Playing Games
Law snapped his head up from his arms. He looked down at himself to see the white glow fading from his body. He blinked before raising his hands to look at them. "Was I just…did she just…?"
Law shook his head before scrambling to his feet. He jerked their bedroom door open. He didn't even bother closing it as he bolted through the doorway and down the hall. His boots thudded on the metal floor as he went. Guessing as to where the one he was searching for would be, Law went right down to Bepo's navigation room, taking three stairs at a time as he went, forgetting about his devil fruit power in the process. He passed through the open door and narrowed his eyebrows at Kailen. The elemental and Bepo were hunched over the table in the middle of the room.
"I think this is right," Kailen hummed while dragging a pencil over the blank piece of paper on the table. "There's a huge cliff right here. No hope of getting on the island at all. Too many jagged rocks below it."
"Oh." Bepo, who heard and smelled the captain, looked up from the maps. "Captain, is something wrong?"
"I want you to tell me everything you know about her being able to bond with me through her magic," Law said, ignoring the bear.
Kailen remained silent. He stared at the captain before dropping his eyes back to the map he was working on with Bepo.
"Tell me! Now! What does this bonding entail?! Can Neo somehow pull me to where she is?" Law said.
Kailen looked back at Law.
Law's glare lightened up a bit when he saw Kailen was confused.
With a deep, slow breath, Kailen said, "I'll tell you what I know about your bond with her if you answer one question I have about your relationship with her."
"Fine. What is it?" Law asked with an irritated huff. He flexed his clenched hands.
Kailen swallowed before speaking. He locked eyes with Law then asked, very bluntly, "Did you have sex with her?"
Bepo's eyes about bugged out of their sockets. He clamped his paws over his muzzle to keep himself from making any kind of noise. He darted his eyes back and forth between the two other men in the room. When he was sure he wouldn't make a sound, he slowly lowered his paws from his mouth.
Law couldn't stop his entire face from flushing or his body from flinching.
Kailen narrowed his eyebrows and frowned at the pirate captain before him. He said, "Please, tell me the truth."
Bepo, though remaining quiet, could sense a strange, silent battle going on in the room between the two men as they continued to stare at each other intensely.
The captain shook his head. He said, "No. Neo is not ready for such intimacy. I have not touched her like that. And I have not let anyone else touch her like that either. No one has touched her like that at all. If they had, I would know. I'm a doctor. Plus, she would have told me by now."
Kailen relaxed. With an exhaled breath, he said, "That's good. I believe you're telling me the truth."
"Of course I'm telling you the truth!" Law growled. "I would never lie about something like that, especially with Neo involved!"
"I believe you, I believe you." Kailen raised his hands in a surrendering fashion. "I'll tell you everything I know about elemental bonding, but I'm afraid it's not going to be much. In all of elemental history there have been only two recorded bondings that has ever happened. Each time one of them was a royal. So our people believe that only royals are capable of bonding through their magic."
"Is it really that rare?" Bepo, finally relaxed enough to speak, asked.
"Yes." Kailen nodded.
"What happens during this bonding process?" Law asked, struggling to keep his voice calm. He was getting impatient again.
"The two bonded become closer on a different level than everyone else," Kailen said. He crossed his arms and tapped his finger on his elbow. He hummed before speaking again. "I'm not sure I can explain it clearly on how it actually happens, but from what I know both are engulfed in a pure white glow. After that they can feel each others pain."
"Is that it?" Law blinked.
"Yes, that's it. Why?" Kailen asked. "Did something else happen?"
"I can feel her pain, but I can also sense where she is. She can sense me, too. And I assume she can feel my pain as well, but that hasn't happened yet. And just a few minutes ago, I saw her," Law said.
"What?" Kailen's arms dropped to his side. He kneaded his eyebrows in confusion. "What do you mean you saw her?"
"I saw her. She's in some kind of greenish colored crystal cell or something," Law replied. "I was able to touch her. I felt her skin. I felt her tears."
"Sounds like she's in the palace dungeon then. But I'm confused. I still don't understand what you mean by being able to see and touch her," Kailen said with a light shake of his head.
"I'm not really sure either. I was just in my room. The next thing I know, I'm in that prison cell with her. They gave her an apple, bread, and water to drink. I fed her the apple while holding her in my arms," Law explained. He paused to look at his hands and remembered how it felt to hold her in his arms. He wanted her in his arms right now. He clenched his fists tightly. "I was there, but I wasn't. I was transparent and glowing."
"Sorry, but I've never heard of something like this happening." Kailen rubbed his fingers over his eyebrows. He then held his hand out towards Law. "Perhaps if you explain to me what happened when you two bonded?"
"Well, the first time it happened-" Law started.
"The first time?" Kailen gasped.
"Yes." Law nodded. He frowned at being interrupted. "We've bonded three times."
Kailen's jaw fell opened. His chin bobbed up and down a couple times while he tried to form words.
Bepo tilted his head at the green haired man's reactions. He asked, "I'm guessing from your reaction that no one has bonded three times before, right?"
"Of course they haven't!" Kailen shouted at the bear.
"I'm sorry." Bepo dropped his head. A gray aura fell over his shoulder.
"Huh?" Kailen blinked in confusion at the bear's apologetic reaction.
"Never mind him," Law said, bring Kailen's attention back to himself. "As I was saying, the first time it happened was not long after I found her. She still hadn't told us anything of what happened to her. One night she had a nightmare. When I woke her up from it, her eyes were glowing white. She engulfed us both in the white glow. That's when and how she revealed to me what happened to her. The second time happened when the dark elementals tried to drown her. We were in my room…"
Kailen frown and growled when Law revealed they were in his room.
Law released a growl of his own. He said, "I already said we haven't done anything. She sleeps in my room so I can watch over her. At first it was to keep control over her, since we couldn't trust her, but then it changed. She needs me to be with her because of her nightmares. She needs security when she sleeps so she doesn't get scared. Good grief! She's on a pirate ship with an all male crew! She was safest with me!"
"Okay, okay! Sorry!" Kailen waved his hand. "Please, just continue telling me your bonding stories."
"The second time also happened after the Dark King told us what he did. She was feeling insecure with everything that happened. The third time happened on her one year anniversary when I gave her my gift to her. I gave her a ring." Law paused when his heart seized up. His lungs tightened, cutting off his breathing. Kailen easily noticed the pain occurring in Law, but remained smart and silent about it. "Each time we both were aware of the bonding, but we've never really had a serious conversation about it. She's just as clueless about it as I am."
"Hmm." Kailen strummed his fingers on his thigh. His mind was repetitively going over what Law had just told him. "I could be wrong, since I'm just guessing, but it sounds like each time the bonding occurred was at a turning point in your relationship with her. I think that's how it happened with the others, too. But the bonding should have only happened once. I don't know. One of the elders on Luminous might be able to make a better guess at this than I can. Although, I wouldn't get your hopes up for completely clear answers. Something's just don't have such answers. This just might be one of those things where we don't get a real answer."
"So to put it more simply, the captain and Neo were just meant to bond on such a deep level," Bepo surmised.
"I guess so," Kailen said softly. He went silent. His eyes remained on Law, carefully studying the man.
"Was there something else you wanted to say?" Law asked with a deep frown.
"No," Kailen drawled out.
Law once again narrowed his eyebrows at the green haired man. He sensed that Kailen wasn't being truthful.
Kailen rubbed the back of his neck while turning back to the map he and Bepo were working on. "It really doesn't matter right now anyway. When the time comes, we can discuss it more in-depth then. Right now we have more pressing problems to deal with. Most importantly is how I'm going to get you all on Luminous and how you're going to fight the elementals. I know there is one weak spot in the island defenses. Here…" He pointed to the map. "There is a cove right here. It's on the northwest part of the island. The cove is surrounded by cliffs that are somewhere around a hundred and fifty, possible two hundred feet tall. I can easily lift you all onto the cliff with vines, but once were on Luminous everyone will know we're there. We'll have to move quickly. But I doubt you humans will be fast enough to out run the elementals. That's where our main problem is. We need to get to Neo, fast. But I have no clue where she'll be on the island at the time."
"Once we get close enough to Luminous I should be able to sense her. I'll tell her to come to me through our bond," Law said. "She will do that anyway once she realizing I'm there."
"Right. I forgot you can sense each other. That'll work just fine. But she'll need to move fast. Once we are there, I'll lift you all onto the island. Then you'll need to quickly get her to use her solar crystal while we distract the elementals the best we can," Kailen summoned up. "I'll try to explain to you how to tell her about the solar crystal. Hopefully she'll understand and summon it before anyone gets seriously hurt or dies."
"And how are we supposed to fight the elementals?" Bepo asked.
"That's going to be extremely tricky. I'll know more once we start sparring with each other, but the best bet would be for you all to try and turn their crystals against each other," Kailen said. He then explained farther when Bepo blinked in confusion. "Like, if a fire crystal wielder attacks you, just jump in the path of a water crystal wielder. The water will put out the fire. But the easiest way is to just knock them out or disorient them somehow if you get the chance. That way we'll have less to deal with."
"Oh, right. That makes total sense." Bepo nodded rapidly.
"I'll make as much sleeping powder as I possibly can so that will help you all too," Kailen said strumming his fingers on the table.
"All right then," Law said with a light nod. "It seems we have a plan. Now the crew just needs to train with you."
"If I may, I think we should hold off on the training part until tomorrow," Kailen said cautiously.
"What for?" Bepo asked as Law growled dangerously.
"You all are still affected by the sleeping powder that they used on you. I don't want to end up hurting you, even by accident, before getting to Luminous," Kailen explained. "I really want you all to be able to focus a hundred percent when we spar. I can work on the sleeping powder tonight. And once we all have gotten some sleep, we can spar together."
"Captain?" Bepo asked. Both his and Kailen's eyes turned to Law. "Would that be all right? You're still the captain after all."
Law sighed. He closed his eyes and said, "That's fine. It'll upset Neo if I let you all train while not at a hundred percent. She won't like it if any of you get hurt. Spread those orders to the rest of the crew, Bepo. I'm going to go back to my room or something."
"Aye aye, Captain," Bepo said with a nod.
…
Neo awoke earlier than usual the next day. She wasn't sure why she did. Possibly because she was sleeping on unfamiliar ground, possibly because it was cooler in here than it would be in Law's room, she didn't have a blanket after all, possibly because Law wasn't with her. That was it.
Her heart felt like it was being stabbed multiple times with a knife when she woke up and Law wasn't there like he usually was. She never realized, until that moment, how use she was to waking up to him being beside her. He was always there when she woke up on the sub since he moved her into his room. Now, he wasn't. It hurt. It hurt a lot.
Tears pierced the back of her eyes. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and took a couple of slow, deep breaths. No more tears. I don't have to cry. Law is coming. He'll be here soon. In just a couple of days I'll be able to see him again. I'll be able to sense him again.
She opened her eyes when she sensed someone coming for her. She could feel, whoever was come, this one had control over a fire crystal and one a water crystal. I can do this. I can survive that long for Law. I will survive to be with the crew again. I will survive so I can be with him again.
While waiting for whoever was coming, Neo let her eyes roam over the room again. She let herself take careful notes of the place. She figured it was her training taking over. Her senses were trying to figure out if there was any escape routes from this cell or if there was anything else she could use as a weapon against these people.
There wasn't really anything. The only things there were the light crystals, the crystals of the bars holding her in, and the three crystal benches on each of the three walls of the cell. And they all were stabilized in place. The only thing she knew moved was the cell door, but that required a key, and a small section at the bottom left of the cell door. She wasn't sure why she noticed it. But she figured, after remembering the night before how that one guy fed his magic into it, that that's how they gave her that small tray of food. She didn't bother trying to see if her magic would open it. Even if she did try, the hole was too small for her to escape from. There was no reason to bother with it.
She didn't even have time to try anyway. She looked up with she felt the ones coming for her got even closer. She looked for the door they would be coming from, but didn't see one. All she saw, from where she was sitting, was a couple other cells and a smooth section of the wall. Just then, she felt magic being filtered into the smooth section of the wall. A door, shaped like the doors on the sub, appeared on the wall. Her eyebrows narrowed at it before the door shape vanished, leaving an opening in the wall.
Stepping through the now opened door was only one of the elementals. There weren't two like she thought. And it was the one who was with the old man yesterday. The one who called the old man 'father'. And, if she remembered correctly, his name was Tao. She flinched when he looked in her direction. She continued to breathe slowly as he walked over to her cell. She could feel his intense gaze on her as she hugged her knees. She felt him feed his magic into the key before hearing a faint clicking sound followed by a low creaking. The cell door was now open. He hissed, "Get up! Time to go!"
Her heart jerked. She was only used to Law giving her orders. But she obeyed them anyway. She could easily sense that this guy was very powerful. She could sense both the fire and water elements coming from him without any effort. She then remembered Law telling her a couple might have more than one crystal. She also remembered him telling her she was the only one who had all four, plus another one. She wasn't sure. She was so upset last night that she couldn't remember everything he told her after he faded away. She never sensed another crystal within herself. She just didn't know.
She stood up. Fingering his ring for comfort, she walked towards the cell door. Her heart pounded faster and harder with each step she took towards this unfamiliar man. He scoffed when she exited the cell. Her entire body jerked when he pressed his hand to her shoulder and shoved her towards the door he entered from. She stumbled, but managed to regain her balance and keep herself from losing control despite wanting to lose control. Placing her fingers back on his ring to help keep herself calm, she continued to walk towards the door.
She passed through the door and paused. She wasn't sure where she should go. All she saw was more crystal walls. She felt him feed his magic into the wall again. Another door opened before her eyes just like the first one she saw. He said, "Don't even bother trying to think of an escape route. This dungeon is a maze. Unless you know which doors to actually open, you'll never get out of here. You'll be trapped until someone comes for you. And we have guards posted at the exit just on the off chance you might figure out a way to escape."
She didn't reply. She didn't know what she should or would say anyway. Instead, she quickly, but steadily, moved towards the door before he could touch her again. She heard him scoff behind her before hearing his footsteps following after her. She paused again when this door led them to another room just like the last one. It was obvious he spoke the truth to her. This place really was a maze and looked the same with every room and door they came to.
They passed through six doors before coming to a staircase. Neo's bare feet were silent on the crystal stairs. Tao's wasn't. His boots clunked heavily on the crystals underneath them. She wondered if he was walking so heavily as a reminder to her that he was there or if something else was causing him to walk like that. He was so stiff compared to how Law walked. Law's body posture was always so relaxed, so confident, and comforting to her. Her heart tightened again. She missed him even more. She bit her bottom lip to keep herself from crying. Just a couple days. He'll be here in just a couple of days.
A few more steps and they reached the top of the stairs. The door here was just like any other door she had seen before. The only difference was this door was a dark purple instead of the green in the prison cells. Two elementals were standing on the other side of the door. She sensed they were an earth crystal and a fire crystal.
She flinched again when the doors opened on their own. No, they were opened by the one of the two guards she felt on the other side. Once the door was open, she walked through it. She could immediately feel the two guards staring smugly at her. She didn't bother looking at them. She didn't want see them or what they looked like. Instead, she looked around the hallway. This one was different that the ones below. On the right side of the hall was nothing but a wall. The left side of the hallway was lined with doors.
"Stop gawking!" Tao hissed.
She felt him reaching for her. Quickly, she began to walk again, avoiding being touched by him. They walked quietly down the long hallway then turned to the left. The turn led them to another hallway with more doors, a few tables, and then to a staircase at the end. When they got to the top of this staircase, she could sense so many elementals, both inside this building and outside of it.
Their combined elements and darkness was becoming too much for her to handle. She was unable to focus on where Tao was leading her. The walls of this place faded away from her as she focused on Law's ring and his hat. She could still smell Law's scent on the spotted hat sitting on her head. It helped soothe her.
She was able to come back to her senses from focusing on his hat and ring. She realized they were outside now. It was time for her to be hunted again. Without prompting from the man who was walking with her or from anyone else, Neo walked down the stairs on the right side of the porch, on the left staircase were several elementals watching her. She did her best to ignore them. She focused on a multistory building a few yards from the castle. She passed the building and stepped inside of the forest where more elementals were waiting.
"Well, isn't she different today," a fire elemental said with a light chuckle.
"Maybe this means she's going to put up more of a fight," a water elemental said. "We should give her a sporting chance. Let her have a few minutes to get farther into the forest. How about that, Tao? You should join us today."
"I will not," Tao replied with a frown.
"Aw, come on! You're no fun at all." The fire elemental laughed.
"Laugh if you want. But this isn't right. She's a danger to us all and yet here you all don't care. She can easily purify us from the darkness," Tao grumbled.
"Ugh! Come on, man! Are you still going on about that? You're starting to sound like a broken record." The fire elemental crossed his arms and leaned against the railing of the palace porch.
"If you all want to play games with the light, then go right ahead," Tao hissed. "I have no interest in such silliness."
"Excuse me, Master Tao." Tao turned to the dark orange hair and eyed maid who addressed him. She had her hands collapsed in front of her white and black maid uniform. "Your father requests your presence at breakfast."
"Of course he does," Tao grumbled. He turned back into the castle doors. Ignoring everyone and everything, he marched back into the castle. Turning to the right, he stomped over to the dining hall. Eggs, biscuits, gravy, orange juice, and fresh fruit filled one end of the dinning hall's long rectangular table.
"About time, son," Atlas said through a mouthful of food. Tao silently scoffed at the deplorable table manners his father was showing. The old man had food particles in his beard. "Sit down and eat."
"You are far too relaxed about this, Father," Tao growled as he plopped down in a chair beside his father. A maid walked over and began to fill his plate for him.
"I am relaxed because there is nothing she can do to stop us." Atlas paused to pick up his chalice. He chugged down his drink then slammed the cup back on the table. "Twenty long years we have searched for her. Now she is here. Once she is defeated we can continue with the plan to cover this entire world with darkness. We'll be all powerful. No one will be able to stop us."
"World domination…seeking such power and control that fast is dangerous. You are far too over confident, Father," Tao grumbled, but his father didn't hear him. "A slower approach to the humans is needed. They can't be controlled by the darkness like our people can be."
"More drink!" Atlas bellowed out.
Tao sighed at being ignored. He picked up his fork and stabbed it into his eggs.
…
Neo picked up her pace a bit when she finally got about twenty yards into the forest. She darted her eyes around. Summoning her earth crystals, she started to make as much plant life grow up as she could. She started to create another large jungle like she did a few days ago. She twisted some vines together to create some nets. Once she had about ten nets woven together she scattered them down over the forest floor. Studying the ground as carefully, and quickly as she could, she covered the vine nets with dirt and leaves so they looked like the rest of the ground.
"She's that way!"
Neo looked up when she heard, and felt, some elementals coming her way. Quickly, she turned and ran farther into the forest. As she ran, she kept her earth crystals out and summoned her water crystals. She worked them together. Pulling up dirt from the ground, she mixed water in the dirt to create mud.
She then used her earth crystals to create large leaves and placed a fair amount of mud on each of the leaves. She then folded and tied the leaves closed with very thin vines. She made sure the vines and leaves were thin enough so when she hit the elementals with them they would bust open. She looked back the way she just came from when she heard a very unpleasant curse ringing through the air. "What the heck is this?!"
"Is this some kind of joke?!" A couple elementals had fallen into her net traps. From their voices she could tell two of them were guys and one was a girl.
"Ah! Ha ha! I can't believe you two fell for that little trick!" One guy laughed.
"Shut up!" the two trapped cried. "Just get us down!"
"Get yourselves down! You can cut those vines with your water! Just shoot it fast enough!"
"You're such a jerk!" the girl screamed.
Neo felt a tiny smile pulling across her lips. She wasn't sure that would work on elementals since they can sense nature. She was glad it worked. They apparently weren't looking out for tricks like that one. She took a deep breath and released it. Relax. Stay focused. Don't think about how it was successful. I still have a long way to go. Don't get over confident. Just stay calm and remember your training. Remember what Law said. Elements aren't good or evil. The darkness is just a blanket. Look past that. I've been doing it already. Wait…I wonder how good their hand to hand combat is. So far they seem to only use their crystals. And they obviously have more practice at them then I do. I might be able to use that combat training against them somehow. If they're more use to using their crystals than facing someone through physical means…I might be able to catch some of them off guard by attacking them without my crystals.
Neo nodded. The idea was worth a try. She started to run again. Pulling her mud bombs with her with the use of her wind crystals, she continued to make the forest grow. The elementals that she sensed coming after her clearly weren't earth crystal users. She could hear and feel them struggling through her dense jungle. "What is this child thinking?!"
"What's the point of growing up the forest like this? I can easily burn these plants!"
Neo then sensed him flaring up his crystals and setting some of the forest on fire.
"Yeah, but if you get too out of control so will the blaze," the water guy said.
Neo sensed him using his water crystals to put out some of the fire. She now could clearly sense their fire and water abilities. She was getting use to how the darkness felt around them.
"She's just doing this to slow us down because we're not earth crystal users. It only works for her right now, but as soon as others join us tricks like these won't work," the fire elemental said.
"Stop burning the forest! You want to hurt us, too?!" the girl hissed.
"Oh shut up! You're water elementals! Just put out the fire!"
"You made it!"
Neo took their arguing as an opportunity to attack them. Using her wind crystals, she lifted herself into the air. She remembered her sparring sessions with Jean Bart. She had become faster with her winds to the point she disappeared. She did that here. She flew herself around the elementals that were after her.
"What's going on?" the fire elemental asked when wind caused his fire to flicker. Loose leaves fell from the branches they were attached to. The three elementals stood on guard, but it was obvious they couldn't follow Neo's movements.
Neo continued to fly around as fast as she could. She purposefully knocked more leaves off the surrounding trees. She needed as many distractions as she could possible manage. The three below her began to back into a circle. The fire elemental burned some of the falling leaves. He hissed, "I don't know what you're planning, but it's not going to work!"
Neo connected to a vine. She had it slither across the ground. Once it was close enough to the three, she used it to knock them off their feet. When they started to fall, she snapped out more vines and wrapped them around their bodies. The fire elemental growled again. He said, "Are you trying to make us angry?! I'm a fire elemental! Attacking me with plants is futile!"
"And yet you still got trapped," the other guy said as he and the girl tried to use their water to cut through all the vines Neo had around them.
"Shut up!" the fire elemental roared. His crystals flared up. A sharp hiss was heard and smoke filled the air as the flames disintegrated the vines. Just before he got free, Neo used her winds to throw her mud bombs at them. The thin leaves exploded on impact, covering their faces in mud. "What the heck?!"
The attack apparently caught them off guard. She slammed the two water crystal users against trees with the vines around their bodies, effectively knocking them out. She snapped more vines at the fire user. He once again growled at her. "Are you insane?! How many times do I have to say it?! I am a fire elemental! You can't stop me with pla-"
Neo planted her feet, engulfed in wind, onto his back. She pushed him down and into the ground, knocking him out. She stepped off of him. She carefully inspected them to make sure they were still breathing. They were. She didn't kill them. She sighed with relief that she didn't kill them, but also because her attack worked. "I know it wouldn't work on you like that. But it did work as a nice distraction. You were too focused on the vines and getting angry that you didn't see or sense me coming from behind you. I am so sorry for knocking you out. I had to do it."
Neo jerked her eyes away from the ones she just took down when she sense more coming. She took off again into the forest, pulling her remaining mud bombs with her. She was feeling a bit more stable in fighting, but knew if too many attacked her at once she wouldn't stand a chance. She was going to have to be careful. Separating them and attacking them in smaller groups was the obvious thing to do. She just didn't know how long she could pull it off until they figured out that's what she was doing.
She sensed wind elementals coming this time. She wouldn't be able to use the wind against them like she did the fire and water elementals she just took out. She was going to have to figure out a different way to stop them. She then remembered getting knocked down onto the beach yesterday. She remembered how the sand flew up into her mouth. "Wait…maybe I can use the wind against them after all."
She focused on the sea. The closest beach was to her left. She hurried off in the direction of the water. When she got there, she walked out to the middle of the beach and just waited for them. They arrived shortly after she did. She turned to them. She looked them over, but avoided eye contacted. There were ten of them. Three of them were wind elementals. Four of them were water elementals. And the other three were fire elementals. All of them were a bit bigger than her in physical size. They were about the same sizes as the rest of the crew, but for Jean Bart.
She could handle that as long as she took out the wind elementals first. Lucky for her, they were the ones to step forward first. One girl said, "We noticed you were using your wind crystals to take advantage of our three friends before."
"That trick won't work on us," another girl said. "We are the wind. And we're faster than you, Princess."
The other two elementals, four boys, and three girls, chuckled. All four of the wind elementals took to the air. Neo let her eyes linger on the remaining elementals. Their body postures were in relaxed positions. She assumed they weren't going to attack her. Yet anyway. She knew they would jump in if she did succeed in taking out the four wind elementals.
Her attention was pulled back to the wind elementals when they started using their crystals. She quickly noticed they were keeping their winds under tight control and high above the sand. She took a slow deep breath. She then summoned her wind crystals and created the fastest wind she could possibly create. She scooped up the sand in her winds.
"What's sh-" Before the girl could finish her question Neo used her winds to blend in the sand with their winds. She then used her earth crystals to create sand geysers. The sand geysers caught the wind users off guard. They faltered in flying a bit to avoid getting hit by the geysers. She flew herself up to them and threw one of her mud bombs. Once she had one of their faces covered in mud, she slammed her wind-engulfed feet into their backs. She was able to take out three of them this way. But the fourth one caught on to what she was doing.
"You won't be taking me out that easy!" he cried as he dodged her attack. She quickly recovered from the missed hit and threw a punch at him. He dodged it too, but was clearly taken by surprise at the attack. Her assumptions were corrected. They weren't use to fighting hand to hand. She quickly took advantage of that. She threw a couple more punches. He dodged them awkwardly. "What the heck are yo-?"
Neo then did a roundhouse kick. Since he was bigger than she was, she wrapped her winds around herself and used them to strengthen her attack. Her foot collided with his head. She winced at the impact. For once she wished she had her shoes on. She pushed on through with the attack and sent him flying through the air. She intended on kicking him to the ground, but ended up kicking him into a tree. He's back collided with the bark and he crumpled to the ground. She gasped in shock. "Sorry."
"How did she…?" one of the remaining elementals started to ask.
Neo didn't wait around to hear what he was going to say. She took off into the forest again. That last attack had drained her some. She needed to get some distance between her and the others before she attacked again.
As she flew, she barely sensed some vines coming up from below. She flipped her feet up over her head. She didn't move fast enough. One of the vines cut her already throbbing, from the kick, right ankle while another vine grabbed her left ankle. She was jerked downwards to fast for her to react. Her back collided with a tree limb. She recovered as quickly as she could. Summoning her fire crystals, she burned the vines around her before they jerked her downward again. She took off back into the air with the vines following close behind.
Panting and dodging, she summoned more earth crystals. She focused on the vines snapping at her. She felt the darkness within them, but forced herself to push past it and focus on the vines themselves. She had to get control over them to be able to escape. "There they are."
Neo's earth crystals started to glow. The vines snapped at her again. She threw out her hand at them. "I order you to stop!"
They did. She now had control over the vines instead of the elementals on the ground. She could hear their surprised shouts, but they were too far below to understand clearly. She quickly tied the vines into a thick bow and took off again just as fireballs were hurled at her.
…
Neo panted hard as she leaned against a tree. Her little trick of separating and attacking smaller groups of elementals was working. But they had caught on to her trick and were attacking her with more and more elementals. She had been going at this for hours. Soon the day would be over and she would be back in her cell. She was ready for it to be over. She didn't have much strength left to fight.
She started to finger Law's ring again when she sensed more elementals heading for her. She leaned her head back against the tree. She tried to summon her crystals. She couldn't. She knew it was over for the day. She didn't have anything left. She knew that they could sense that. She could feel their disappointment radiating from their bodies just like their elements and darkness. She was too tired to even figure out which elemental had which element. She just wanted to sleep. The quicker she got to sleep, the quicker the next day would come and the quicker she'd be with Law again.
"Ah man! She's already done for the day!" an elemental girl whined. "Just when she was starting to show some skilled and things were getting good!"
"Don't worry about it. We have plenty of time to play with her tomorrow," a guy said.
"Fine! But I want something for not being able to fight her today!" the girl hissed. Neo could feel the elemental's eyes on her, but didn't bother looking up. "She seems to finger that ring and hat a lot."
Neo's eyes widened. She whispered, "No…"
"I think I'll take them as payment," the girl said. Neo tried to move when she heard her step towards her. She couldn't. She was too tired to move. She was too tired to form her crystals. The girl knelt down and picked up Neo's hand. She started to remove Law's ring from Neo's finger. "I'll be taking that."
"No!" Neo snapped. She curled her fingers, momentarily stopping the ring from being taken from her. Her heart pounded so hard if felt like it was pounding in her head too.
"Uncurl your fingers! I want that ring!" the girl hissed. Neo struggled against her. "Hey! Help me out here!"
"Fine," the boy said. He stepped forward. Grabbing Neo's arms, he easily pinned her arms to her sides.
"No! Don't touch me! Don't touch that!" Neo cried when the girl easily pried her fingers loose then. Her heart started pounded with sharp erratic beats against her chest as she watched the ring being slid off her finger. When the ring got past her knuckle, Neo felt something inside of her snap. A strange, unfamiliar emotion built up in her chest. The feeling raged like a wildfire. She felt her fire crystals appear around her. No, this felt different. She felt something similar to when she put her hand in the campfire that one time. She didn't pause to think about it. All she knew was Law's ring was going to be taken away from her. She felt her fire flare up hotter than very before as she screamed. "Don't touch that!"
The elemental gasped and jerked back. They all paused and started at Neo as her body became engulfed in the fire. Her body became the fire. All of the elementals stared in complete shock. They raised their arms as if it would block the heat that washed over their bodies. One of them cried out. He said, "Stop her! Do you hear me, fire elementals?! Put her out!"
"We can't!" some of them shouted. They summoned their fire crystals. They tried to pull Neo's fire into their crystals, but wasn't able to. They tried to fight back with their fire, but Neo only pulled it into her fire making her blaze grow even more and become even hotter. They stumbled back when Neo's blaze grew hotter and hotter. The flame turned from reddish orange to blue when it got hot enough. None of them could believe what they were seeing. Neo shot out several fireballs from her body of fire. Some of the balls landed on the ground, others the trees, while some went right at the elementals.
"Someone do something!" an elemental shouted as she dodged one of the fireballs. Before they could, Neo's fire began to fade. Her fireballs became smaller and smaller.
"Wait! Don't bother wasting your time and magic," another one said. "That was all the magic she had left in her. Her flame is fading now. She can't do anything to us."
They all watched as her flame died down. As her fire faded her body became visible again and she collapsed to the ground in an unconscious slump. They all still stayed back. They were unsure if they should even approach her after what she just did. After a couple of intense minutes of just staring at her, one said, "We should inform Master Atlas of this immediately. Someone, take her back to the dungeon."
"I'm not going to do it. You do."
"No way. You do it."
"I don't want anywhere near her."
"Ugh! I'll take her then, you babies! She's passed out! She can't do anything to you!" a guy said. He walked over and knelt down beside Neo's body.
"Wait! I still want her ring and hat!" the girl from before said.
"Seriously? After what she just did when you tried to take the ring from her?" another girl asked.
"Who cares?" the girl snapped. "I still want them! She practically singed by hair!"
"You're too obsessed with your looks," the guy said as he reached for Neo's shoulders. The girl growled. "Just take them already! She should be out of it for a while, but I don't want to take the chance of her waking up while you're taking those away from her."
"Fine!" the girl snapped again. She snatched Law's hat off Neo's head then slipped his ring off her finger. "Take her! I'm going home! Someone go tell Master Atlas of this! He'll want to know her magic is growing!"
…
"What are you telling me this for?" Atlas asked, annoyance lacing his tone. He leaned back into the red cushion of the five points high back, black crystal throne. He propped his elbow up on the armrest and placed his chin in his hand. An annoyed and bored look played on his features. He smoothed out his robe with his free hand. A couple maids stood off the throne platform; ready to preform any orders they were given. "Royals have been known to take their crystals to the next level like that."
The small group of three elementals stood quietly. They didn't know what to say anymore after telling Atlas and Tao of what Neo had just done. They didn't want to anger their master.
"Father, if she is able to do that while being so weak then it's only a matter of time before she realizes she has the solar crystal. Does the darkness really want to be purified?" Tao asked. He stood up from the other throne on the platform and faced his father.
"If you are so worried about her, then you face her tomorrow. The darkness is enjoying the chaos. It finds it rather amusing that this girl is causing such trouble by using her physical prowess against the mighty elementals so easily." Atlas laughed. "Its ready to move on with our plan. Now that we have the girl in our grasped, we can move on to take over the human world."
"You're not taking this seriously," Tao said. "Not all humans are as weak as those we took the girl from. We still don't know everything on what humans are capable of. You remember that red haired pirate that came here occasionally? He was very strong the last time he was here. He managed to get the princess and her family off the island. And even when our forces attacked his ship, he and his crew gave us a hard time. That was twenty years ago. He's even stronger now. And he was very loyal to her parents. Imagine what he would do if he were to realize we have the princess now. Or do you doubt that she has his loyalty?"
"Hn." Atlas glared at his son. He grabbed his staff and stood up. The second he was on his feet, Atlas' body began to glow dark. He pointed the top of his staff at his son. The glow from his body flowed down the staff and out to Tao. Tao cried out and grabbed his head as the dark glow forced itself into his body. "I will no longer tolerate your tongue speaking out against me! I am in control of this island! That pirate hasn't been to this island in twenty years! He knows better than to mess with me! I command you to be silent now! Do you understand me, Tao?!"
"Y-yes, Father," Tao stuttered. The darkness lifted from his body and went back to Atlas. He gasped for air. A low sigh was on his lips as he straightened himself up.
"Good. I will hear nothing more on the subject from anyone." Atlas slammed his staff's end on the crystal floor. A loud crack was heard from it. The old man then walked down the three stairs of the platform to leave.
"Um, e-excuse me, M-Master Atlas?" The old man turned his attention to the timid little voice that trickled through the room. Hiding behind one of the maids in the room, was a little dark red haired girl. She peaked out her dark red eyes from behind the skirt of the maid. Atlas looked down at her. "A-are you sure w-we are safe?"
"Why of course, little one," Atlas cooed. He bent down and smiled at her. He beckoned her to come closer. "Don't be shy. Come here and tell me your name."
The little girl gulped before doing as she asked. Her maroon skirt swished as she took short, timid steps towards him. She tugged at the hem of her white shirt with one hand while tugging at her medium length tresses with her other hand. "T-Tandy."
"Well, Tandy, what is your concern today?" Atlas asked with his smile remaining on his lips.
"I'm…I'm not strong. I-I can't control my fire c-crystals very well. And th-that girl is the princess. Sh-she has the solar crystal. I'm s-scared. I-if I have to fight her, then I won't be able to win," the little girl stuttered.
"Don't worry, Tandy." Atlas placed his hand on the girl's head. He ruffled her hair. "We won't let that nasty solar crystal wielder hurt you. You are protected by the darkness crystal, myself, and my son. The darkness crystal won't betray its subjects. You're safe with me."
"Really?" The girl gasped happily.
"You sure are." Atlas laughed. He then picked the girl up and placed her on his shoulder. "How about we get you something to eat? I'm sure you're hungry now. It's getting late after all."
