Authors notes - So yeah, the title for this chapter kind of sucks. Give me a break; it's hard to think of a good title when nothing happens except a friggen' long-ass battle. I was considering calling it "Battle for the Feather," but come on. That title is even worse than this one right now.
So anyway, now that "Forbidden Love" and the seventh chapter for "Dragon and Tiger" have been published, it's time to go back to this story and write the next chapter(which I will probably have to watch the episode in this chapter over again because I know what happens, but I just have to re-watch it so I can get the episode right when I write this chapter). ENJOY!
KawaiiChibiHime33 is responsible for editing these chapters for your enjoyment :D
Chapter Seven: A New Enemy
Syaoran, Sakura, and Carmen looked out in awe at the huge indoor theme park. Lights were strung from the ceiling underneath a giant glass window, showing the night sky. A huge ferris wheel, roller coaster, and all sorts of other attractions were laid out in front of them.
"The real place that we all arrived in is a world called Edonis," Fai continued to explain to the baffled teens, "and inside this world is an amusement park called Fairy Park. We've been asleep here the entire time."
"An amusement park? What's that?" Sakura asked, getting over her surprise.
"An amusement park is where people go to have fun and relax," Carmen explained. "There used to be one that came to Amestris every year when I was a little kid."
"But, how did we get here? I don't remember the park, or those glass capsules," Syaoran wondered out loud.
"Neither do I," the alchemist and the princess agreed.
"I remember everything that happened in Outo, but I thought I had dropped there when I traveled from my world," Carmen added.
"Maybe I can clear things up for you."
The four travelers turned to see a woman standing behind them. She had long, dark hair, dark brown eyes, and she wore a white and purple dress.
"Sakura, Syaoran, Carmen; I would like you to meet Chitose," Fai introduced. "She's one of the people who built Fairy Park. She's been trying to explain to me how the park works."
"Well for starters, when you arrived in Fairy Park, all of your memories of coming here were erased," Chitose began to explain.
"What? How is that physically possible?" Carmen thought to herself.
"I know it's a little weird, but your memories should be returning to you at any moment."
Syaoran gasped in pain and grabbed his head.
"Hey, are you okay?" Sakura inquired, quite worried over her companion's sudden spasm.
Suddenly, a stab of pain forced its way into Carmens head. The alchemist breathed in sharply as the memory came rushing back to her.
The glass capsules from before appeared, but the room was dark. Suddenly, a glowing whirlpool of water appeared out of thin air, hovering over one of the capsules for a few seconds. The whirlpool disappeared and Carmen fell from the air and into the capsule with a thud.
"Ow!" the alchemist cried out. She had landed pretty hard on the capsule's seat. She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw where she was.
"Where the hell am I? Hello! Al? Sarah? Winry? Where are you guys!" she called, looking around the room for any sign of them.
"Welcome to your Dream Capsules," came a voice out of nowhere.
"What? Who is that!" Carmen yelled. Her eyes widened as the dome over her capsule closed, locking her inside.
"WHAT THE HELL! LET ME OUT!" the alchemist screamed. She clapped her hands and pressed them against the dome to shatter the glass, but nothing happened. No familiar blue sparks or transmutation circle. She then started punching and kicking at the glass dome, but that didn't even work. It was like it was bullet proof or something.
She suddenly felt herself feel drowsy. Her eyes started drooping. "No . . . I can't . . . fall . . ," she thought, but she trailed off as her eyes closed and she fell back into the seat.
Carmen's eyes shot open. "So that's how I got into Outo," she thought.
"So, does that mean that everything that happened in Outo . . . was a dream?" Syaoran asked.
"Not a dream, but Virtual Reality," Chitose said.
"Huh?" the teens asked, still clearly confused.
"Basically what she's saying is that everything that happened in Outo was in our heads," Fai clarified.
"So, none of that was real?" Sakura asked, sounding a little sad.
"That's right. In Virtual Reality you can fight Oni, run cafes, whatever you want. The game is really popular."
"It's kind of hard to believe that Outo wasn't a real place," Syaoran said.
"Still, it does explain things. Like how City Hall knew every move the demons made, or why they would attack hunters. People who knew that Outo was just a game, it was like playing a game inside a game," Carmen said. Syaoran and Sakura nodded in understanding.
By now they had made their way back into the Dream Capsule room. Carmen turned her head to see that Mokona and Kurogane were still fast asleep. She noticed the ninja's frown upon his sleeping face. She felt guilt starting to gnaw at her. While they were safe in Fairy Park, Kurogane and Mokona were still in Outo, thinking that their friends were dead. They had no idea that the world was just a game, nothing but fantasy.
"Something is going wrong with the game. Something that we can't control is happening," Chitose told them, her tone full of worry.
"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked.
"Someone has interfered and dreams are colliding with reality. Players have been evacuated because it's no longer safe in Outo." the brunette explained.
Carmen frowned. "What's going to happen? Is it going to affect us here?"
Chitose didn't answer the alchemist's question. She turned to Syaoran. "You know about the intruder; what can you tell us about him?" she asked.
"What do you need to know?" the younger brunette asked, a confident frown settling on his features.
An alarm went off, interrupting the conversation. To the traveler's alarm, Mokona and Kurogane's sleeping forms vanished from the capsules.
"Why did they disappear?" Fai questioned Chitose.
"The intruder is bringing the Virtual Reality into the real world!" the brunette explained.
An explosion of blue light came from the park. "Syaoran, look!" Sakura cried.
Carmen looked up and growled curses under her breath. A giant winged demon had appeared in the sky. Standing on its head was none other than the bastard himself: Seishiro.
"We have to find out how he's bringing the Virtual Reality into this world." Chitose explained to them. The giant demon bird roared in the distance. "If we can't stop him, Fairy Park won't be the only thing he destroys. The whole world of Edonis will be next!"
"He must be using the Princess's feather," Syaoran said. "We all know he has it, and I'm sure that's what is giving him his power for this." A confident frown took over his features. "We have to get it back."
"Oh that's a great idea. Let's just ask nicely." Fai suggested. Carmen sweatdropped at his sarcastic remark.
"Intruder in the park, Sector B."
"Visual!" Chitose commanded. A screen suddenly appeared in front of them. What showed up on the screen made their eyes widen in shock.
"Kurogane!" Carmen exclaimed. The raven looked like he was about to face off against Seishiro. As if on cue, her catlike hearing abilities began to kick in, honing in on every conversation in the area. Even though they were far away, the alchemist heard every word.
"You're the man who commanded those Oni to kill the mage, aren't you?" Kurogane asked.
"Yes."
"Where's Syaoran?"
"I'm afraid that he's dead." Carmen sensed the raven's body tensing with anger.
"And the alchemist? She went after you when you left the Cat's Eye to avenge Fai."
"I killed her too." she could just see that sick smile on his face by the sound of his tone.
A moment of silence passed between the two. "That's too bad," came Kurogane's growl. the alchemist heard the sound of a sword leaving it's scabbard, "because now, I'm going to end what they started."
The screen turned into static, cutting off their visual and Carmen's connection to the fight starting to brew. Opening her eyes, she barely heard Syaoran's shout telling the others to follow him. They ran down across the park going unnoticed by the giant demon above them. That's when Syaoran caught sight of a group of demon hunters that came into the cafe regularly. Yuzuriha and Kusanagi as one team and Soma and Ryu-oh as another.
Ryu-oh was the first one to see Syaoran. "Little Puppy! You're alive!" he cried out happily. Yuzuriha ran up to Sakura, asking her friend if she was okay. Mokona jumped out of Soma's arms and into Fai's crying his name out happily. She then turned to Carmen and repeated the same thing. The alchemist smiled gently and stroked the manju's ears in a silent apology for worrying her.
"Oh, Carmen! I still have your locket!" Mokona said. She hopped onto the alchemist's shoulders and clasped the gold heart back in its rightful place.
Chitose's sudden warning put a halt to the happy reunion. "Look out!"
Everyone moved just in time as Seishiro's giant demon hawk's tail came out of nowhere and slammed onto the ground where they had been moments before. Taking refuge under a ruined platform, the group looked up at the monster.
"Looks like we're all gonna have to fight." Ryu-oh stated.
Soma took her double-moon boomerangs from her belt. "There's no other way."
"But how do you know if you can still fight? You're in the real world, not some video game." Carmen told them. As she said this she unsheathed the Ivory Blade. It transformed to its sword form under the wave of its master's hand. At least she was an actual swordsman and alchemist in the real world.
"Why not? If the demons crossed over, that means our hunter skills did too." Kusanagi said.
"You should be the same as you were in the game, but remember: If you die you're not waking up. This is the real world, not a virtual one." Chitose reminded all of them. Though the reminder put a sense of uneasiness in Carmen, it made her sharpen her guard. She couldn't die here. She had to get back home. Sarah was waiting for her.
"If we need to get Seishiro's power source to defeat the demon, then let me handle the feather, guys. It's the thing I've been looking for since I came to this world." Syaoran told them.
With all of that in mind, the group advanced toward their enemy. While the others kept it busy, Syaoran ran towards the platform that Seishiro and Kurogane were fighting on. Since the raven had forbid Syaoran from using his sword, Carmen said that she would go with him. When the younger teen protested, the alchemist told him that she would watch his back for any attackers since she was more experienced with a sword than he was. He agreed not long after that. Now they were at the bottom of the structure, looking up at the two swordsmen locked in combat.
"I have to end this. This is all my fault." Syaoran said in a guilty tone.
Carmen perked her ears once again as she sensed another conversation being exchanged between the two men.
"There wasn't one person left in my home world that was worth fighting," Kurogane was saying. "You're actually a pretty good opponent. Killing you will be the best challenge that I've had in a while." He had that cocky smirk on his face that for some reason pissed the alchemist off every time she saw it.
"It's quite a shame that you're under that curse. That complicates it a lot, doesn't it?" Seishiro asked him.
The cocky smile fell. "A curse? What is he talking about?" Carmen thought.
"Everytime you kill someone you lose a little bit of your own strength," A sly smirk spread over his face. "A very high price to pay, isn't it?"
The alchemist saw the raven's grip on Souhi's hilt tighten. "You already killed the wizard, the kid, and even the alchemist," the sword came up again. The determined smile of Kurogane returned. "Curse or no curse I'm going to keep fighting until one of us is in the ground!"
The two of them lunged toward each other, blades drawn and evil smirks on their lips. Syaoran started running up the stairs, Carmen following suit. Clapping her hands together, the alchemist was about to slam them to the ground and transmute a barrier between the two swordsmen when there was a sudden flash of light. After it faded, the four people on the platform sweatdropped at what they saw. A shovel with what appeared to be a note attached to it had penetrated the ground between Seishiro and Kurogane, stopping them from bringing their blades into each other.
"What the hell is this?" Kurogane asked picking up the shovel. He then happened to look toward the stairs. His gaze only lingered on Syaoran and Carmen for a moment before Fai's cheerful voice came from far behind them.
"Yoo-hoo! Kuro-puu!"
"You guys!" the raven exclaimed. There was shock on his face and also what looked like relief. But that quickly changed in an instant when the expression turned to a frown and he replied "You're still alive?"
Carmen was about to shoot back an angry retort when she was interupted by Seishiro. "Looks like you made it back here safely. The three of you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kurogane growled.
That's when Seishiro's chest started glowing. As he removed the source, Mokona's eyes opened wide.
"IT'S THE PRINCESS'S FEATHER!" Syaoran yelled.
Suddenly, different types of Oni started appearing all around the group. They were soon surrounded.
"Looks like we're going to be busy for awhile, huh?" Fai asked smiling goofily.
Kurogane, who had rejoined the group, brought up his sword. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm itching for another fight."
The other demon hunters brought up her weapons. Syaoran and Carmen brought up Hien and the Ivory Blade. However, the raven's next sentence shocked the alchemist.
"You stay out of this, kid. It's too dangerous."
Carmen turned on the older swordsman. "What the hell! What do you mean it's too dangerous? I can fight, you even saw me when you and Syaoran almost got your asses kicked by that Oni!"
Anger flashed in the raven's eyes. "How do I know that wasn't just the game that made you good at fighting? Just stay out of this and let us handle this!"
"No! I'm going to fight! And I don't know if anyone has told you this lately, but you're really a thick-headed dumbass sometimes!'' she yelled.
What happened next was something nobody saw coming. The giant demon hawk's tail slammed into Carmen, sending her flying. She didn't even have enough time to let out a scream. She screwed her eyes shut and waited for impact. Her body hit something and her head snapped back, the back of it colliding with stone.
Unconsciousness took over.
She didn't know how long she was out for. All she knew was that the back of her head and the rest of her body was in horrible pain from it's impact from the demon's tail and the wall. She could also hear voices around her, but they sounded muffled and far away. Like she was underwater or something.
A sudden yet somewhat foreign feeling came over her. Warmth and Safety. She hadn't felt this since her parents died.
Opening her eyes at first was difficult. After she managed to do that her vision was all blurry and she groaned quietly as the back of her head throbbed when she tried to raise it slightly. When her vision was finally back to normal, she looked up to see Kurogane looking down at her. Anger was the main emotion in his gaze, but Carmen could have sworn that she saw concern hidden in there somewhere.
Seeing that she was awake, Fai explained to her what happened. The reason that Outo had been brought into the real world was because of Sakura's feather. The group had then fought off the demons that Seishiro had summoned to protect him. Syaoran had tried to get the feather back, but Seishiro had fled to another world with it.
Kurogane must had gotten her after the battle because the alchemist was currently being held bridal style in his arms, her injured head resting against his chest. Even though she could sense his obvious anger with her, Carmen was surprised that he was holding her so carefully. Like she was so fragile that one wrong move and she would shatter.
Before anyone could say anything, Mokona jumped off of Fai's shoulder. To the alchemist's surprise, the little manju grew giant white feathered wings. Something that looked a little similar to a transmutation circle appeared beneath the traveler's feet.
"Kuro-rin! Syaoran-kun," Fai called to them, "it looks like it's time to bid farewell to this country."
"Huh?" the ninja, alchemist, the princess, and archeologist all asked.
Mokona's mouth then opened, sending out glowing multicolored swirls of magic that surrounded the travelers. It caused Kurogane's hakama to turn back into the black cloak and red moon imprinted helmet that he had been wearing in the dream capsule.
"Looks like another member's been added to our journey!" Fai laughed cheerfully. Carmen, who was still in Kurogane's arms, was too mesmerized by what was happening around her to respond. She caught one last look at the demon hunters. Syaoran and Ryu-oh had fist bumped and the alchemist caught the last snippet of their conversation.
"Don't ever give up," Syaoran was saying to his friend. "Get stronger! Much stronger!"
A smile spread across the teen's face as he nodded in agreement.
Carmen then closed her eyes as the familiar feeling of teleporting came over her once again.
Post notes- CV: *Flops down on couch* Finally. I'm done!
KCH33: There's still the next chapter to write. You wrote it out already.
CV: *Groans*
Anyway, hope you liked this insanely long chapter. Make sure you review! Bye!