Hye! I am back! Haha… Funny because I think I want to end this fic asap. Why? I want to introduce a new fic again… Of course a POT fic especially RyoSaku again… Well, I need to finish this first before I start with the new one. So help me… domo…
DISCLAIMER: The Prince of Tennis belongs to Konomi Takeshi-sensei and Gakuen Alice belongs to Higuchi Tachibana-san. All rights reserved to the both of them.
sweetangel - tee hee... yep, I agree with you... gustong gusto ko talaga ang attitude ni Eiji... Hindi ka malulugkot kung siya ang kasama mo...
tee hee hee... you'll find out soon...
so many questions... I have plans for her... *snickers* oh well, you'll know sooner or later... thank you very much... tee hee hee... by the way next chapter is up now... ^^
Chapter 23: The City of Flickering Destruction
Chapter Summary: They met a newcomer and they would finish what they had started.
They were looking at the newcomer at that time. Sakuno was also staring at the back of her savior. She couldn't speak as everything went fast for her.
"Nobara-chan…" Mikan was the one who broke the silence.
Nobara created ice crystals around them, "You will not harm the people around me," She said gesturing at the knight, "Including him."
"Really now?" Sandra smirked at her holding her whip just in case, "You'll be playing the role of a savior arriving at the end."
"I am not playing games here." The ice princess said improving the sizes of her ice crystals.
"Okay, okay, we will leave," Sandra said and looked at BlackPearl, "If you want to know more about your power, come with me then." She disappeared after she said that.
Elazul looked at BlackPearl who was smirking at that moment, "No need to say that." She was about to leave when Elazul called her;
"Wait!" He ran near her, "Bring her back!"
BlackPearl just looked at him and closed her eyes, "If you want her back, you know where to find me." And just like Sandra, she also disappeared.
Elazul tried to stop her but it was too late. He gripped his sword really hard before he hit it to a rock and firmly cussed to himself.
"Nobara-chan," Mikan called as she was about to approach her, "Are you re—"
"What are you doing here?" Natsume said blocking Mikan's way and stopped her from approaching her.
"I've come to your aid." She stoically said straight to his scarlet eyes.
"I don't trust you." He said frankly.
"I didn't ask you to trust me." She retorted back.
"Come on guys, stop that," Tsubasa said cutting them in the process, "We should focus with the issue."
"We could understand that far but?" Momo said looking at the newcomer, "Who is she?"
Mikan and Sakuno looked at each other before they looked at their senpais. The former smiled at them as she introduced the newcomer;
"Senpai-tachi, this is Ibaragi Nobara-chan," She said pointing at the girl, "Nobara-chan, this are my senpais way back in Seigaku, Fuji-senpai, Eiji-senpai and Momo-chan-senpai."
"Nice to meet you, nya!" Eiji said waving a hand to her.
Fuji nodded at her and smiled just like the usual.
Nobara nodded back at them at least she was able to acknowledge them.
"Ne, ne, I've seen your alice a while ago," Momo said leaning closer to her, "It was awesome!"
Nobara couldn't help but blush and looked away, "A-arigatou."
"Well introduction done!" Momo said facing the rest, "Now, where were we?"
They just looked at him without saying anything.
"What?"
"Senpai, that was what we were trying to do before you butted in." Ryoma stoically said to him.
"Ah, right…" He scratched his head and then looked at the knight, "Elazul, gomen na but judging from what BlackPearl said you know where to find her."
"He's right," Fuji said stepping forward near him, "Where should we go next?"
The knight faced them and thought really hard. He didn't say it until he got all of their attention, "to the city of flickering destruction."
They looked at each other with curious expressions on their faces. Ruka asked him to clear things up;
"Where is that?" He was brushing the rabbit's ears while Sakuno was looking at it.
"To the place where Jumi people like us live," Elazul said, "To the Bejeweled City."
Later on:
The journey to the city of flickering destruction wasn't easy. They needed to gather enough gems and placed them at the right position of a castle-like structure of the area. It was a big task but they needed to do it in order for us to enter the city.
Since they were with a Jumi, they were able to enter the city with slight hindrances. There were creatures that they fought along the way. Sakuno was able to help them by keeping some barrier before they were getting hit from the opponent's attacks. Good thing that she had flexibility for using her alice. At least, that was she could be proud of.
They reached the final floor and they knew that they could face them any minute now. Elzazul was holding the doorknob at that moment. He gripped it hard before he said anything;
"Leave Blackpearl to me…" He said still not looking at them.
"Elazul-san…" Sakuno said walking a few steps forward to him.
"No barriers and shields this time."
"But…" Momo tried to oppose when he saw Sakuno was also shocked. Fuji tapped his shoulder and shook his head at the same time.
"Please…" The knight quietly said.
The place was silent after that. They knew what he wanted to do and they would respect it. Sakuno was worried but she would try her best not to interfere. The others who remained silent didn't say anything at all. Well, they were silent people in the first place.
"We'll respect your decision." Fuji said getting the other's attention. Tsubasa nodded and agreed to the tensai.
Elazul nodded not facing them, "Thank you." He twisted the doorknob and opened it.
They waited for the door to be opened. Their eyes widened when they witnessed what was inside. The whole place was shining, just like shining jewelry. Sakuno couldn't help but be awed at the location. They entered the room with amusement on their faces.
"This place is amazing," Mom said looking around the area, "This whole place is valuable and probably priceless when sold."
"Stop that Momo-chii." Eiji said who was actually doing the same thing, "We are not here for entertainment."
Ryoma put his hands at the back of his head and uttered, "But you are doing it yourself too, senpai."
"Ryoma-kun!" Sakuno scolded him inwardly who was just beside him.
He closed his eyes and continued walking, "Che…"
They continued walking until someone threw some sort of magic to them. Sakuno somehow sensed it and immediately used her barrier alice to protect them. Nobara and Natsume went ahead to see the intruder but Elazul stopped them.
"Do not interfere!" Elazul said looking at the intruder, "She's mine."
"Over possessive now, aren't we?"
"B-BlackPearl." Ruka glared as he held the rabbit tighter in his arms. Youichi was pretty silent at Hotaru's side holding the girl's hand. Fuji and Momo were just behind Sakuno just in case something happened. BlackPearl was on top of a block that was filled with bright gems. They couldn't see Sandra anywhere.
"Bring her back!" Elazul drew his sword from its sheath and looked up, "Bring my Pearl back to me!"
Sakuno, Mikan and even Nobara blushed when Elazul said that. BlackPearl laughed at him as a respond to his words.
"I am not playing games here!" He said swinging his sword to his side.
"Who said that you were?" She said glaring at him, "Too bad, the dead cannot be brought back to life."
"Curse you." Elazul hissed.
"Yeah, curse me, Elazul," She said creating a dark aura around her, "Curse me as much as you can." She threw some dark spears to him.
Elazul charged upward blocking the spears with his sword. Ryoma glared at the fight the two had. He pushed the rest behind to avoid more conflicts besides they promised not to interfere with their fight.
"Let's go this way." Tsubasa caught their attention which everyone followed. They hadn't reached to another room yet when Sandra suddenly showed up.
"This is as far that you can go." Sandra said hitting her whip on the ground.
"I'll deal with her." Nobara stepped forward.
"Nobara-chan," Mikan said looking at the ice princess, "Then, I'll help you." She was about to step forward but Natsume stopped her.
"Leave her to this."
"But—"
"You'll be a burden," Natsume cut before she could even complete her words, "You can't help her."
"He's right," Nobara said not looking at them, "Go and find the lord of Jewels and do what you must."
"Nobara-chan," Mikan only said as she looked at her. Hotaru was also pulling her backward, "I'll see you later then."
Nobara just gave her a brief nod sideways before they continued walking to the further area of the room.
"In that case, I'll help you."
Nobara looked to her right side and blinked at the person, "You are?"
The person looked at her and smirked, "Takeshi Momoshiro at your service," He blinked at her, "You can call me Momo-chan-senpai."
"Momo-chii, you are at the same age." Eiji said flying around.
"Ah, right," He said scratching his head, "Momo-chan then."
"Saa… we will be helping you with this hunter."
"Four against one?" Sandra placed her hand with the whip to her waist, "That sure is balanced."
"How can you guys help me?" Nobara said looking around her. The guy above them was just flying and she didn't even know the alices of the other two.
"Just leave it to me." Momo said stepping to her level and broke his knuckles as if he was ready for a fight.
"Omoshiroi na…" Fuji said smiling at their back, "I'll be watching you from here." He teased raising a tiny white flag in his hand and waved it in front of them.
"S-senpai…" Momo sweat dropped at his senpai's unusual behavior but let it go afterwards.
Nobara and Momo stared at the Jewel Hunter in front of them.
"Are you ready?" Nobara said slowly creating ice crystals around her.
Momoshiro nodded as he smirked, "Ready when you are."
Nobara concentrated on her alice before she threw the crystals to the Jewel Hunter. Sandra used her whip to block her crystals and they broke into pieces.
"Yosh!" Momo said pointing his hands forward and concentrated on those crystals that almost melting and gather the right amount. He made the water drastic and splashed the jewel hunter in the process.
"Y-you embecile!" Sandra was raging at that moment.
"Don!" He pointed his index finger at her with a wink at the same time.
"Ah! Momo-chii's rude, nya!" Eiji said still flying near the ceiling.
"A-amazing." Nobara couldn't help but praise him.
Momo blushed when he heard that, "T-thank you." He smiled a little as he brushed a finger under his nose.
"It's not over guys," Fuji said looking at the soaked Jewel Hunter, "The battle has just begun."
"You will regret minding my business," Sandra said emitting an aura that they were slowly seeing from her, "You would regret and hope that you never butted in."
"Nobara and Momo got ready while Eiji went down near them.
Sandra did the unexpected. The four people were shocked when she grabbed her own chest and screamed.
"W-what are you doing?" Momoshiro tried to talk to her.
Sandra was able to look at them and gave a mocking smirk, "This is my last draw. The lord would have eternal life after this." Without waiting for them to reply, she pulled her hand out of her chest and revealed an orange stone in her hand.
Sakuno on the other hand felt it, "S-someone's sacrificing." She said clenching her chest with her hand.
"Ryuzaki!" He placed a hand to her shoulder.
Tsubasa looked at them. The stone must have reacted to her because of the latest sin that she got. …Maybe because they are somewhat closely related. He thought but he never said it.
"What's wrong Youichi?" Hotaru said when she realized that Youichi's grip tightened around her hand.
"…something big is ahead of us." The boy said looking straight to their direction.
The boys looked at the direction he pointed. Ryoma, Tsubasa and Natsume ran to that area while Ruka and Kokoroyomi stayed at the girls and Youichi's side.
They reached the place and became stunned. The rest followed and did the same. In front of them, there was a giant creature that almost covered the area. Its body was somewhat slimy and it had four hands. The creature had a face of a human. Sakuno hid behind Ruka. It was her first time seeing a weird creature like that.
"That's the Lord of Jewels?" Ruka said behind her.
"T-that's the one?" She looked at the creature and observed it despite the appearance but then she noticed something from it, "S-something's glowing on it."
"What?" Ruka frowned at her.
Sakuno pointed at the creature, "There is a light… at its forehead."
As long as she pointed that out, the creature hit something at them. Ruka pushed her down and got hit instead. Sakuno screamed as everything went fast. Ryoma and Tsubasa ran to them. Sakuno was too shocked as she stared at Ruka.
Ruka became a stone at his location. Natsume ran to his best friend with widened eyes, "Ruka!"
"Ruka-pyon!" Mikan touched Ruka's face and tried to nullify the magic.
"It will not work."
Everyone looked at the person who talked last. It wasn't a person but it was the creature.
"The magic was not made from your powers so it would never work."
"Change him back!" Natsume said creating some fireballs in his palms.
"You can only change him back when you get the core from my body," The creature said and then looked at Sakuno, "You saw it but you will never tell them or I'll make you into a stone next."
"You saw the stone?" Ryoma asked her who silently nodded.
"That magic was supposed to hit Ryuzaki-chan," Tsubasa said glaring at the creature, "but Nogi covered it for her and got hit instead."
Sakuno looked down and bit her lower lip before she spoke, "It was my fault. I should have been…"
"Stop it!" Ryoma firmly said, "We will save Nogi so stay there." He pulled her with the girls behind and joined the others.
"You only have thirty minutes to get the stone from me or else he'll die." The creature said.
"Kono Yarou!" Natsume threw some fireballs to the creature but it only absorbed it.
Sakuno was stunned at the information. She only looked on the ground while she was being protected with the others. R-Ruka-kun… will die… and it's all because of me. It's all my fault. I… I shouldn't have pointed the creature's forehead. She negatively thought. She gripped her hands as she tried to calm herself down. There were times that her eyes would become blank.
Meanwhile, Kokoroyomi was looking at their location and noticed something before he looked at the creature and then to his fellow friends.
"I've been wanting to do this ever since," Ryoma said gripping his racket really hard as he lifted his other hand with the tennis ball. He hit it hard and smashed it to the creature's body. The ball just being swallowed earning a smirk from the creature.
"Is that all you've got?" The creature said moving his hands back and forth like a form of taunting them.
Ryoma stood straight and looked at Natsume. The latter nodded before he looked at the creature as well. Ryoma positioned himself once again and hit just like the first one.
The ball went through to the creature's direction. The ball was suddenly covered with flame as it kept on spinning towards the creature's arm. The creature screamed when its arm got amputated.
"It worked." Ryoma smirked as he gripped another tennis ball.
The creature glanced at them and releases the same magic that it used against Ruka but they evaded it. Tsubasa kept telling them some possible location of the core would be but alas, it wasn't there.
Meanwhile:
"What happened to her?" Momo said eyeing the new Sandra in front of them.
Sandra transformed into an orange creature. There was an orange jewel on her neck. She glared at the people in front of her and from her eyes, she shot them some blinding light.
Momo grabbed Nobara and pushed the both of them in the corner. Fuji was able to avoid it while Eiji flew from it.
"It's laser," Fuji glared at the creature, "Be careful minna."
"Nobara-chan are you alright?" Momo said holding her to her shoulder.
Nobara blushed a little as she looked away, "I am okay, thank you."
"Let's combine our alices," Momo suggested to her, "what do you say?"
The ice princess nodded, "Sounds a good idea."
"It is a good idea," He said standing up and glad at the new formed opponent, "Show me your alice."
She stood up as well and called all the ice mass she could, "prepare for the counterattack, Momoshiro-san."
Momo sweat dropped at the honorific she called him but he let it go and concentrated at their enemy in front.
Eiji was watching them fight the creature from above then he noticed something. Not the creature but their comrade. He went down where Fuji was looking at them.
"Ne, Fuji, do you think that they are a good tandem?" He asked his best friend.
Fuji was able to smile at him, "Indeed. That's a good source in the future though."
"But how do we beat this one now?" Eiji said.
Fuji observed the creature and then the area around it, "We need to break the stone from its neck." He said thinking something as he saw some grapevine near the area.
"She can't stay still at one location." Eiji said as he watched Nobara and Momo joined forces.
"Ne, Eiji, can you fly me up there?" He asked his best friend pointing at the upper part of the room.
"Why?" Eiji asked obliviously.
"Just take me there and you'll know."
Eiji blinked for several times but did so nonetheless. He brought Fuji to the top area of the place. Fuji looked down and observed the place below. The two are still fighting Sandra.
"It's time for me to help them." He slowly raised his right hand. Eiji was just looking at him and he knew what was going on. The vine around the creature had started to move on its own and slowly lifted from their original position. In an instant, they wrapped themselves around the creature real tight, causing it to immobile.
"F-Fuji-senpai!" Momo looked up when they saw the tensai helping them.
"Aim for the stone on her neck, Momo!" Fuji said staring at him as he waved his hand to bind the creature securely.
"Got it!" He said and looked at the ice princess, "Nobara-chan!"
"Leave it to me!" She created some pointed ice crystals that aimed to its neck and she ordered them to pierce through the creature's neck.
Sandra screamed once again. She was covered with light. Momo walked in front of Nobara as the blinding light surfaced the entire area. Seconds later, the light disappeared leaving Sandra kneeling on the ground, with her original form.
"Curse you, people!" She glared at them. She was gripping her own core with her hand near her chest. If she let it go, she would turn into stone, just like how she stole the other jumis' jewel cores.
"Give up," Fuji said dropping his hand to his side, "It's over."
"It's not over," She smirked as she glared at them, "My master will end everything."
"We'll be prepared." Eiji said flying a little towards her.
Upon, saying that, the lord of jewels had gone berserk and called everyone's attention. They looked at that area and they could feel the dark aura emanating from it. The lord had only got two arms left.
"Guys—" Kokoroyomi tried to call everyone's attention.
"SANDRA!" The creature shouted. Its voice vibrated around them. The wrath of the creature could be felt around them. Sandra had automatically teleported beside the creature.
"You called me master?"
"Yeah." The creature said and out of the blue, he grabbed the girl and forced her inside its body, "I need nutrients and your core is sufficient enough for me."
Sandra screamed due to shock. She looked at the shocked expression of the others in front of her. They didn't expect that. She thought that it would happen to her but not that too soon, not that she was not prepared at all.
Fuji and the others joined the rest before Sandra was completely absorbed by the creature. Hotaru closed Youichi's eyes as Tsubasa covered Sakuno from seeing that.
It would be too much for them.
"Now, where were we?" The creature said looking at them, "Ah right, you only have fifteen minutes left before he dies."
The creature pointed Ruka who was still petrified. Fuji and the other three were shocked. The creature gained more arms and even doubled its number from before.
It was creepy. Tsubasa kept holding Sakuno as he gritted his teeth. Fuji went to them and asked for the girl to take care of instead. He learned what happened to Ruka from Kokoroyomi.
The rest stayed quiet. They only had fifteen minutes to save Ruka and fifteen was drifting so fast.
Done! This was not my original plan… I mean, I didn't mean to finish this way. Anyway, a lot of things changed here so the next chapter will be the final arc of the story. But the mission is not over yet. Domo…
Ruka is in danger! What will happen next… Guess what Fuji's alice, minna? Tee hee hee… I had a hard time choosing an alice for him… sigh… Mata Raishuu!
Reviews please… need to know your thoughts about this… domo…
Next chapter: Tears are worth fighting for