Lexia flew into an apartment building, hair whipping to the side as she whirled around to make sure nothing was following her. Midway through her flight there, Noel had noticed something following them and had flown off to meet up with Orfio and figure out what it was. Lexia hadn't seen the thing since.
Satisfied that she wasn't being followed, Lexia landed and ran up the stairs into the building. She knocked on a door and waited there.
Seira swung the door open. Lexia bent down, "Hey, Seira. Is Sara here?"
"Mhmm!" Seira grinned, "Onee-chan!" she ran into the house. A minute later, Sara walked out, flanked by Tadewi and Esen. Her eyes fell on Lexia in her warrior form and she frowned.
"We need help." Lexia said.
"Great." Sara sighed, "Tadewi,"
The harpie cut her off and grinned, "On my way. Esen, keep Sara safe."
"I'm not THAT fragile!" Sara snapped, but Tadewi just took to the air and flew out an open window.
"Tadewi's going to go get as many more harpies as she can." Sara said, "Esen and I will come with you. How many more people do you have to pick up?"
"You're everyone I know how to find." Lexia admitted.
"Alright." Sara nodded, "Let's go, then."
She threw a hand into the air, called her pearl to her and shimmered, turning to her idol form just as Seira clamped onto her leg.
"I'm coming!"
"Seira-"
"I'm. Coming!" Seira snapped.
Sara's eyes widened- Seira had been sweet, adorable, and well-behaved the entire time she'd been on the surface, so why-
Esen burst into laughter, "Oh my god, I was waiting for that…"
"What?" Sara whirled around to face him.
"Don't forget that I was friends with Uya when she was raising you, Sara." Esen said, still chuckling, "Seira is exactly like you were as a kid- just as stubborn too. Let her come."
Sara sighed and looked at the little, pleading girl. "Transform, then."
Seira grinned and threw a hand into the air, turning into the topaz warrior princess. Sara picked her up and nodded to Lexia, "Okay, lead the way."
XXXX
To the sight of the mermaids, Orfio and Jeredeau were blurs of white and black. Aryl was holding Rina by her shoulders, almost wrestling with the idol. She'd basically abandoned her guns when they'd fallen to the rooftop below them, almost hitting the concerned Miriella. Madison was flying away from Lycoris, trying not to hurt her- the girl was just a normal mermaid with no special powers, but for some reason, while in a completely human illusion, she was flying. Madison guessed that Jeredeau had something to do with it.
Anayis was trying to get Miriella to sit down so she could heal her better, but the garnet princess wasn't listening, worried about Rina and trying to help. Finally, Anayis knocked Miriella over the head and she crumpled to the ground, finally giving Anayis a chance to heal her. It wasn't the most orthodox method, but what worked worked, right?
It was a good thing she did, though, because Edur and Milli ran up to the scene.
"Shit." Anayis cursed softly, unconventionally dragging Miriella's body to the side of the roof so that Edur wouldn't see her. She checked the girl over for any injuries that couldn't wait until AFTER Milli went ballistic and flew off the roof towards the two elementals.
Milli was looking around, her eyes mainly on Orfio and Jeredeau, apparently able to follow their movements with her element-enhanced eyes. Luckily for Anayis, she was too focused on Orfio and Jeredeau to notice when the mermaid tackled Lycoris to a rooftop. Madison's eyes widened and she flew over.
"Um, I was handling it." Madison raised an eyebrow.
"Keep her here." Anayis said, "If Milli sees Lycoris like this, we'll have two uncontrollable elements on our hands."
The young mermaid was unconscious now, much to Madison's relief as she stared at Anayis in surprise, "Why?"
"Can't explain right now!" Anayis shouted, "Just keep her here and out of sight!" Anayis took off, and Madison sunk down to the rooftop, a little overwhelmed. She glanced at the unconscious blonde mermaid that she'd been fighting a minute earlier.
"You know, you have the easy job." She muttered.
XXXX
"You're boring me, Orfio." Jeredeau said, flying up to avoid a dark blast that she usually would have negated. The blast flew straight towards Katiya, who narrowly managed to avoid it. Unfortunately, Kiri wasn't so lucky and the blast hit her in the chest, sending her flying into a building.
Katiya's eyes widened as the diamond warrior pushed herself up and groaned, "What hit me?"
"Kiri!" Aryl's eyes widened as she flew past, Rina on her heels, "Are you okay?!"
"Will be." Kiri groaned, looking around, "Hey, what's going on?!"
Katiya nodded- the dark blast had removed the light-infection from Kiri's body, snapping her back to normal. "Aryl! You take Kiri somewhere to rest and explain the short version of what's happening!" she shouted to the amethyst warrior, who had turned to face the possessed idol that had been chasing her.
"What about Rina?!" Aryl shouted back, grabbing the idol's arm before she was punched in the face.
"I've got her." Katiya swooped in, grabbing the idol's arms and restraining them. Aryl nodded, muttering her thanks and grabbed Kiri's arm, flying towards a distant rooftop.
As Rina struggled against the opal princess's hold, Katiya flew towards Milli and Edur on the ground. Milli looked like she was three seconds off from joining Orfio in beating up the light element, and Edur was looking around for Miriella. Katiya breathed a sigh of relief in knowing that both Miriella and Lycoris were hidden, and shouted to the two other minor elements. "Can you two keep Jeredeau occupied for a minute?!"
Edur and Milli looked up.
"Probably!" Milli shouted back, "Why?"
"I need Orfio!" Katiya shouted.
Milli nodded and pushed off the ground, flying into the air as it sparked around her. "Hey, light-bitch!" she shouted.
Jeredeau turned just slightly, catching the lightning-bolt out of the corner of her eye and dodging. Edur followed that up with an ice blast of his own, and Milli gestured to Katiya, waiting with the still-struggling Rina on the ground.
"Kay." Orfio nodded, glad for the break- he was weakening quickly. He landed on the ground, breathing a deep breath and ran over. "What's up?"
"When you hit Kiri with your power, you snapped her back to normal." Katiya said, "Think you can do that again?"
Orfio raised an eyebrow, "You sure?"
"Yeah." Katiya nodded.
Orfio shrugged, charging his hand up and sending a blast into Rina, who shouted in surprise and crumpled in Katiya's arms.
"Thanks." Katiya said, laying Rina down on the ground, "One more, c'mon."
Orfio nodded, following Katiya up to the rooftop where Lycoris was. Madison noticed them coming and hopped up.
"Orfio? But I thought-"
Katiya glanced over at the blurs that were the three lower elements duking it out, "They took over for him."
Madison frowned, "Oh."
"Damn." Orfio cursed.
"Yeah." Katiya nodded.
Orfio sent a bolt of his dark power into Lycoris, causing the girl to wake up in surprise, but she just coughed and sat up, groaning, "What?"
"Good." Orfio nodded, "Keep her here." She told Madison.
"An explanation would be great any time now." Madison crossed her arms.
"No time, later." Orfio said, soaring back towards the battle. Madison glanced at Katiya, but the princess was already flying towards Anayis.
XXXX
"You sure we know what we're doing?" Coco asked, a little hesitant, her grip on her microphone tight.
"No." Noel said, "But we can't just do nothing."
Caren nodded, "Come on, Coco, we'll be fine."
Coco took a deep breath, "Alright. Let's do this."
Noel nodded to Caren, who began to pull power towards herself and her pearl. As her body began to glow a light purple, slowly getting darker, Noel and Coco's bodies responded, a blue and yellow glow surrounding them respectively.
XXXX
In the Pearl Piari, Luchia looked up from her homework and over at Hanon, who jumped up.
"Did you feel that too?" Hanon asked, softly.
Luchia nodded.
"Come on." Hanon nodded, running for the doors. Luchia stopped just long enough to grab her cell phone before chasing her friend.
XXXX
Rina jolted awake, immediately sitting up. She looked up at where Caren, Coco, and Noel were singing softly, and didn't hesitate, flying up to join them.
XXXX
Sara suddenly pushed off the ground, flying ahead of the others.
"Sara?" Esen called to her, but the orange mermaid just flew faster. Exchanging a glance with Lexia, Esen picked up Seira and put her on his back, flying after her as Lexia took up the rear.
XXXX
"It's working." Anayis breathed, feeling the same call from deep within her, looking up at the three idol mermaids.
"What IS that?!" Aryl shouted, surprised, flying over to her. She'd regained her energy and had quickly flown back into the fray.
"They're trying to call Aqua." Katiya landed next to Anayis on the ground and glanced at Aryl, "They're the only ones that can do it."
Aryl frowned, "But that's so…"
"It's the only choice we have." Anayis frowned, wrapping her arms around herself as a chill passed through the air, "Orfio, Milli, and Edur are losing, Aryl."
Aryl looked up at the four elements dueling it out in the air and found it hard to believe that could be true. Three minor elements against one—she might not have been very good at math, but she was sure that meant their side had the advantage.
Katiya, realizing what she was thinking, spoke. "Of the three of them, Milli is the most powerful- she's the oldest and she's had the most practice. Edur is young, and he is not as skilled as he'd like you all to believe. And Orfio is at a disadvantage fighting his counterpart- it is impossible for him to overpower her, because her power simply cancels his out."
Aryl frowned, "But still-"
Anayis cut her off, "She's corrupted herself." She explained, "Jeredeau took what was supposed to be a pure energy and turned it into something wicked and twisted. It has given her the power to overpower the other minor elements, which is why we need Aqua."
Aryl looked back up at the battle, "Yeah…"
XXXX
Seven idol mermaids met in the sky, and without even exchanging a word, they all began to sing, their glow growing brighter and combining until a white-blue light filled the sky as seven idol mermaids dropped to the ground, unconscious, leaving the silhouette of a woman slowly forming in the light.
Finished it! –collapses- Wow, that took way too long. But it's done! I promise the battle will end next chapter! Sorry for dragging it out so long!!
Something I wanted to explain- The idol mermaids can summon Aqua because when the power was split, no one was sure the warriors would be able to meet up, living on land and all. So, they gave the power to summon Aqua to the idols, as they'd always be able to meet up, since they were (supposed) to live underwater. Hope that makes Anayis, Katiya, and Aryl's conversation make a little more sense.
Okay, time for me to get some sleep. It's finals week, and I just finished a paper.
Review?