The Three Magic Knights
[Warning spoilers and heavy hinting ahead!]
Part 2
Precea, or Dan finally gets a kick ass weapon.
Zagato watched the group as they floated down from the sky on the
griffin from his magic mirror, a small smile touched his lips as they
landed in the forest of silence. Suddenly he was aware of a presence at
his side besides his servant. He spun creating a magic shield and the
shadowy figures behind the waters gave a collective gasp.
"Voyeurism? Why Zagato, you cad!" Xellos smiled as he jumped back to
avoid the shield. The mirror showed a close up of Hikaru and Xellos
smiled to himself. "I would think your taste would be slightly older
though, this one is built like a pillar." Zagato turned away from him
ignoring his presence as best he could.
"What do you want?" snarled the white clad man as he stepped between his
master and the cheerful mage.
"Just checking up on you, I wanted to see how Alcione's wounds where
after meeting up with the male magic knight. I have many duties to attend
to here, and one of them involves keeping an eye on you," the man sat
down cross-legged on the floor in the center of the room waving his hand
at them. "Please continue and don't mind me."
"Keeping an eye on me?" for the first time, Zagato showed signs of
annoyance with the little man and frowned slightly.
"Don't flatter yourself you love stricken wizard, you protector of
Emerad you. Are there any other annoying names I can call you to tell you
I already know exactly what your doing and why?" the small mage opened
his eyes giving them a slightly threatening golden stare. "I'm not here
to interfere with you, and the fate of Ciphero does not concern me."
"What's he talking about?" asked one of the figures from behind the
water.
"Hmmm, the seeds are sewn so to speak," Xellos smiled to himself as he
thought this and faced Zagato again.
"You dare?!" snarled the elfin man as he stepped towards Xellos.
"Oh, this again, let's get creative this time!" the mage muttered
something under his breath and waved his hand. "Explosion Array!" The
ground underneath the elf's feet blasted upwards sending a shower of
stone and dirt into the air for almost two hundred feet, well it would
have if the ceiling weren't there. The elfish protector was plastered to
the ceiling and not moving. "That was fun, I could get to like you...Mr?"
Xellos looked like he was trying to remember something.
"His name is, Inova," answered Zagato calmly.
"Oh right, thanks I couldn't remember that. Oh well, he's fun who ever
he is," Xellos put his hand up to his forehead as he looked up at the
still unmoving figure on the ceiling.
"If you return here again without doing anything useful, I will kill
you," Zagato turned away and went back to his mirror.
"Well, you'll certainly try anyway." The mage turned causing his cape to
billow dramatically as he walked out of the room, behind him Inova
finally fell back to the ground.
"Master Zagato! Let me kill him!" begged the man as he recovered from
the blast and fell on his knees.
"No, he is already in the forest of silence with the three magic
knights, he appears to be following them." The taller man stood unmoving
as he turned away from his servant in disgust. "He is to powerful to
ignore, so let's find out what he wants. His magic is far more powerful
that Alcione or even Master Mage Clef."
The room gave a collective gasp suddenly and the waterfall was the only
sound that could be heard within the palace walls.
Alcione sat on the ground for a moment and frowned, she looked no
different than when she first went to face the magic knights. A raw
powerful anger rose in her heart as she seethed in her place before
Zagato. Mere children had humiliated her! It was quite unforgivable. "I
must have my revenge, perhaps lord Zagato will allow me to follow them?"
Just before she spoke a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and stopped her
from begging Zagato for the chance to regain her honor.
She looked up into the sheet of water and saw her reflection staring
back at her, she was covered in burn scars again with almost half of her
hair burned off. She sucked in a quick horrified breath at the sight,
none of her healing spells could take the scars away and her glamorie had
been dispelled the moment Xellos grabbed her arm.
"Hello, I have a proposition for you," the mage's hand glowed white
suddenly and the woman gasped, still unable to bring herself to scream or
speak from the shock. Within seconds she was healed and her hair had
grown back.
"H-how?" it was all she could say, according to Zagato he was already in
the forest of silence.
"That's a secret, besides I can see right through your glamorie and it
isn't pretty; not like now anyway," he leaned in close to her as he said
this and she saw him wink from his reflection in the water.
"My heart belongs..." Alcione started to speak, her voice was angry, but
quiet.
"Don't get the wrong idea, I want to help you get those magic knights,
for a price of course." He stepped away from her and leaned on the staff
waiting for a reply.
"What price, I would give anything to prove myself to lord Zagato!" she
fell on her knees before him and he smiled wickedly.
"Ask Zagato if you can wait outside of the forest of silence for the
magic knights, and for now the rest of the plan is...a secret," he bowed
and melted into the shadows once again.
Dan walked towards the large dome and glared at the stone wall as the
girls wandered around it aimlessly.
"There doesn't appear to be any way inside," commented Fuu.
The boy snorted at her, "of course it doesn't appear that way! It's
obviously a secret entrance, wouldn't be much of a secret if you could
see it easily would it?"
"I suppose not," answered the girl looking somewhat dejected.
"Well how the hell are we supposed to get in? Just knock?" Umi rushed up
and tried to grab him but he was already heading for the wall.
"Let me in you stupid wall!" he pounded against the stones while the
girls looked at him in confusion. Of course they all just about fell open
when the wall opened up to let them in.
Dan started walking into the building and the girls all stopped cold at
the doorway. "We shouldn't go in without permission," Hikaru looked
worried and the other girls looked like they where going to agree with
her. He promptly turned on his heels and walked out taking each
individual girl and throwing her bodily into the doorway.
"That takes care of that!" he dusted off his hands and walked past them
with his head held high.
"Mr. Dan! We shouldn't just barge into someone's house like this!" cried
Fuu angrily.
"Have you seen this place? Look around you retard, does this place look
like a house to you? It's obviously hundreds of years old, and to top
that off it looks like some sort of temple to me," he started walking
down the hall followed by the three nervous girls.
"Hello! Is anyone here?" called Fuu and Hikaru from time to time. They
failed to notice the small disturbance in the ground behind them and
pressed onward until they came to another building inside of a clearing
behind the walls.
A shadowy figure vanished from a tree just outside of the forest, in its
place Xellos stood with a smirk on his face. "It was easy using my shadow
to fool that stupid mirror. "I've got a little time until Alcione shows
up, perhaps I'll have a little fun!" he walked up directly behind the
group as they entered the fortress unnoticed by any of them. Standing
just out side the doorway he took out a small bottle and smirked as he
poured its contents onto the small disturbance in the earth that followed
them inside. "Heh, let's see how you get out of this one magic knights!"
The group came upon a doorway and stopped as reached it looking at one
another warily, all except for Dan of course, he simply shoved the girls
aside and walked into the room with a frown on his face. "Hey, is there
some chick named Precea here?" Just inside the room was a chair that had
pages flying from behind it making a mess of the room.
The chair turned and a small fluffy white looking rabbit creature sat
cheerfully making a mess of someone's office. Hikaru stepped back and
started to sweat a little, "Hello, m-m-Miss Precea?"
"That isn't Precea," said Dan with a small frown, "That's dinner."
The girls looked at him in shock and stepped back, "Are you insane?"
asked Umi with a frightened look in her eyes.
"Shut up squirt gun! I haven't eaten since I got here, and that's the
most edible lookin critter I've seen here yet!" he stepped forward and
put his hands up to catch the creature.
"Mr. Dan, I really don't think you should, it could be someone's pet,"
said Fuu as she stepped between him and the small animal.
"You stay out of this too wind bag," he pushed her aside easily and
prepared to lunge at the rabbit thing with a hungry look in his eyes.
"Stop making fun of my name!" cried the girl angrily as she recovered
her balance, she was really starting to hate this guy.
Hikaru attached herself to the boy's neck with tears in her eyes, "No!
You can't"
"Hey, get offa me!" he cried as he pulled at her arms in shock and fell
over.
"Oh, Mr. Dan, you seem rough, but I know your not really mean enough to
eat such an adorable creature right?" the girl fell into his lap and
stared at him with the biggest cutest anime eyes he'd ever seen.
"My god! Her head had to get three times bigger just for those to fit!"
He was shaken from his thoughts as a large cage slammed down from above
them trapping the four magic knights. "Damn, there goes dinner."
A beautiful woman appeared before them just outside the cage laughing to
herself at her own cleverness. "You fell for it Mokona! You're always
getting away with making a mess of my study. Now, what would be a fitting
punishment?" Dan smiled and handed her a black leather negligee and whip
from between the bars. "No, I don't think so, not imaginative enough,"
commented the woman with a slight color forming in her cheeks.
"I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have," replied Dan with a
smirk on his face.
Behind him, Hikaru became surrounded by a deep red aura of anger as she
grew fangs and cat ears while glaring at him. "What did he say?"
"I know! Shall I pull on your funny little...wait a minute!" she turned
to stare into the bars in shock and noticed what he had handed her.
"Please go on, this is getting interesting," the boy had a wicked smile
as the blonde woman threw the clothes on the floor as if they where made
out of fire as she turned completely red. "Now then, I presume you are
Presea, are you going to let us out or do I have to hurt you?"
"Who are you? So! You're the ones who have been messing up my study!"
the woman seemed proud of her discovery as Monica happily continued to
destroy the office space directly behind her.
"Shut up, I don't have time for silly games woman, we are the magic
knights! Mage Clef told us that you could provide us with weapons," the
boy's face suddenly became hard and serious as he stared the woman down.
She backed away like a small, frightened animal under his gaze.
Meanwhile, inside Dan's head...
"I'm gonna get a sword! I'm gonna get a sword! Now I can kill these evil
people and go home! I'll just have a training accident, or better yet
I'll accidentally hit them while fighting a monster!"
Precea looked at them in shock she stepped back and watched them for a
few seconds. "How can this be? They can't possibly be this young!"
Hikaru smiled as the rabbit creature walked up and climbed into her
arms, "Oh how cute! You must be Mokona!" she cheerfully giggled while
snuggling the adorable creature.
Dan frowned as he glared at the white fuzz ball in disgust. "Oh no! It's
the annoying overly cute comedic relief character! It must die!" A smile
formed on his lips as he watched the creature carefully. "Wait! I can
openly oppose this thing, it will just be seen as a gag!" He stormed over
to Hikaru and frowned.
"What do you think your doing? I'm bigger than you! Get in my belly!"
the girl looked at him in bewilderment and smiled slightly. "Come offa
that girl you coward!"
Unbeknownst to him Umi and Fuu looked at each other in surprise. "He's
getting jealous of Mokona?" asked Fuu in confusion.
"Maybe, but that's kind of strange," agreed Umi.
"I think this proves he really does care, no matter what he shows us on
the outside, his true feelings can be seen now. I think he likes Hikaru
as much as she likes him," Fuu giggled quietly as she watched bewildered
red head become very pleased with Dan all of a sudden.
Precea seemed to snap out of her trance suddenly, "You three, you're the
magic knights!"
"I just said that!" growled the boy angrily as he spun around on his
heels.
"My name is Hikaru Shidou," answered the red head.
"I am Umi Ryuaki"
"I am Fuu Houji" the three girls posed dramatically creating a different
back ground somehow, one with lots of colors and sparkly lights; then the
boy stepped in front of them with his arms spread wide.
"And I am Dan! We are THE GINYU FORCE!" everyone in the room almost fell
over at his words and he gave a little victory sign while smiling to
himself.
Suddenly the door was smashed in and a large creature stumbled into the
room, it was brown with a light blue haze covering it's body. Dan frowned
slightly when he noticed a strange blue gray mist was emanating from its
body. Without thinking he pulled at the bars and bent them aside easily
stepping out into the room with a large frown on his face. "Let's go."
The girls nodded in unison and stepped forward posing proudly before the
open cage, none of them seemed to notice Dan was walking out of the room,
having meant 'let's go' in a completely different way than the girls had
taken it. Mokona jumped in front of him and he rolled his eyes. "Ok Pot
roast, I'll help out this time."
About that time Precea was explaining to the girls why they couldn't use
magic spells in the Forest of Silence. A shadowy figure appeared on the
top of the cage that had once held the magic knights, he smiled to
himself as he watched the battle calmly. "Magic spells no, magic potions
are another story all together." Calmly he turned and started to walk out
of the room without losing the smirk on his face. "Sorry children, I've
got an appointment to meet, enjoy your monster."
The three girls stared at the decapitated form of the monster on the
floor, Precea had slain the beast just after they found their magic was
not working. However she now clutched her sword arm in pain Dan leaned in
and frowned, it was covered in frost.
"That's an interesting monster," he said flatly.
"Come with me," said the weapons smith as she walked out of the room.
The group followed quietly with Hikaru carrying Mokona in her arms.
Dan gave the beast another quick glance and walked after them quickly to
catch up with the group, a dark smile crossed his lips as it twitched
slightly and started to revive.
A few moments later, inside the weapons, vault the girls and their male
companion looked at the room in awe. It was covered in weapons, hundreds
of swords, spears, and axes lined the floors and covered the walls of the
room.
"Choose any weapon you like!" said the woman cheerfully as she waved her
hand around in a smooth motion.
"Wow, you are so kind to provide us with weapons like this for free!"
Fuu looked almost too happy, "It never works like this in a roll playing
game!"
"I figured as much, Nerd," Dan frowned as he snuck up behind he and
whispered it into her hear.
She turned and fumed at him angrily, "and just what is that supposed to
mean?"
"Nothing wind bag," said Dan cheerfully as he backed away.
"Oh the weapons aren't free," said the smithy to them.]
"What? How are we supposed to pay for them?!" cried Umi in shock.
"Calm down squirt gun, I've got some money," Hikaru looked immensely
relieved at his words. "You take Japanese yen?"
"I suppose I could, if you promise to save Cephiro," Dan stopped cold
and stared at her with large amounts of sweat forming on his head, if he
was forced to promise that way he would have to really go through with
it, his honor depended on it.
"I, uhhh." Luckily Hikaru piped up before he had to answer.
"Of course we will! We'll become the magic knights and save this world!
I promise!"
Dan smiled a little at her words, "You shouldn't make promises you can't
keep Hikaru. Oh well, it's not my problem, besides, she shouldn't have
spoken for me."
"But, remember! You can't have these weapons to keep! I'm just loaning
you these weapons for a short time, I haven't even begun to make weapons
for you yet." The woman smiled at them and winked. "When I make weapons
for the four of you they'll be for you and only you!"
"Weapons just for us," gasped Hikaru.
"Just for us," repeated Umi.
"Only us," said Fuu.
"Yes, these weapons will be for us and no one else's, they are only for
us because no one else can use them, therefore they can only be for us
weapons, because no one else will use them, that is why these weapons
will be just for us, because they are only for us," said Dan with a
completely serious look on his face.
"Yes, well you can choose your weapons now," said Precea as she
scratched her head nervously. "That way you can go to the Magic Spring of
Eternia."
"Magic Spring of Eternia?" asked Hikaru in confusion.
"So we can get Escudo, so she can make our weapons," said Dan with a
small frown.
"How do you know that?" asked Fuu with a suspicious look on her face.
"He's right," said Precea, the girls all got surprised looks on their
faces.
Dan laughed to himself as he leaned against a rack of spears looking
remarkably cool.
Suddenly the door started to thump and Precea turned towards it in
shock. "Hurry! You have to decide now!"
"Just close your eyes and concentrate," said Dan to the girls.
They all did as they where bid and the weapons appeared over their
respective heads, Fuu got a bow and arrow, Hikaru was equipped with a
broadsword, and Umi got a fancy looking rapier. Dan smiled as he opened
his eyes to see what he had received, his jaw dropped like a rock when he
saw the tiny dagger floating over his head. The whole weapon was about
ten inches long, including the handle.
"No way! Carrot you bastard! I'll get you for this!" he cried towards
the sky.
That was when the door exploded inward sending debris flying across the
room, Precea fired the cannon she was standing next to and the brown
creature raised it's claw and stopped the cannon ball cold, literally.
The projectile became frozen in the air and shattered against the thing's
body.
Hikaru jumped into the air and slashed downward neatly slicing the
monster in half, the center of the monster seemed to melt and merge back
together.
"Weapons won't beat this thing!" cried Fuu in shock as she shot several
arrows into the thing's hide with no success.
Dan calmly dodged a few attacks and did nothing offensively; Hikaru
turned towards her friends and called out to them. "Follow me!" Dan
smirked when he noticed her frost covered arm. She ran through the
building and grabbed a tablecloth off a dinning table as she dashed by.
The creature followed dumbly after her and her friends screaming a mad
rage.
"Fuu, Umi, I need you to distract it for a moment!" called the girl as
she faced her friends with the monster chasing after her.
"It won't work," said Dan simply.
Hikaru ignored him and put her plan into motion, while her friends where
distracting the monster she tossed the cloth over it's head and sliced it
in half sending it into the lake, or it would have if the water had not
frozen solid just before the creature hit it.
"I told you," said Dan with a confident smirk.
"That was a good table cloth!" said Precea with a sigh.
"What do we do? When that thing gets it's balance back..." said Umi with
a slight wavering to her voice.
"You'll just die then," said Dan with a completely calm face.
"What?" Fuu was shocked at his calm and suddenly serious demeanor.
Hikaru had another brainstorm, a small trickle of a stream could be seen
on the opposite side of the ice and she rushed forward sliding through
the ice creature's legs. The thing turned and chased her lumbering slowly
behind her, she dashed and smiled as a familiar roar filled her ears.
"This has got to work!" she dashed forward and found a small pool with a
waterfall dumping thousands of gallons of water on the creature from
above, she backed away and ran behind the waterfall where a small cave
led back into a dead end. She closed her eyes as the monster's shadow
became visible through the sheet of water that separated her from it, the
thing lurched forward suddenly and attempted to go through the water, it
froze the falls instantly and was encased in a huge wall of ice.
Umi and Fuu, rushed up and grabbed the girl with looks of worry on their
faces. "Hikaru! Are you all right?" asked the blonde girl.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," said the pigtailed girl with a weak
smile on her face.
"I'm impressed girl, using the waterfall like this was pretty smart,"
Dan did his best to hide his disappointment and gave a weak smile. "If
the fall ever thaws out it should wash the thing away like you where
trying to do back at the pool. Gee, too bad it didn't work." His fists
were growing tighter with each word he spoke.
All of the girls weapons vanished into the jewels on their wrists
suddenly causing them to cry out in shock, Dan's did as well but he was
merely glad to be rid of the embarrassing weapon.
"Our weapons are gone!" said Umi in shock.
"They appear to have vanished!" said Fuu.
"Why does everything appear to you? Are you too stupid to be certain?"
Dan frowned as he leaned into Fuu and awaited his answer.
"There is no such thing as certainty!" retorted the girl angrily.
"Suuureee," said Dan sounding unconvinced.
"Your weapons are safe, they will reappear if you will it to be so,"
said Precea cheerfully.
Dan snorted slightly and looked at the woman, "Man she's cute," he
muttered under his breath.
Fuu overheard his words and looked at him in shock, she also noticed
something he didn't, the fact that Hikaru was standing right behind the
woman. "Oh my," she gasped while blushing at her new discovery.
That night Hikaru slept soundly in a room with Umi and Fuu. They where
all in separate beds and the latter two girls were having trouble
sleeping.
"How can she sleep like that after this terrible ordeal?" asked the blue
haired girl with a little jealousy in her voice.
"I don't know," Fuu's voice sounded slightly on edge. "I believe in her
and I think she will become the legendary magic knight spoken of in
legend, but..." the blonde girl looked apprehensive about something.
"What is it Fuu? You can tell me!"
"That boy, he bothers me. I know Hikaru likes him, and he obviously
likes her; but the two of us might be in danger, I don't think he's
sane." She curled up under the covers and shuddered slightly as her
memories of his face when he said they might die.
"I think he was just pushing us a little, I don't like his attitude
much, but he's always been there when we really needed him until now, and
the only weapon he got was a little tiny dagger," the girl smiled
slightly to herself as she hugged her knees. "Besides, he's obviously the
strongest of all of us."
"That's why it bothers me so much," replied Fuu before she lay down
again. "In any case, we have to be careful! We might not fare as well
against other monsters."
"Stop scaring me Fuu!" whined the other girl.
"Will both of you shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep!" A
half-asleep Dan sat up at the foot of the beds, the two girls screamed in
fright and the boy found himself with two pillows embedded in his face.
"I hate this place so much."
Dan smiled the next day as he watched the girls say their good-byes, he
stood next to them and waited somewhat patiently while they talked with
Precea. "Remember, you don't get a single yen out of me until the job is
done," he gave her a small wink and bowed politely before starting off
towards the woods.
"Why is he so cheerful this morning?" asked Umi with a bewildered look
on her face.
"He said something about Escudo and some sort of God earlier," replied
Hikaru, "and then something else about his impatience in seeing 'His
Gekigengar."
"What's a GekiGengar?" asked Fuu in confusion.
"How should I know?" replied Umi with a somewhat disgusted look on her
face.
The three girls walked off after the boy, "I wonder what Escudo looks
like?"
"It's sort of like a big colored crystal, it'll probably match the color
of your armor," replied Dan cheerfully. He knew of course that they where
off to fight monsters, a lot of accidents could happen while fighting
monsters. He hummed a small tune to himself as they walked along.
Precea looked on worriedly as the youths ventured into the forest. "I
hope Princess Emerad is watching over them!"
"Don't worry about that young lady," said another voice from beside her.
She gasped and turned to face the newcomer. Xellos leaned against the
wall with a quaint smile on his face.
"Wh-who are you?" demanded the woman pulling her sword out.
"Just a traveler who happened to overhear a few things, nothing to worry
about. Emerad may be looking out for them, but her 'protector' will be
quite vigilant, I hope for their sake that they are prepared," he smiled
a little more and looked up at the woman. "Especially if they want to get
past what waits for them just outside the forest of silence alive." The
strange man walked off in the opposite direction, vanishing into the
forest's shadows.
"Who?..." said Precea quietly as she watched him fade away.
TBC...
Next time, Dan tries to cheat a bit more and Alcione has a new trick up
her sleeve thanks to Xellos, but what is it and what did she pay to get
it? Dan must put up with the challenge as well unless he wants to be
stuck with a dinky dagger for the rest of his time in Cephiro. What kind
of test will he face, and how can a guy as unstable as him with such
uncertain intentions possibly pass such a test? Find out Next time!
Other notes:
It should also be noted that Dan is teasing the girls using their names.
I.E. Calling Fuu a wind bag, her name means wind. Umi means ocean, and
Hikaru means light.
Anyone who has seen Magic Knight Rayearth 2, or read the manga all the
way through should get Xellos's joke in the first part as well.
Carrot Glace, the artist formerly known as Catbert25. Web page at:
Http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/fountain/3203
"Ohh, shit! Someone else is out of Alcahol!" -Fujisawa Sensei.
"It's a wonderful warm fuzzy feeling in the pit of my stomach, like I've
had too much beer or something." -Phil