She said, glancing around to see who else was around.
"Don't worry. Aryl's clearing everyone out of my apartment as we speak. We can head back there so no one can overhear. Until then, though, would you like to tell me why you didn't have your pearl when I first met you?" Kiri asked. It was a question she'd been meaning to ask the younger mermaid for quite awhile, and she knew that it would take Aryl a little bit of time to kick everyone out of the apartment, even with her skills.
"Umm, well…" Luchia sighed, "When I was 6 I snuck up to the surface one night, because I wanted to see what it was like, and if the stories were true. I ended up coming across a boat when I heard someone singing. The boy who was singing saw me and we started talking, sort of." She smiled slightly, "I followed the boat to its destination, and promised the boy that I would come and see him whenever I could sneak away. I met him down at this beach all the time." She sighed again, "But one day I was watching him surf and he got hurt and almost drowned. I saved him, but he wasn't responding to anything I said. Aqua Regina appeared and told me that I could save him if I left my pearl with him, but it might have side effects. I ended up giving him my pearl and leaving once I knew he was okay, but the pearl removed his memories of me in order to save him. I only got it back from him recently, and he still can't really remember me, it's really hazy."
Kiri blinked. 'Aqua Regina appeared to this girl?' she questioned mentally, but quickly pushed the thought away, "So, you know the boy in your human form now?"
Luchia nodded, "Yes, he goes to my school." She blushed slightly. "But he can't remember me well enough to connect me to my mermaid form, and I can't tell him, so…"
Suddenly Kiri's cell phone beeped, interrupting the pair. Kiri pulled it out, reading the message. "Well, Aryl got the apartment emptied, shall we go back?"
"Sure." Luchia smiled.
XXXX
Lexia, having been kicked out of the apartment by an irate Aryl, which is something few people want to face, flew through the air in her warrior form, watching the cars on the streets below. She was so zoned out that she nearly ran into a very distracted harpie, whom she recognized.
"H-hey, it's you!" Lexia said, surprised, recognizing the harpie as the one she'd seen singing the other day.
The harpie jumped back, surprised, "Sorry for flying into you." She said, "And sorry for leaving so abruptly the other day. My name's Avira. I'd shake your hand, but I'd fall if I did." She said, laughing slightly.
"I'm Lexia." Lexia said, "Umm, I don't mean to be rude, but…"
"I'm a harpie." Avira answered Lexia's question before she asked it, "It's a common question. And as for why only you could hear me singing, it's because I was tuning my voice so that only you could hear it." Avira shrugged, "It's something harpies can do."
Lexia's eyes widened. "You seem to know every question I'll ask." She said.
"No, not really." Avira smiled, "Those two are questions everyone I meet asks, so I just figured you'd ask them. But, I'm sorry, I'm in a hurry, I'm meeting someone and I'm already late."
Lexia nodded, flying out of the harpie's way.
"I'll see you around, maybe. I'd like to talk to you again." With a smile, Avira took off, flying away. Lexia shook her head to clear it and let it register the sudden influx of information before flying in the opposite direction as the harpie.
XXXX
"So, why can't you just stop the snowstorm?" Miriella asked Edur later that night. She was slowly running out of questions to ask the ice spirit, but while she still had questions to ask, she would ask them, and most of the time the spirit would answer, "Because it'd make things in my life a lot easier, I mean I've been stuck in Tokyo since it started."
"Jeredeau." Edur answered simply, "If I was to stop the snowstorm, she'd know."
"And, she's the reason you started the storm in the first place, right?" Miriella asked.
"Yes. She wants to gain control over the minor elements before moving up to the major elements. At the moment, I'm the only one she has control over. Milli, you saw her last night, is in hiding, and no one has seen or heard from Orfio in a long time." Edur said.
"Milli's the lightning spirit, right?" Miriella asked, recalling Edur telling her before.
Edur nodded, "Yes."
Miriella sighed, "And where's Jeredeau right now?"
Edur shrugged, "No one's really sure. She comes and goes. Sometimes I won't see or hear from her for a few days, and others she's in and out every hour."
"That's weird." Miriella sighed.
XXXX
Aryl was headed back to the apartment when she sensed a water demon approaching fast.
"Eek!" Aryl said, running to find somewhere private to transform. When she finally did get a chance to transform, she flew up into the air to meet the water demon head on, and found herself face to face with a very pissed off Jeri.
"Hello again." Jeri grinned maliciously. Aryl silently fumbled for her cell phone behind her back, knowing she'd need help to beat this specific water demon. The demon sent an attack at Aryl that she jumped out of the way of, quickly sending her message and heading into offensive mode.
"Alright, bring it on!" Aryl said, pulling her guns out and shooting at Jeri with no further comment.
XXXX
Kiri glanced at the message on her cell phone. He word was spelled wrong, but it was pretty clear what message Aryl was trying to get across.
"Sorry to cut this short. Aryl's in trouble, I have to go." Kiri said, standing up.
"I'll come!" Luchia said, "I can help."
Kiri thought for a moment, "Alright, but transform quickly." She said, silently transforming herself.
XXXX
In California, as all of this was going on, Avira stood in a very unpopulated area of the city where no one was likely to see her, waiting for Haydn and Pyrois, who had said they'd meet her there. Rayza couldn't make it; she was currently on a plane on her way back to Japan. Avira had checked in with the emerald warrior before she'd come here, and besides for a few cuts and bruises that would cause her some pain for a few days, the girl was fine.
A centaur trotted over, smiling at Avira. "Hey." He said.
"Hi, Pyrois. Did you see Haydn on your way over?" Avira asked, walking over to the centaur.
Pyrois shook his head, "No sign of him." He said.
Avira sighed. "You've felt the disruption, right?" she asked.
"Yeah. It keeps getting worse." He sighed as well, "Lightning's disappearing completely and dark's dwindling slowly."
"I wish SOMEONE could find Milli. Or any of the other minor spirits! It would make things so much easier, one of them MUST know what's going on." Avira growled.
"Actually, one of the mermaids has been in contact with Edur." A half-dragon strolled over, "The garnet warrior, actually."
"Hey Haydn. He's in Tokyo somewhere." Avira said, "Should I have someone look for him?"
Haydn shook his head, "Contact Rayza, have her take a look around, but other than that, I'd leave Edur to the mermaids."
Avira nodded, "Okay."
"As for Orfio, no one's had any contact from him in several months, even before this mess started." Haydn explained, "The only person that could find him now is Orfio himself, so I think we should just let him reveal himself to us whenever he feels the time has come."
Avira and Pyrois nodded, glad Haydn had shown up, since he knew more about the subject than either of them did.
"Jeredeau's causing the mess and Milli's still missing." Haydn said, "So perhaps we should focus most of our power on gathering together the major spirits protectors and making sure they're all informed."
"Alright. The harpies are spread out all over the world, but it shouldn't take too long to get in touch with them." Avira said.
"Same with us centaurs." Pyrois said, "But it shouldn't take too long, like Avira said."
"The half-dragons have stuck together, mostly, so with the exception of Adine, we're all informed." Haydn said, "And I'll get in touch with Adine. Avira can you inform Rayza to gather the mermaids?"
"Sure." Avira said.
"Good then." Haydn said, "Until we're all together, there's not much else we can do. It's difficult fighting a war from a defensive standpoint, but difficult to go on the offensive when the enemy is hidden. We'll figure out the rest of the plans when we're all gathered."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Hahahahahaha! I DID finish it tonight! I was going to post it tomorrow, but I just kept typing and WOW! Sorry for the delay on this one, but I made it extra long to make up for it. A little of Luchia's past there, and in case you couldn't tell, Sara never destroyed her kingdom or joined Gaito, so Kaito's parents were never killed. I had to twist some events around to make things work, but there'll be more on that in the next chapter.
More than just one new OC this chapter too. NOW I'll answer questions about Rayza, Pyrois, Haydn, and Avira. Haizea too, I suppose, though you'll see more of her and the two other harpies she mentioned in the next chapter also.
Next chapter: The elements begin to gather together and things start to make more sense, I hope.
I promise to update sooner this time, now I'm hooked to writing this story again. I'd start now, but I should've gotten off a half hour ago. Oops.