Author’s Note: Well, here’s the chapter, hopefully its good, it was done pretty quickly, but I have time now so…
Shadow got beaten up (to some of you, this is good. To others, you hated that) and Sigma and Eriol were captured along with Candice. Matriana and Tyrell are now under the control of some strange guy. Well, then Sigma and Candice and Eriol found their way out of captivity and ended up back with Shadow. They find Solana flying towards them and the chapter ends. Oh, ya… Sakura seems to be able to summon Spirits all of a sudden. Wonder where that’s going to go…
by Shadowpheonix
“So, you mean to tell me that you found Tomoyo and Meiling, but that they were possessed? Well, where are they now?” Solana asked.
“Not sure. The shield I put around them went away when I was knocked unconscious,” Shadow said, startling everyone that thought he was asleep.
“You… you’re awake? Wait… when did you get knocked unconscious?” Sigma asked.
“Yes, I’m awake. I just couldn’t sleep with all the excitement,” Shadow said sarcastically. “As for when I was knocked unconscious: I haven’t told you yet. After the two of you were taken by our friend that has some possession skills, Matriana appeared and was ‘possessed’ by the same person. Anyhow, she and Tyrell knocked me unconscious. They said something about getting back to me later as I lost consciousness, but I don’t quite remember exactly what they said. As for Tomoyo and Meiling, I knew they were coming and put The Shield around them to stop whatever spell was being used to control them. It worked, but when I lost consciousness, Shield stopped working and they were probably taken or are hiding somewhere,” Shadow explained.
“Ok. So what do we do about this new guy? I mean, who is he?” Solana asked.
“Someone that wants Sakura badly enough to go after Altarrin. I wonder if he’d be willing to join our side,” Sigma said.
“You’re optimistic today, Sigma,” Shadow said. “What makes you think that he’d want to join up with us? He knocked me, Candice, you and Eriol unconscious.”
“Shadow, is something the matter? You seem to be slightly… aggravated right now. You’re normally a lot calmer than this, though not much less sarcastic,” Sigma asked, slightly concerned.
“I’m fine. Just a little worried about Sakura. Anyhow, Li’s off in the distance and Altarrin’s with him. They’re waiting for Sakura and I’m pretty sure they don’t know we’re here,” Shadow said. “If we go ahead of them a little bit, we should be able to get to Sakura first. I’m sure she’s probably going to come here.”
“Are you sure?” Solana asked.
“Not at all, but I can hope. Sakura won’t stay where she is for long. Chances are she’s resting after tapping into whatever power she’s tapped into and will start looking for us soon.”
“You seem to know a lot about Sakura,” Eriol said under his breath to Shadow.
“So, let’s go,” Shadow said, shooting a look at Eriol.
“Where do you know Sakura from? I haven’t seen you before and you can’t have learned so much about Sakura in the past month or two,” Eriol said quietly.
“Actually, it’s only been three weeks, but that doesn’t help me any. You’re smart, Eriol, or at least from what I remember. You should be able to figure it out.”
“So, you know me as well. Who are you?” Eriol asked.
“It wouldn’t be any fun if I just told you. It’ll be much more rewarding for you to just figure it out for yourself. Anyhow, we’ve got more important things to attend to at the moment. Sakura’s not safe yet,” Shadow replied, turning from Eriol.
“Alright, let’s go around Altarrin and Li. They don’t have to know that we’re here,” Sigma said.
The others nodded in agreement and took a ninety-degree turn. They walked about ten yards before turning left and heading another twenty yards.
“Well, if anyone wants food now, we’ve got Solana on Zephyr to bring us some. If you could just get us something from the castle, I think we’d all be happy. Sakura may be a little while yet,” Candice said, still extremely hungry.
“Sure, I’ll go get us all some food,” Solana said. “Umm… can you tell me where the castle is?”
“Head south for about two miles and you should see it to your right. If you see a large, dark structure, assume that it’s the castle and go check it out. If it’s a mountain, go further south,” Shadow said. “Oh, and if you’re going to bring food, try to bring me a frying pan and the tiny cooler that I keep next to it.”
“Sure thing. So, south for two miles it is,” Solana said, leading Zephyr away from the group.
“So, where’s Sakura going to be coming from, Shadow?” Sigma asked.
“Well, last I felt her magic, she was further to the north. If she’s coming anytime soon, she’ll be coming from there. Let’s just camp out here and wait,” Shadow replied, sitting down on a tiny rock.
“Shadow, what if Sakura doesn’t decide to come look for us?”
“She’ll come, don’t worry. If she’s not here in another few hours, we can go look for her. Until then, we’ve got nothing better to do than to sit here. We can’t just abandon Li, after all, right?”
“Sakura, I think you should probably wake up now,” Lloyd said quietly, nudging Sakura awake.
“Hmm? Lloyd? Oh, right. Thank you. Do you know where the others are? I think I feel someone a bit to the south, but I don’t know who that is. Do you feel anything?”
“Yes. Altarrin’s down to the south a bit, and I think Shadow and… hmm… some other strange aura is nearby. Let’s go. I’m sure Shadow will be able to find us before Altarrin does.”
“But what about this other strange aura you were just talking about? Do you have any idea who it is?”
“No, not really. I’m sure we’ll be ok. The aura that I feel isn’t a strong one. Definitely a lot weaker than Shadow and Altarrin. We’ll be fine,” Lloyd said, taking Sakura’s hand. “Let’s go.”
Sakura followed Lloyd south for a while before she suddenly felt as if she was being watched. “Lloyd!” she whispered urgently. “There’s someone here, watching us!”
“Yes, I know. It’s the person I was talking about earlier, with the strange aura,” Lloyd whispered back.
“Boo!” came a voice behind Sakura, causing her to jump a few feet into the air.
Immediately, Lloyd embraced the Lightning Sphere and sent a bolt of electricity between Sakura and her attacker. “Who are you?”
“Stop it! I was just having some fun!” a young girl said, shielding herself from Lloyd’s electricity with a weak Light infused shield.
“Elaine!” Sakura exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here? I thought your dad told you to stay home.”
“He did, but… There’s something important I needed to tell you before I left. Every time I come to it, though, I can’t remember what it is. Sakura, don’t let my father know I’m here. Just let me stay with you, ok?”
“Ok…” Sakura replied uneasily. “I suppose I can do that, but shouldn’t you listen to your dad?”
“Yes, I know. But… something inside me tells me that he’s wrong. Look, I won’t be a burden or anything, ok? I’ll help you out,” Elaine said pleadingly.
“Sure, just stay. We don’t mind,” Sakura said. “Let’s go then.”
“Thanks. I promise, after I remember what I wanted to tell you, I’ll go to the nearest Portal and leave, ok?”
“Ok,” Sakura replied. “So, Elaine, what’s it like being the daughter of a powerful ruler? Does he push you really hard so that you’ll be able to take his place later on?”
“Sometimes, but it’s not too bad. Hey, who’s that guy?” Elaine whispered.
“He’s Lloyd. He used to work for Altarrin, but he’s on our side now,” Sakura answered.
“Oh, I guess that’s a good thing. Lloyd… Why does that name sound so familiar?” Elaine thought aloud to herself.
“Lloyd, you haven’t said anything since Elaine’s gotten here. Is something wrong?”
“I remember her from somewhere. I remember that face, with someone else… Something’s not right,” Lloyd replied grimly.
“But this is Elaine, Abner’s daughter. There can’t be anything wrong with her!” Sakura whispered fiercely.
“There may not be, but I’m bringing up bad memories. I don’t know what. Wait, you said Abner… He… Who is he?”
“Abner’s the ruler of the Light Realm. Lloyd, I’m sure you’re just a bit stressed out. There’s nothing wrong with Elaine,” Sakura said soothingly.
“You’re right. It’s not Elaine. It was… someone else. We… We’ll talk about this later. When she’s not around, ok? I need to speak to Shadow as soon as possible.”
“Sakura, Look!” Elaine yelled, pointing to the dark sky.
“What is it?”
“Don’t you see? Those colors, in the sky. They’re beautiful,” Elaine said, mesmerized by a wavy line of color.
“Wow!” Sakura said, staring at the wavy lights. “What are they?”
“Sakura, we should probably get going. I need to speak to Shadow as soon as I can,” Lloyd said, taking Sakura’s arm. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Wait, can we just stop for a minute, please?” Sakura asked, her eyes fixed on the lights.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Let’s go. We can’t stay here. Sakura? Sakura! We have to go!” Lloyd said, raising his voice a little.
“Alright fine, let’s go. Elaine, you coming?”
“Huh? Oh, ya, I’m coming,” Elaine said, taking her eyes from the lights.
A moment later, the three of them heard a loud snap behind them followed by a deafening moan. “Wh-what was that?” Sakura asked, plugging her ears.”
“Probably some creature that made those lights on purpose and wanted some food,” came Shadow’s voice up ahead.
“Shadow? Where are you?” Sakura asked.
“I’m right here. Now, come on. The others are waiting for you. We’ve got some important news that you need to hear.”
“Why can’t you just tell me right now?” Sakura asked.
“Because I need you to come with me. Don’t worry about it, Sakura. Let’s go,” Shadow said, grabbing Sakura’s arm and yanking her away from Lloyd.
“Ow! Shadow, you’re hurting me! Let go!”
Shadow turned to face Sakura with his two glowing red eyes. “Never!” he yelled, and pushed Sakura into the ground. “You’re mine now!”
“Sakura!” Lloyd yelled, placing himself between Shadow’s form and Sakura. “Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter! Sakura is mine now!” the creature said, changing into the shape of a sphienent and lunging at Lloyd.
Lloyd met the sphienent head on and filled himself with Lightning energy, sending an electric current through the sphienent as it made contact with him. The sphienent let out a loud scream before glowing a bright red and grabbing Sakura with one of its many tentacles. “If you shock me, you shock her!” it said before grabbing Lloyd and throwing him back a few feet.
“Sakura!” Lloyd yelled, charging at the sphienent and grabbing Sakura’s arm. “Sakura, this is going to hurt, but I need you to hang on, ok?”
After a slight nod from Sakura, Lloyd sent a current through the sphienent, causing both it and Sakura to scream in pain. Moments later, a bright stream of light pierced the sphienent’s tentacles and disintegrated their ends. “Elaine! What did you do?”
“Well, I promised to help, and since that nasty sphienent wasn’t watching me, I prepared a spell I learned and chopped off its tentacles,” Elaine said, smiling for a while before suddenly passing out.
“Gwaaaahh! You’ll pay for this!” the sphienent yelled as Lloyd pummeled it with one bolt of electricity after another, causing it to flee.
“Sakura! Sakura! Wake up!” Lloyd yelled, shaking Sakura in his arms.
“Ow,” Sakura groaned, sitting up and looking around. “Thanks for rescuing me,” Sakura said, forcing a smile.
“I’m sorry. I should have felt that it was a sphienent. Those things are Lightning creatures, after all. I’ll be more alert. For now, we can’t go anywhere. At least not until Elaine wakes up.”
“I think I’ll get some rest too. Thanks again, Lloyd,” Sakura said as she curled up on the ground and fell asleep.
“You’re welcome,” Lloyd replied.
“Good night.”
“We’ll have to leave soon, ok? I’ll wake you up when its time,” Lloyd said, putting a small shield around Sakura, Elaine and himself. If we don’t get to Shadow soon…
“Eriol, where have your guardians gone?” Sigma asked, getting off his floating rock.
“They’re nearby. Keroberos probably got everybody lost trying to find where Shadow was. I sent them ahead, but it seems that I’ve gotten further than they have,” Eriol replied, not turning to face Sigma.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Not much,” Eriol replied, staring off into the darkness.
The four of them sat in a small field of rocks, waiting for Sakura’s approach. Shadow sat crossed-legged, with his back turned to everyone. Similarly, sat Eriol, just about back to back with Shadow, were it not for the three yards between them. Moments later, Solana flew back with a frying pan and a portable cooler.
“Shadow, is this the pan you wanted?”
“If it wasn’t, I couldn’t ask you to go back for another one anyways, so yes. Now, let me see the cooler,” Shadow said, turning around for the first time in the last hour or so.
“Here.”
Shadow opened the cooler and everyone except for Eriol leaned towards him to see what was in it. Moments later, Shadow took out a few eggs and kindly asked Candice to light a fire with a few logs he also pulled out of the cooler.
“Light a fire? I’ll light a fire if you promise that I get a nice juicy steak or something. I’m not lighting a fire just for a few eggs!” Candice replied angrily.
“Well, the eggs were supposed to be an appetizer, but if you’d like to skip them, I’ll go straight to that steak that you want so badly,” Shadow said, pulling out a large t-bone steak from the cooler.
Candice stared at it a while before setting the logs aflame without another word. Moments later, Shadow finished cooking the steak and partitioned it among the rulers, asking if Eriol wanted any.
“Sure, I’ll have a bit. Just leave something on a plate for me. I’ll get to it in a minute,” Eriol said, still staring off into the distance.
“If you say so, though it’ll probably be gone if you don’t hurry,” Shadow warned, going back to the fire. “Well, there’s your steak. You should probably share it, and I’ll start another one. If anyone wants any pork, I’ve got that too.”
Shadow pulled out a package of pork from his cooler and started to fry that as well, along with a couple of eggs. As he finished, Eriol turned around and joined in the feast, talking with Sigma about his home and what it was like.
“After this is all over, you’re going to have to invite me over for a visit. I’ll be the first to write a book of the other worlds that aren’t included in the Realms.”
“Well, when this is over, I’ll have to find a way to get all of us there first. I hope it’s in one of your books, because otherwise, I might be stuck here a while.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got your way back,” Shadow said, jumping into their conversation.
“What’s your idea?” Sigma asked.
“It’s not an idea. Here, this is the book that you gave Li a while ago. I got it from him before he… turned on us. Take a look at it. One of the pages has a return spell,” Shadow replied, giving both Eriol and Sigma some more food.
As Eriol and Sigma paged through the ancient book, Shadow walked around dishing out food to everyone. After everyone was satisfied and full, they set up a watch in shifts and let everyone rest for a while.
“I’ll go ahead and take the first watch,” Shadow said, sitting on a rock and gazing into the darkness. “You guys can have a rest for a while.”
“Sure. I’m tired enough to sleep for a while,” Candice said, laying down on the floor.
“Just enjoy your sleep. There’s not much else we can do right now.”
“Sakura, wake up. We should get going now,” Lloyd said, shaking Sakura awake again.
Slowly, Sakura woke up and nodded, getting to her feet. She took a canteen from Lloyd and had a quick drink before rousing Elaine. The three of them set out again towards where Lloyd felt Shadow. After a few hours of walking through the darkened world, they came to the edge of a small forest. “Sakura, be careful. Make sure to watch where you step,” Lloyd warned, taking a step into the forest.
“I’ll be fine. Thanks for worrying,” Sakura replied, smiling at Lloyd. “Come on, Elaine. Let’s go.”
Elaine followed Sakura into the forest and the two of them walked a while before coming to what looked like a giant cliff.
“Lloyd, can you see the bottom?” Elaine asked quietly.
“No, and I don’t think I want to. Let’s find a bridge or something. We shouldn’t have too far left to go.”
“We don’t have to find anything. I’ll take care of it,” Sakura said, beginning her incantation and releasing her Star staff. “Float!”
A bubble of pink energy appeared around Sakura, Elaine and Lloyd and gently lifted them off the ground, bringing them to the other side. As soon as they landed, the bubble changed back to a Card and the three of them continued through the forest.
“Sakura, something’s not right,” Lloyd said an hour later.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. There’s something about this forest. As if… I don’t know. Close your eyes. Tell me if you feel anything strange,” Lloyd replied.
Sakura closed her eyes and felt the world around her. After a while, she opened them again and stared off to her left. “There’s something over there,” she said, taking a step forward.
Lloyd and Elaine followed Sakura out of the forest and found a large, dead tree in front of them.
“It’s coming from here,” Sakura said, backing away. “Any ideas?”
“Yes, just one!” came a raspy voice from the tree as a stream of electrified water shot out from the tree and hit Sakura.
“Sakura, are you ok?” Lloyd asked, running over to help her up.
“I… I’ll be fine. Take care of Elaine,” Sakura said, releasing her staff again. “Shield!”
“Well, you can use that shield all you want, but it won’t hold forever. You may as well give up now,” came the voice again.
“Who are you?” Sakura asked.
“Don’t you recognize us?”
Sakura turned around frantically, not knowing where the voice was coming from. Suddenly, a stream of water ran into her shield from behind her. “Who are you?” Sakura asked again.
“I’m Matriana,” came the raspy voice as Matriana stepped out into the open.
“And I’m Tyrell. I’m surprised you don’t recognize us,” another voice said as Tyrell stepped out behind Sakura.
“No! You can’t be!” Lloyd yelled, staring at the two rulers in horror. “You can’t be against us!”
“But we are! We were never on your side. You thought that the all-powerful rulers of the Realms would care what happened to a little girl like you, Sakura? We couldn’t care less! The only reason we ever did anything was to gain your trust and hand you over to be slaughtered. There’s no reason at all for us to continue to protect you. You should have stayed with Altarrin while you had the chance!” Tyrell said, surrounding himself in Lightning energy.
“No,” Sakura whispered. “No! You can’t mean that. There must be something wrong!”
“Afraid not. We’re here to take you away now, but don’t worry, it won’t hurt too much. Just come quietly and we’ll spare your two little friends there. Who is that, Lloyd and… Elaine! What are you doing here?” Matriana said, suddenly looking very concerned.
“You’re not yourself, Matriana. I hope this spell works!” Elaine said, unleashing a wave of Light energy at Matriana and Tyrell before collapsing from the effort.
As the energy hit, Matriana and Tyrell fell unconscious. A few minutes later, they awoke with a start and stared blankly at Sakura.
“Sakura! We’re so glad you’re ok!” Matriana said, getting to her feet.
“But… Where are we? I thought we were… standing guard for Shadow… How did we… What happened?” Tyrell asked, looking around in bewilderment.
“Umm… You were just attacking me and Elaine said you weren’t yourself before casting a spell and knocking you out. I guess you must have been possessed or something, but I don’t know. You seemed very shocked when you noticed that Elaine was here,” Sakura said, staring worriedly at the two rulers.
“Now we have to get to Shadow. I’m sure of it now. We have to hurry,” Lloyd said, picking up Elaine. “Come on, Sakura. We have to go!”
Sakura followed after Lloyd, using the Dash Card to speed Lloyd, Matriana, Tyrell and herself up. “Why do we need to get to Shadow?”
“Because! I’ll let you know when we get there,” Lloyd said, running towards Shadow’s aura.
A few minutes later, he arrived and found Eriol on watch with Shadow nowhere in sight. “Eriol, where’s Shadow?” Sakura asked, looking around.
“He should be over there some ways. He said something about wanting to be alone and walked off. Sakura, are you ok?” Eriol asked, slightly surprised to see Sakura run up out of nowhere.
“I’ll be fine. Lloyd needs to talk with Shadow and Matriana and Tyrell are here too,” Sakura replied, going off to find Shadow.
Matriana and Tyrell stayed behind, waking up the other rulers and asking them if they had any idea what might have happened while Sakura took Lloyd to find Shadow.
“Wait. Let me drop off Elaine,” Lloyd said, going back and putting Elaine down next to the talking rulers. “Ok, let’s go.”
“Sakura!” Shadow yelled, running up to her. “Are you ok?”
“Yes, but Lloyd has something important to tell you!” Sakura replied.
“Shadow, we have a problem. I remember where I’ve heard Abner’s name before and it’s not good. You see he’s…”
“Right here!” came Abner’s voice as he appeared in front of them.
“Abner! Get away! You’re not getting Sakura!” Lloyd yelled, absorbing Lightning energy and preparing to unleash it on Abner.
“And who’s going to stop me? I’ve made it this far, gotten this close, and you think you can stop me? I don’t care if you have all the rulers on your side! I could lift a finger and send you flying!” Abner yelled malevolently.
“Explain yourself, Abner,” Sigma said, coming up behind him with the other rulers.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you! Sakura is mine!”
“I don’t think so,” Shadow said, stepping between Abner and Sakura. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but Sakura’s staying here.”
“Abner, how could you? After everything we’ve been through together? Don’t you remember anything that we’ve done?” Sigma asked pleadingly. “You can’t be against us!”
“Aww, how touching. Tell me something, Sigma. What happened during the last battle in the war? Tell me. Who died?”
“You and I both know who died. We watched it happen and it was because I was careless enough to let it happen! What does that have to do with anything?” Sigma asked.
“Don’t you understand yet? Tell everyone, how did she die? Tell the story just as it is!”
“I was careless and let my guard down. And the Light Spirit’s sword went straight for me, but Natara jumped in to save me. What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Think back, fool! The Light Spirit doesn’t carry a sword! I killed Natara, and I’ve been after you ever since! You actually thought that the Spirit would be so easy to destroy? No one here ever actually faced the Light Spirit! You remember it. The Light Spirit carried a lance and destroyed acres of land with it, but during the final battle, you fought against one with a sword, one that I made from pure Light energy!” Abner shouted, laughing as Sigma realized what had happened.
“You! You destroyed her!” Sigma yelled, filling himself with an enormous amount of Earth energy and forming a giant axe in his hands. “You will pay!”
Sigma jumped into the air, bringing the axe above his head and down on Abner.
Abner lifted a hand and a wave of energy flowed from it, kocking Sigma back and unconscious. “You have no hope of defeating me! I have everything, and now, I will have Sakura. My power will be infinite!”
…… Well…. That means that I’m speechless. If you saw this coming, raise your hand… (meaning email me or review letting me know that you did…). Ok… and if anyone thought that Abner was evil at all, raise your hand (same bit…). Alright then… well, its slightly confusing, huh? Well, the next chapter will clear up a few things… hopefully. Until then:
Solve the challenge! There are only a few chapters left! (Let’s say… oh about ten ish…)