Alcyone, the Vengeful Sorceress!
It was a new day of travel, now in a much more open and bright environment. However, that didn't really affect Mokona at all as it kept bouncing and waddling at high speeds towards the Spring of Eterna, the Magic Knights following behind.
"Hah... Mokona!" Hikaru called, stopping to catch her breath.
"Do we have to be in such a hurry?" Umi wondered as she came to a stop next to Hikaru.
"Just where is Sir Mokona headed?" Fuu asked, meeting the other two just in time for Hikaru to collapse to her knees in exhaustion.
"How the hell can you tell Mokona's a boy?" Logan pointlessly questioned, falling like a sack of bricks next to Hikaru.
"Hey! I got an idea!" Umi announced, and everyone looked at her in confusion. "We're out of the Forest of Silence! That means we can use our magic now! Let's fly away!" She called, pointing off and up into the distance. "Fly away! Let's fly away to the Legendary Spring of Eterna!"
Hikaru and Fuu sweatdropped, and Logan just let his face fall back into the dirt as literally nothing happened.
"Fly to me, fly to me, Legendary Spring of Eterna!" Umi called again, still without a response.
"Uhh, Umi? I think you're supposed to learn how to use the magic from Clef first..." Hikaru pointed out with a shy smile.
"Yes, that's right. I have not yet learned how to use the magic either."
"Ditto." Logan muttered, his voice muffled as he stayed face-down. "But it's kind of a crapshoot since, oh, y'know, Clef got his ass handed to him before he could tell us anything!?"
"Oh, it's alright!" Hikaru reassured him, lightly patting him on the head (making some of the tension in his body vanish). "I can use magic for all four of us!"
"Oh yeah?" Umi questioned sarcastically just as Mokona came running back to them, leaping right into Hikaru's arms.
"Uh? Mokona?" Hikaru asked as Mokona made several terrified puus, pointing back in the direction he came from.
"It might be a monster!" Umi guessed, taking a defensive stance.
"Nobody invited it to join us..." Fuu muttered.
Logan slowly got to his feet, glancing around. "Steady..." He said, narrowing his eyes. But then a small puddle of darkness came flying over towards them, and stopped right under their feet. Immediately, they began sinking. Mokona leapt out of Hikaru's arms and to a nearby tree, kicking away a vine that Hikaru was able to grab onto.
"Grab my hand!" She shouted, reaching out for the other three. She managed to grab a hold of Fuu's arm, but Logan missed, and ended up grabbing onto her leg. Unable to hold on, he ended up pulling off her boot and roughly landing on the ground. But poor Umi got the worst of it. She missed completely, and was now halfway through the pool of darkness.
"Umi!" Fuu cried as Umi kept screaming in alarm.
"Come on!" Logan demanded, grabbing Umi's arm and trying to pull her out, but it was no use as she completely sank into the puddle of darkness. "Shit!" Logan cursed, only to feel the ground under his feet give out, and then he fell, quickly being pulled in. Another dark puddle appeared near Fuu, and grabbed her.
"Fuu, no!" Hikaru said with shock, grabbing onto Fuu's legs and being pulled along with her as Fuu was lost into the dark puddle, making Hikaru slam into the trunk of the tree adn fall out of it. She looked back to her one remaining companion, but all he could do was stick out a hand as he too went under. But the puddle shimmered briefly before closing, as if something wasn't compatible. The Master Sword shot out of the puddle and impaled itself in the ground, and the puddle then truly disappeared.
Mokona hopped over to the fallen Hikaru, licking her face affectionately. "Hey you guys! Where are you?!" She called out, hoping to get any sort of response. "Umi! Fuu! Logan!" She cried out across the desolate clearing. Still nothing. The dark puddle then appeared under her feet, and Mokona leapt away. She raised her gauntlet and summoned her sword. "You'd better return the others to me right now!" She demanded, stabbing the edge of the dark puddle with her sword.
There was a small explosion that knocked her back a few feet, but then the dark puddle raised into the air, and a sort of nebula-like curtain appeared beneath it. "What have you done to the others!?" Hikaru shouted, looking into the curtain. Inside were Umi, Fuu, and Logan. Umi's sword, Fuu's bow, and Logan's shield and other sword were all floating next to their owners as they lay motionless in zero-gravity.
"H- Hikaru... Help..." Fuu muttered.
"I'll get you out of there!" Hikaru reassured her. "Flame Arrow!" She shouted, launching her hand out and finally casting another spell, the bolt of fire slamming into the puddle part of the monster, making the curtain part crack. The monster made a pained face (its only expression now) and then exploded into a cloud of darkness that once again sent Hikaru flying. But when the dust settled and she looked up, her eyes sparkled.
"Fuu! Umi! Logan!" She called, running over to her friends, who were sitting on the ground, safe and sound, their weapons scattered around them.
"I... I couldn't breathe..." Umi stated, coughing slightly.
"Oh thank goodness!" Hikaru said, holding back sobs as she hugged the three of them.
"Thank you, Miss Hikaru..." Fuu whispered in her ear.
"Ugh, I could've gotten us out of there if I could use magic..."
"Uuuhhhhhgg..." Logan simply groaned, too worn out to even bother being flustered by the sudden contact. "At least I know how my laundry feels..."
"Oh, come on!" Umi sighed, helping him up as Hikaru assisted Fuu. They gathered their weapons ("How did this get here?" Coming from Logan as he located the Master Sword). And then another growl echoed out.
"Not again..." Logan said with absolutely no care at all, and Mokona finally returned, waddling right past the group.
"Mokona! There you are!" Hikaru cheered.
"Maybe we should follow Mokona's example and hurry on towards the spring." Fuu suggested.
"Agreed!" The other three Magic Knights said in unison, quickly running in Mokona's direction to avoid another monster encounter.
The woods finally ended with a wide open field, many stone buildings sitting desolate before the group. Nobody was in sight, giving the settlement a very uncanny feeling that sent shivers down their spine.
"This town sure looks deserted..." Umi muttered.
"You can say that again." Logan agreed. "This place is a ghost town..."
"I wonder..." Hikaru said to herself.
"Hm? You wonder?" Fuu pondered.
"What Clef said... Zagato... Has turned Cephiro into a land where monsters are free to roam."
"Well, that's depressing..." Logan stated, stepping forward. "Come on, let's go. We'll never get to Eterna if we sit here and think about that." However, as his foot hit the ground, a net appeared beneath all four Magic Knights, scooping them right up and suspending them in the air.
"What's happening to us!?" Umi cried out as the net stopped moving.
"Shit... Everyone hanging in here okay?" Logan said with a tone of voice that made it clear he knew what he was doing. Which swiftly earned him a bonk on the head from Umi, which almost sent his head into Hikaru's.
"Perhaps the four of us have stepped into some sort of trap..." Fuu muttered.
"There's no 'perhaps' about it!" Umi corrected.
"Who here smells like cherries?" Logan simply asked.
"U- uhm, that's me..." Hikaru admitted.
"Huh. It's nice."
"Well, now I know how fish feel..." Fuu joked.
"Fuu!" Hikaru groaned as the townsfolk revealed themselves, each brandishing makeshift weapons. "U- Uh, hello! My friends and I are not actually criminals or anything!"
No reaction.
"It's no use!" Umi cried. "They don't believe you!"
"I swear, what kind of shampoo do you use...?" Logan muttered.
"Now's not the time for that!"
"They appear to be acting rather strangely..." Fuu noticed as the leader of the group pointed a spear at them.
"Stop it!" Hikaru pleaded. "It's dangerous to point really sharp objects at people!"
Before the villager could stab them with his spear, there was a roar, and the villagers looked on in terror as a giant behemoth of a monster strolled on in, and they all ran off screaming.
"Oh, come on! Is this some kind of a joke?!" Umi shouted. "Because this isn't funny y'know!" She then grabbed Hikaru's head and started shaking her. "C'mon, Hikaru! Use your magic!"
"Oh, right!" Hikaru realized, righting herself. "Okay, here we go! Flame- Woah!" She cried as she fell through one of the squares of the netm now dangling halfway out of it. "Woah, my legs!"
The monster approached the group, lowering itself to be at eye-level with them. It almost looked like they were about to be toast when a little girl fell when trying to run in the chaos. The monster then turned to her, and an older woman ran in to shield the girl.
"Stop it! Right now!" Hikaru demanded, and then she started swinging her legs to make the entire net move, which just jostled the four of them around more.
"Hikaru!" Umi called, trying to make the redhead stop.
"Take this!" Hikaru shouted as the net swung enough for her to kick the monster right in the face, allowing the woman and little girl to escape.
"C'mon! What the hell are you trying to do!?" Logan questioned as he tried to pick himself back up to see better, doing so just in time to see the monster return its gaze to them. "Shit, now it's pissed!"
"Yeah, but that girl woulda been killed if I hadn't of done that!" Hikaru responded.
"I'm pretty sure that this monster was already angry to begin with..." Fuu noted as the monster raised its claws, eliciting screams of terror. However, when said claws were brought down, somehow the Magic Knights didn't get sliced into ribbons, as they had all tried to instinctively move to the right (from their perspective) and just so happened to push the net in that direction and barely get away. The monster sliced again, and they dodged to the left. Another slash, and they managed to lift themselves up. This cycle repeated until eventually the monster caught on and made a diagonal slash.
While the attack connected, it thankfully missed the Magic Knights, although not by much. The other good news was that it had sliced the net to pieces, dropping the four teens to the ground. Well, actually, three teens, as Hikaru's wrist was still caught up in the remnants of the net from when she raised it to cast her magic earlier, and now she was stuck in the air.
"Oh my goodness!" Fuu cried, watching as the monster approached.
"Hang on!" Logan called, getting up and bringing the Master Sword out. He held his right arm across his chest, and started running forward. Partway to Hikaru, he figured it'd be more comfortable to have the sword out to his right instead of his left, and swung the blade to get into that position. However, doing so launched a beam from the sword that curved right around Hikaru and collided with the monster's chest with a heavy crack! The monster fell to the ground from the impact, and Logan was able to run up and stab it in the stomach, instantly turning the creature into a mass of darkness that disappeared on contact with the legendary blade.
"You were fantastic!" Fuu said from behind him, clapping softly.
"Why thank you." Logan responded, turning to Hikaru. "Hold still." He advised, then aimed a strike at the bit of rope between the tree branch and Hikaru's arm, then sliced once more, the rope gave away, and Hikaru finally fell to the ground.
"Ow... Thanks for that..." Hikaru muttered as she got up.
However, the group was unaware of a familiar face watching from a nearby cliff, grinning wickedly...
"Hey, everybody!" Hikaru called to the citizens all cowering in their homes. "It's okay to come out now!"
"Oh, forget it, Hikaru." Umi advised. "To them, we're no better than that monster."
"It's all Zagato's fault." Logan muttered. "We need to get strong enough to face him, and then we can kick his ass!" He called. "So let's go! To the Legendary Spring of Eterna-"
CRACK!
It happened in an instant. One moment, Logan had been standing there, perfectly okay. The next, something shattered against his back. Bits of his armor broke apart like eggshells, there were a few cuts and gashes on his body visible from the damage that appeared on his clothes. He stumbled forward towards the girls. "Hikaru... Umi... Fuu..." He muttered, then crashed to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The three girls just stared in shock at their fallen friend.
"L- Logan!" Hikaru cried, immediately running over to him and shaking him. "Come on! Wake up!" She shouted, turning him onto his back and propping him up. "Hang in there!"
It was then that a vaguely familiar evil laughter echoed across the desolate town, and when the three girls looked up, they saw who had just struck their fellow Magic Knight down. It was none other than Alcyone, although they still did not know her name.
"I was getting tired of waiting." Alcyone stated. "Little eggs from another world who would have hatched into Magic Knights. You can't use magic in the Forest of Silence, so I've been waiting for you here. To give special thanks for what you did to me."
Hikaru glanced at Umi and Fuu, and passed Logan's limp form to them. "Listen, you two take care of him." She told them, getting up and walking towards the wicked sorceress.
"But Hikaru!" Fuu said, trying to stop her friend from getting herself killed. However, Hikaru didn't listen, and headed out to face Alcyone alone.
"You won't... You won't get away with this!" Hikaru threatened.
"You've learned how to use one spell..." Alcyone remarked. "But do you really think you stand a chance against me? A pupil of Master Mage Clef? And a sorceress for Princess Emeraude?"
"The princess!?" Hikaru stated in shock.
"A pupil of Mage Clef's...?" Fuu wondered, looking to Umi in horror.
"If you truly are a sorceress for the princess, then why don't you help us!?" Hikaru demanded. "Didn't Clef tell you that Cephiro's in a lot of trouble?!"
"Yes, I know." Alcyone revealed. "But what does that matter to me?"
"I thought Princess Emeraude was the Pillar that supported your world! She was abducted by High Priest Zagato!"
"I am actually here on behalf of Lord Zagato." Alcyone explained. "I was able to wait here thanks to my gracious Lord's permission."
"Why would you work for a guy like that!?"
"It's because..." Alcyone trailed. "I love him."
"What?" Hikaru asked, but received no response.
"Ice Spear Attack!" Alcyone roared, summoning several icicles.
"Hikaru! Watch out!" Umi shouted as the icicles went flying towards Hikaru. But she was able to jump out of the way of the first volley, dodge a stray one in midair, then roll across the ground to dodge the second volley, skidding to a halt.
"My! You are a nimble one!" Alcyone stated with glee. "But this time, I'm not going to go so easy on you! You'll end up dripping with blood! Just like your friend over there!"
Hikaru clenched her fist as she was reminded of Logan's condition, and the gem on her hand glowed slightly. "You hurt... My friend Logan..." She growled, getting to her feet. "Logan, Fuu, and Umi... We're stuck here in Cephiro... They're the best friends I could've had!"
A red aura surrounded Hikaru as the ruby on her gauntlet was set ablaze in magic fire. "Flame Arrow!" She called, firing a few bolts of fire at Alcyone.
"The same magic? I'm afraid it won't work against me twice. Barrier Circle!" With the end of her phrase came a protective circle in front of the evil sorceress. Yet Hikaru's flames didn't care, a few stray wisps managed to break through, grazing Alcyone, surprising her. 'Her magical power is stronger than before...!' She realized.
"Hikaru's willpower..." Fuu muttered. "Because Logan was hurt, it increased the strength of her magic!"
"To be able to strengthen her magic this much in such a short time... She really is a Magic Knight..." Alcyone conceded. "However, you cannot defeat me at that level of magic! Ice Blade Avalanche!"
A circle of ice appeared around Alcyone, shattering the ground and making it difficult for Hikaru to find even ground to stand on. The ice then all launched out in a wall that Hikaru was able to jump over. "There's no escape!" Alcyone called as more icicles went flying towards Hikaru. But before they hit, more magic flames surrounded Hikaru. They didn't hurt her, but they still cancelled out the effects of the icicles, creating a bright flash of magic energy.
"Ngh... The hell...?" Logan muttered weakly, and Fuu and Umi looked at him in relief.
"Oh, thank god you're okay!" Umi sighed, hugging him lightly
"Haha... See...? I told you... You'd care..." He then turned to where Hikaru and Alcyone were fighting. "Hikaru...?"
"She is currently fighting that middle-aged woman dressed in black." Fuu explained
"Shit..." Logan cursed, trying to stand back up, just to fall back into Fuu's arms.
"You must try not to move right now!" She advised.
"But... Hikaru..." There was a familiar puuing sound, and the three gathered Magic Knights looked to the source, finding Mokona by Logan's foot. "Heya... You worried about us too...?" Mokona nodded in response. "Haha... If only I hadn't let Hikaru learn magic instead of me... Then she wouldn't be in this situation... If only I'd known... That short-stack Clef wouldn't get the time... If only..."
Mokona hummed, and the gem on his forehead turned from red to a light blue, and then a beam shot from it to the middle of Logan's forehead.
"Logan?" Fuu asked with no response.
"Logan... Can you hear me?" A familiar voice questioned directly into his mind.
"Clef...?"
"That's right. Through Mokona, I am speaking directly to your heart. Do you hear my words?"
"I hear you... Are you alright, short-stack...?"
"I have been turned into stone. But thankfully, I am still able to communicate with you."
"I want... No... I need magic... To protect Hikaru... To fight alongside her..."
"Yes... You wish to save Hikaru. You have wished for magic to protect her. The power within you... Can you feel it? A power different than anything you have ever felt?"
"Yeah... I feel it... It's like flame buried deep within... And I need to find it... A voice... Words..."
"That is your magic..."
Hikaru wasn't doing too good. Alcyone had gotten the upper hand, slamming her against a wall and pinning her there with some icicles.
"You fought well, but now it's all over!" The wicked sorceress laughed. "Ice Missiles!" She called, and several icicles shot out, heading right for Hikaru.
"Crackling Thunder!" An unexpected, but wonderfully welcome voice shouted over all the chaos, and then bolts of lightning fired from the source, vaporizing each of the icicles with little issue.
"What?!" Alcyone demanded, looking over to find Logan, the Magic Knight she thought she had struck down. His hand was out and steaming slightly. Completely out of the blue, he had unlocked his own magic.
"Heh. How 'bout a fair fight this time?" He asked with a grin, summoning the Master Sword and raising it high as lightning began crackling around the blade.
Alcyone growled at him, but before she could even raise her staff to attack, Logan swung his sword and sent out another beam, this one almost like a spinning electric disk, and it hid dead on. Alcyone's body was wracked with countless volts, and she fell to her knees. She then disappeared without a trace, assumedly retreating. With the threat gone, Logan's adrenaline boost wore off, and he quickly fell backwards again, being caught by Umi.
"Logan!" Hikaru called, running towards him and basically sliding to a halt in front of him. "Logan!"
"Ha ha..." He chuckled. "Impressive, right? Actually, that's not important... You gonna be okay?"
"Yeah..." Hikaru confirmed. "You were there to help me, and that's why I'll be alright. You saved me..." She then leaned in and hugged him, his cheeks turning a bit red despite himself. "You saved me with your magic..."
"That's all I need to know, Hikaru... I guess we just can't leave each other alone, huh...? You're one of the best friends I've ever had, so full of courage..."
Fuu turned away from the frankly adorable scene long enough to face Mokona. "Sir Mokona. I believe it is my turn now. Please, give me magic! I wish to be able to help Miss Hikaru and the others!"
Mokona hummed as the gem on his forehead turned green, and then a beam connected itself to Fuu's forehead.
"Fuu..." Clef's voice echoed.
"Are you... Mr. Clef?"
"Yes."
"Please teach me magic. Magic to protect Logan and Miss Hikaru!"
"The magic already exists within you. You wish so deeply for the safety of your comrades that your heart calls the magic forth."
"My heart..."
"In Cephiro, the power of one's will is the greatest of all. The heart which truly believes becomes the greatest power in Cephiro."
"A voice... There are words coming from deep within my heart..." Fuu remarked, reaching a hand for the sky. "Winds of Healing!"
A light breeze picked up throughout the area rejuvenating everyone, and making them feel like new. Even the phantom pains from things such as falling or walking too long completely vanished. Logan's armor and clothes repaired themselves almost instantly, and his wounds vanished without a trace.
"Oh, wow!" Hikaru said in amazement. "Hey, Logan!"
"Wow... That's... That's incredible..." He muttered, looking at himself. "W- woah, hey!" He suddenly called as Hikaru ran over and hugged him again with enough force to throw both of them to the ground.
"Oh, thank goodness! You don't feel any more pain? Nothing? At all?"
"N- nope. Good as new!" He said, his face a bit redder than it normally was when Hikaru hugged him. Eventually, he managed to get up, and he also helped Hikaru to her feet as well.
"The heart which believes..." Fuu trailed. "That's the power!"
"God, thanks, Fuu!" Logan said, smiling at her.
"No, thank you, Logan. If it hadn't been for your magic, we most certainly would have all been killed by that woman. Consider it my recompense for back in the Forest of Silence. And I must thank you, Miss Hikaru, for fighting alongside him."
"Ooohhh... The four of us are a team now! We're all in this together! Partners in Cephiro!
Hikaru, Umi, Fuu, and Logan, the four Magic Knights, all made a circle, joining hands in the middle. And before they could break apart, the little girl Hikaru had saved approached her with a flower, holding it out.
"Is... Is this for me?"
Before the girl could say anything, the woman who had taken her to safety returned, and ran off with her again, causing the little girl to drop the flower, and Mokona went over and inspected it.
"Well, it doesn't look like we're any better here than we came." Logan sighed, picking up the flower and subconsciously putting it in his back pocket.
"No..." Umi countered. "Not to everyone, anyway."
"Another heart which believes has joined us." Fuu declared.
"There must still be hope." Hikaru remarked. "There's such beautiful flowers here."
"Yeah! We've got to make Cephiro the beautiful place it used to be!" Umi agreed.
"Well, we won't make any progress just standing here!" Logan said with a smile. "Let's go! We've still gotta get to the Spring of Eterna!"
"Right!" Hikaru nodded. "Come on! Let's get to Eterna so that another day does not pass before we restore peace to this world!"
And thus the four set off once again to continue their adventure.
Word Count: 4,179
yeah i skipped the scene of umi getting her magic. we can just say she learned it off-screen or something since it's basically the same scene but a fourth time. and i also was running out of time to write and wanted to make sure i got the chapter out. anyway eterna's next baebeeee