The Three Magic Knights
Part 3
Dan vs. The Forest of Silence.
Mokona hopped merrily along the path that led into the forest, Dan
scrambled after the creature with his dagger drawn and a hungry look in
his eyes.
Hikaru followed after him pleading for the creature's life as the four
dashed down the path. "No Mr.Dan! If you eat Mokona who will guide us
through the forest!?"
"I'm hungry damn it! Leave me alone!" retorted the boy as he fell on his
face as the rabbit creature jumped merrily just out of his reach.
Fuu sighed as she and Umi followed blindly after them. "This is most
counter productive."
"Like hell it is! We are having roasted rabbit tonight!" the boy
scurried along after his prey while Hikaru jumped at him just missing the
boy in an attempt to hold him down and calm him.
"This is nuts! What is this some sort of track meet?" stammered Umi as
she collapsed against a tree with the two girls while Dan chased the
creature back and forth in front of them.
All conversation stopped however when the group continued onward only to
run into a huge menacing looking beast. "Oh, great. It's a monster,"
muttered Dan as he stared at the thing calmly. Umi and Fuu turned around
and scampered away with frightened looks on their faces. "Come back here
you cowards!" called the boy as he ignored the beast as it charged him.
Hikaru appeared directly in front of him and cut the thing cleanly in
half causing it to vanish in a black haze.
"Hey, I could have handled it!" snorted the boy ungratefully; he turned
to see Umi and Fuu hanging off the girl exclaiming how cool she was.
Mokona bounced from it's hiding place and into Hikaru's arms. Umi looked
angry at it. "Why do you keep leading us to monsters?"
Mokona looked slightly upset and puu'ed several times in apology. "I
think it's just a coincidence," said Hikaru in its defense.
"It's more likely the damn thing is trying to get us experience by
fighting all of these things," said Dan as he glared at it. "Can I eat it
now?"
"Yes!" snarled Umi.
"No!" screeched Hikaru a she hugged it tighter.
"I don't believe that would be a good idea," said Fuu with a large sweat
drop forming on her head.
"If it gooks up one more time, I'll serve it to you on a platter,"
snarled Umi as she frowned at Mokona.
A short time later the group jogged through the forest with Dan
following closely behind Mokona with a hungry look in his eyes. He
stopped suddenly and crouched low as Mokona vanished into a cluster of
bushes. He turned to face the girls as they looked on in confusion. "Be
very, very quiet, I'm hunting...BIG SCARY LOOKING BIRD MONSTERS!" he
tossed his dagger off to his right and impaled the eye of a monstrous
looking bird monster. "HA! Die, die, die!" He stopped cold as the
creature vanished in a puff of black. "Aww, man. I was hoping for chicken
tonight or something."
"That wasn't a chicken!" cried Umi in shock.
"It would probably taste like one though, if it hadn't vanished that
is," said Fuu with a small smile on her lips.
Dan laughed as they walked on through the forest. "This is great! I bet
this place is full of monsters!" he merrily forged onward with the three
girls behind him.
"Why do you even say things like that?" asked Umi with a nervous voice.
"To watch you squirm mostly, you've got weapons, quit complaining," said
the boy cheerfully as he moved onward. After a split second of time
passed by he spun around on his heels and looked up at the canopy above
them. "I sense something, a presence I've not felt since..."
"What! Stop scaring us that way!" cried Umi in shock as she recovered
from her place on the ground.
"No, he's right. I felt someone watching us," agreed Hikaru as she
glanced around.
A shadow moved quietly away above the girls as they slowly continued
down the path. Opposite the first figure another ominous shadow smiled to
itself. "Well, this is interesting, I do believe he's enjoying himself."
"So, you say they know?" asked the first figure.
"They can't give you directions, but if you really want to find it..."
said Xellos with a small chuckle.
"All right then, I'm off! Thanks a lot!" the first figure bounced away
after the magic knights.
"Yes, enjoy my little gift friend!" called the mage as he waved, moments
later a cruel smile formed on his lips. "It will definitely be useful for
me."
Fuu continued her conversation with Umi as the group walked through the
forest slowly. "I think we should take out our weapons, you never know
when the next monster will attack."
"I guess so," said Umi sounding somewhat reluctant.
Hikaru stumbled as the ground pushed up under her feet, she jumped back
as a praying mantis like creature emerged from the ground in front of
her. "Umi, Fuu! Get out your weapons!"
Dan frowned and a small red box out of his pocket, he pointed it at the
creature and smiled as it opened. The thing beeped and began to speak to
him. "Scyther, a bug type pokemon..."
Behind him Umi and Fuu backed away in shock as the creature fought with
Hikaru, a huge plant creature emerged behind them and wrapped them up
with its vine like tentacles. Dan calmly turned his head and smiled at
them, "Well, a tentacle monster? This is turning into my kind of anime,"
he smirked as he pulled a small ball off his belt and tossed it at the
green attacking monster Hikaru was still fighting. "Sucks for those two I
suppose."
"What are you doing? Save them!" cried Hikaru in shock as her opponent
vanished into the ball.
Dan held up his dagger and frowned as he showed it to her. "What do you
want me to do? Prune it?"
Hikaru blanched as she realized he couldn't do anything about it. She
dashed forward and held her sword over her head, but before she reached
it the monster was cut in half by a mysterious figure. Dan ignored the
newcomer and plucked his pokeball off the ground humming merrily to
himself.
Mokona hopped into Hikaru's arms again and puu'ed cheerfully. The boy
turned around to face them, he was a handsome young lad, with green hair
and a scar running across the bridge of his nose. In his hand was a
glowing blade that retracted into the handle with a strange sliding
sound. The hilt of the blade looked strangely familiar to Dan and he
gasped in shock. "Hey! Where the hell did you get the sword of light?!"
The boy turned to face him with a confused look on his face. "This
sword?" he asked holding it up.
"NO! The one coming out your ass! Yes that sword!" said Dan angrily.
"Some guy gave it to me," replied the boy without offering any more
information.
Dan frowned, Carrot was going to die when he got back, the dagger was
bad enough; but giving him the sword of light was just rubbing his face
in it.
"Thank you so much for saving us," said Fuu as she stepped closer to the
boy.
"So, who are you?" asked the boy.
"My name is Hikaru Shidou!" said the girl without a moment's hesitation.
"I am Fuu Houji," said the blonde.
"I'm Umi Ryuzaki," replied the blue haired girl after her friends where
finished.
"You can just call me Dan," replied the boy ignoring the newcomer's
disinterested looks. He pulled the girls into a huddle and frowned at
them. "Come on guys you can do better than that, we have to come up with
some really good poses! After all, we're the Ginuy force!"
"We are?" asked Hikaru in confusion, which got her strange looks from
the other two girls.
They group posed together in a really great pose involving a lot of leg
lifts arm expansions and angles, it also had colorful backgrounds and
sparkling lights with Overly Dramatic Wind (tm). Ferio wisely chose to
ignore them and continued with his introduction. "People call me Ferio.
What are you guys, stupid? Wandering around the forest of silence without
any weapons is just beggin to get eaten by monsters," the boy leaned
against a tree and looked at them seriously.
"Why do you call us dumb for walking around the forest without weapons?"
asked Hikaru.
Dan could not comprehend the stupidity of it all. "Are you dense? Look at
what's already happened to us, every time we turn around something is
trying to kill us!"
"These woods are full of monsters, there must be hundreds and thousands
of them out there," said Ferio warningly.
"Cool!" cried Dan excitedly. The girls looked at him oddly and Ferio
continued.
"I work as a hunter in these woods..."
"Shut up, you're just a lost swords man, of no potential use to us," Dan
snorted and looked the boy in his eyes. "I've got better things to do
with my time than play guide boy."
Ferio looked surprised and embarrassed as he hung his head. "You're
right, I'd really appreciate it if you'd let me tag along. I can't seem
to find my way out of these woods."
Dan got a dark smile on his face as he looked towards Hikaru, Umi, and
Fuu. "If I let him tag along, I can have a scapegoat. If somebody dies
they'll blame it on him," he nodded his head and smiled warmly. "What the
heck, you might come in handy, all I was given was a crummy dagger to
defend myself with when I got here."
Ferio looked confused and simply nodded. "All right then."
"Wait! Mr. Dan, I don't know if we should trust him completely! I mean
he was going to lie to us before, why wouldn't he just agree to your
story to come along with us?"
"Shut up wind bag! I'm in charge here got it?" he snorted angrily.
"Who died and made you king?" snapped Umi.
"You did, if you don't shut up! I'm sick and tired of all your whining!
All you women do is complain, with the exception of Hikaru, and she's way
to cheerful and trusting to let her handle anything important!" the red
head looked at her friends and shrugged her shoulders.
"Traitor," whispered Umi to her.
Fuu frowned and glared at the boy, "Who are you to talk about being too
trusting!? All right, fine, but if something happens because of him, I'm
holding you responsible."
Dan made a small choking sound, "That could mean if someone gets killed
and I try to pin it on him too! Damn you Fuu, this is all your fault!"
strangely enough as his thoughts wandered a traveling pack with a bamboo
umbrella appeared on his back again.
"I hate to push my luck, but do you have anything to eat? I haven't had
a decent meal in a long time," Ferio looked even more embarrassed and
rubbed at his stomach.
"I'm sorry but..." Fuu started to speak until Mokona puu'ed again. This
time the jewel on its head lit up and a large pile of food appeared on
the ground in front of Ferio.
Dan was angry, "You've been holding out on me you little bastard!?"
"Well, you did try to eat him," said Hikaru with a small sweat drop
appearing on her forehead.
After a few minutes the pair of boys finished eating, Dan was shooting
nasty looks at the rabbit creature and Ferio simply looked contented.
"I don't trust him," said Umi with a frown.
"I'm sorry, but I can't just let such a good looking young lady can walk
around these woods unescorted," Ferio smiled as he hung his head down
dramatically.
"Did you say good looking?" asked Umi as she brightened up.
"Hey! What am I? Chopped liver?" Dan was miffed, but not really all that
angry.
"You are hardly an escort," replied Umi.
"It's dangerous for such a beautiful lady to walk these woods without a
body guard," the boy smiled to himself as he got the desired effect
easily.
"Yea, lay it on thick pal," muttered Dan with a sick look on his face.
"He said beautiful! That's total and complete honesty!" cried the girl
happily.
Nighttime fell and the group was still inside the forest of silence,
they found themselves in a small clearing that seemed relatively safe
from monsters. "We have to sleep to prepare for tomorrow," said Hikaru
cheerfully.
"Sleep?! How are we supposed to do that out here?" screeched Umi in
shock.
Off to the side Ferio and Dan where already setting up bedrolls on the
ground and making a camp fire. "How do you think?" said Dan in annoyance
as he pat his mat down and lay out on the ground.
Mokona puu'ed yet again and a beam of light formed from it's head. Dan
rolled his eyes and snorted as a small egg shaped cabin appeared in the
clearing. "What next? A car? You might as well just pull Tokyo out of
that thing."
"That's great Mokona!" cried Hikaru as she squeezed the creature again.
"Hey, if you can make Tokyo appear I can go to my fencing match!" cried
Umi.
Mokona gave a frightened squeak and shook its head vigorously. "I
suppose that's a bit much, even for Mokona," said Fuu with a giggle.
"Stop laughing, I was serious!" said Umi.
"Come on, we need to get some sleep!" said Hikaru as she carried Mokona
into the hut.
"Damn, now she'll never leave the damn thing alone long enough for me
too..." muttered the boy angrily.
"What's the matter with you?" asked Ferio.
"Huh? Oh it's nothing, just those girls can be so whiny," answered the
boy cheerfully. "I'll get you yet barbecued rabbit," he muttered under
his breath.
Inside the small structure the three girls where amazed at the luxury
they found themselves in, there where three beds with pajamas and a small
table with baskets of fruits on them.
After a few moments of acclimating they found themselves conversing
about the journey.
"Hikaru, what do you think of Dan?" asked Fuu pleasantly.
"Huh? Oh he's great! He's cute and funny and..." the girl was cut off by
her friends worry.
"I-I don't trust him," she said quietly.
"He's a real jerk Fuu, but he's been helpful so far," offered Umi with a
slightly callous look.
"You saw what happened when that thing caught us, he just stood there;
and when the cold mud monster attacked us as well," Fuu felt tears
forming in her eyes. "He watched as if he didn't even mind that we might
die."
Hikaru spoke up in his defense, "Fuu, he's a magic knight too! Besides,
there wasn't anything he could do to help you; You saw what he got from
Precea, there wasn't anything he could do to hurt a monster like that one
with the tiny knife he had."
Umi frowned at her friend's worry, "I think you're just dwelling on it
to much, he can use magic and he's stronger than the rest of us, he's no
idiot either; no matter how he acts sometimes."
Hikaru pulled the pair of pajamas Mokona had made for her off the bed.
"Well, he does keep trying to eat Mokona, but that's the only bad thing
he's really done the whole time we've been here. He might seem a little
gruff, but I don't think he'd let anything happen to us."
Outside Dan tried his best to think of ways he could kill the girls
without getting caught or blamed on the deaths. "If I kill a small animal
and put it just outside the house thing, I might be able to attract a
monster that could get them in their sleep. Unfortunately there aren't
any small animals around here. Damn, maybe if I dug a pit just outside
the door and made some sharpened stick spikes out of th..." his thoughts
were cut off as Ferio flipped the sword of light in his hands a few
times.
"Hey, that reminds me, where the hell did you get that from?" the boy
sat up and looked at his companion in mild interest.
A wandering mage gave it to me a few days ago, he said it had the power
to take out Zagato if I could make it to him. He also said it was only a
lone, and once Zagato was dead I had to return it, as you can see, I was
more than glad to oblige him." The blade erupted from the holster as he
concentrated his power on the sword. Ferio smiled to himself as the light
blade slid back into its place once he broke contact.
"Well, that's certainly interesting," muttered Dan, he had a pretty good
idea who the so-called 'wandering mage' might be.
Fuu stepped up to the pair with a basket of fruit in her hands and
placed it between them. "I have brought you something to eat, I will
leave it here for you."
"Afraid Hikaru might invite us in?" asked Dan casually.
"It's not you I'm worried about," said Fuu defensively.
Dan smirked, "That's a lie and you know it."
Fuu fell silent and blushed, it was true. "Am I that transparent?"
Dan nodded calmly and smirked at her with a slightly crazed look in his
eyes; after a moment is softened slightly and he chuckled to himself over
the worry on her face.
Ferio frowned at him slightly and shook his head, "Why don't you stay
out here and eat with us, I'm sure we could use the company."
Fuu looked at him in surprise until Dan spoke up.
"Yes, that's right, there's nothing I'd rather do than listen to the two
of you flirt with each other all night," said Dan as he relaxed and
closed his eyes. "Don't speak for both of us Romeo, you're the only one
who wants her company right now."
"Just shows you've got no taste," snorted the boy in retort.
Dan smiled as he watched Fuu step back and jog towards the shelter.
"Don't say a word, you and I both know she wasn't going to stay
regardless."
"Yea, well you didn't have to be that rude ya know," said the boy.
"Ferio, I don't like it here, I'm irritated beyond belief and I'm
grouchy. Cephero is not my idea of a fun vacation, I want to go home and
I'll do anything it takes to get there. Even if it means killing every
living thing on this planet."
"Doesn't give you the right to take it out on everyone else," snorted
the boy.
"Ferio, if you like Fuu you're going to have to work on it, she's
flighty and very distrusting," he rolled on his side and faced away from
the boy with a scowl on his face as he tried to sleep.
His companion looked at him in surprise and smiled to himself. "Well,
we'll see," he muttered before lying down himself.
The next day was full of uneventful monster killing, Dan had fun.
As the day came to a close the group walked along through the forest at
a brisk pace. Mokona hopped ahead of the group with Dan in hot pursuit.
"Come back here you little dinner platter!"
"Man, what's with this guy?" asked Ferio as he watched. "He's been at it
all day."
"Apparently he's got it in his head that Mokona might taste good," said
Umi with a sigh.
Dan stopped his chase and stared at them, "At this point I don't care if
it tastes like shit, I'm still gonna enjoy eating it!"
Umi became annoyed at he fuzzy creature again, "Mokona, every path you
take us down leads to another monster!" the creature looked at her and
hopped onward merrily. "please let it be a path with no monsters."
"Fat chance of that happening," muttered Dan as he stepped out into a
large clearing and found himself staring at a huge number of monsters
surrounding a large floating rock. "See."
Mokona started to hop forward and Umi dashed around in front it. "No
way!" she gasped. "Mokona, you don't mean we have to go through that?"
The animal nodded and she held it by it's hears and carried it back to
Hikaru. "Even with our weapons there's no way we can fight that many
monsters!"
"Hey, I think we can do it!" said Dan looking very gung-ho about it.
"This is a bit much, Mr. Dan," said Hikaru apologetically.
"Well, you've certainly got yourself in a pickle now don't you?" said a
new voice.
The group turned to see a robe clad figure emerging from the forest with
a small smile on his face.
"Carrot!" snarled Dan as he stepped forward.
"No, no, my young friend. I merely look like your friend. You can call
me Xellos." The man shook his finger and winked at them with a smirk
firmly planted on his face.
"Mr. Dan, you know this person?" asked Fuu in shock.
"Yes, I do," he replied simply.
"You want to destroy that rock there, it will get rid of the monsters,"
said the mage casually.
"Can we trust him?" asked Fuu.
"About as far as we can throw him," replied Dan angrily. "But he isn't
working for Zagato, I'm certain of that. He won't lie to us, but he won't
tell us everything we need to know either."
"Ah yes, the perils of staying in character so to speak, you are quite
right about that my friend," Xellos stood at the edge of the clearing
with them and smiled. "Zagato can't see into these woods while the magic
suppression is in place."
"How do you know that?" asked Hikaru.
"That's a secret," replied the mage cheerfully.
"See what I mean?" said Dan with a sigh.
"This is the guy who gave me this sword," said Ferio with a nod of
recognition to the man.
Xellos returned the courtesy and turned to face the magic knights again.
"I might suggest a plan, but you don't seem very trusting at the moment,
besides most of your magic is blocked."
"Most of?" asked Hikaru in surprise.
"Yes, that's right!" Dan looked at Mokona in shock. "He can still use
his powers in here!"
"You're right, Mokona's storage power does seem magical," Fuu smiled a
little and then looked serious again. "But how does that help us? I mean
our magic is still locked."
"Perhaps it is, but the right kind of spell should work," Dan closed his
eyes and frowned, "but we really don't need that much power if we handle
this right."
"Well my fledgling magic knights, you have a long way to go now," the
mage smiled at them and sat down on a near by rock waiting to see what
they might do next.
"Magic knights? You guys are trying to save princess Emerad aren't you?"
Ferio looked at them in surprise.
Xellos chuckled to himself at the man's words and smiled. "Are you sure
she wants to be saved?"
"Of course I'm sure! What kind of stupid question is that?" Ferio was
angry to say the least.
"Perhaps she doesn't really need as much saving as you imagine," said
Xellos with a knowing smile.
"What do you mean?" asked Ferio as the sword of light ignited in his
hands.
"That's a secret," replied the mage with an unimpressed smirk.
"Yea, yea," said Dan carelessly as he watched the crowd of monsters in
anticipation.
"I don't care what you say, I'm going to save Emerad, I owe her!" Ferio
went into a tale about how princess Emerad saved him from execution for
attempting to steal a small jeweled object from the palace, and of his
vow to save her.
"I've got a plan, Fuu, Umi, and Hikaru, you three go and destroy those
monsters while I take out the rock with Ferio." Dan stood up and winked
at them with a confident smile.
"For once you've come up with something useful," said Fuu with a sigh.
The girls dashed forward into the crowd of monsters and attacked, the
beasts turned towards them after a few seconds of confusion and where
easily led away as they surrounded the girls easily.
Dan frowned as he noticed Xellos had vanished and stepped forward
signaling for Ferio to follow. The boy complied and they rushed towards
the rock with Dan allowing his companion to take the lead with an evil
smile on his face.
Ferio collapsed and fell on his knees as he neared the stone. "Don't
come any closer!"
"What's wrong?" asked Dan his smirk never fading as he looked at the boy
with hungry eyes. It was a shame he had to die and he would not enjoy
watching it, but with Fuu off fighting monsters and getting herself
killed with Hikaru and Umi, there was really nothing he could do.
Ferio felt a force lift him into the air and drag him towards the evil
stone through the air, his body slowly started to turn to stone and he
heaved his sword at it in a desperate attempt to strike it. The gamble
failed as his sword deactivated and fell to the ground at least ten yards
short of the stone. "No! Those girls will die!" he struggled and tried to
claw at the air in an attempt to save himself, but there was nothing to
grab. Suddenly he felt his hands clutch something, he looked forward and
saw Dan holding a rope and pulling on the other side, he had a serious
frown on his face as he glanced back at the three girls battling the
monsters.
"There's no point in killing him too I suppose, all I have to do is get
rid of the girls and the fic should end, his conscience had gotten the
better of him when he realized Ferio didn't have to die. "Damn, stupid
moral standards."
A figure stood on top of the stone with a wicked grin on his face.
"Xellos!?" gasped Dan in anger as he finally pulled Ferio in and noticed
the man.
"Did you really think I'd let you off that easily? Come on now, the show
must go on!" he tapped his staff on the stone and the dull glow that
surrounded it grew brighter. Dan's eyes went wide as he saw the stone
continued to grow over Ferio's body despite the distance he was away from
the rock.
"No!" gasped the boy as he realized what had just happened, Xellos had
powered up the stone and made it stronger, it's influence was now
reaching him as well. He felt the invisible force pull at his body as
Ferio started to float as well. "You bastard!" screamed the boy.
"Oh, come on! You and I both know you can get out of this, stop
complaining," the figure vanished from the top of the stone with a small
chuckle.
"Damn you Xellos!" growled Dan as his dagger appeared in his hand. "I
almost had them! I had almost ended this madness!" he stared at the stone
with a renewed hatred as he closed in on it. "Eat this! Bakusai
Tenketsu!" he tossed the knife and it impaled the rock, after a moment it
started to crack and eventually shattered leaving a mess of stones that
littered the ground.
The three girls stood back to back and glared at the monsters that
surrounded them, it was over, the next attack would be clearly too much
for them to handle. "Don't give up!" cried Hikaru as she tried to get her
friends spirits up again.
Suddenly the creatures became bathed in a soft white glow, they slowly
transformed into small cute forest creatures, some looking somewhat
unusual.
Dan stood up and gaped at the sight. "My god! They've all turned into
pokemon!"
"Will you please tell us what the hell a pokemon is?" asked Umi.
"It's far to complicated for your fragile little minds to handle,"
stated the boy arrogantly.
"Ferio!" Fuu rushed up to the fallen boy as the stone receded down his
body, he lay there unmoving and quiet. Fuu took him up into her arms and
tried to wake him with a worried expression.
Dan frowned as he saw this and looked on in what seemed like
bewilderment.
"If you don't know how to break that old rock you have a long way to
go," said Ferio as he opened one of his eyes.
"If you can make comments like that, I assume you're all right," said
Fuu with a relieved smile.
"But we can't be certain can we?" asked Dan belligerently.
"I told you there is no such thing as certainty," retorted the girl.
"You know how to spell assume in English?" asked Dan with a smirk on his
face.
"Of course, A-S-S-U-M-E," said Fuu proudly.
"Do you know why it's spelled that way?" asked the boy unimpressed.
"No?" Fuu looked uncertain.
"Because it makes an ASS OUT OF YOU AND ME!" screamed the boy in anger.
"Never assume, always be sure! Just like on a target range. You study
archery, I know you know better than this!"
Fuu looked at him in shock and blushed, however harsh his words were, he
was right.
"Well that ruined the moment," snorted Ferio as he sat up and walked
towards the other side of the clearing.
"Come on! This is no time to be hurt Ferio! We must vanquish the foul
sorcerer Zagato and free the lovely Akane Tend-errr, Emerad from his vile
grasp! I the mighty Blue Thunder of Cephero shall personally vanquish him
so that she may be free to date with me!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" exclaimed Ferio in shock.
Xellos smirked from the shadows nearby at the boy's words. "Well, that's
irony for you."
Less than an hour later they found the edge of the forest.
"I thought for sure that Ferio would come with us to Eterna," said
Hikaru looking sad.
"I told ya, I was only lookin for the way out of this place. It should
be obvious we go our separate ways," Ferio looked out at the Horizon from
the edge of the forest.
"We have to get set up for the night girls, Xellos probably has a
surprise set up for us outside of the forest," Dan smiled at them in an
obvious attempt to hide his disappointment in the fact that they still
lived, unfortunately no one noticed.
"You think Xellos is our enemy?" asked Hikaru with a worried expression.
Ferio was about to speak up when Dan stopped him.
"No, he's just here to make things difficult, for both sides; I
guarantee you he's just as big a pain in the ass to Zagato as he is to
us." They all looked at him in surprise and he continued to set up camp
just inside the forest.
"Well, I'm off," said Ferio as he stood and faced them again. He walked
up to Fuu and handed her something, both of their faces became surrounded
by a fuzzy white screen and their hair blew in a small wind for dramatic
effect. "I want you to have this, if you use it to make a wish, I'm
pretty sure it'll be granted."
"Hey! How come Fuu is the only one to get a present?!" said Umi with a
slightly jealous look.
"Well, that's the difference in how much I care," said Ferio pointedly.
The two girls stared at Fuu and she blushed and shrank down in
embarrassment. Dan snorted impatiently. "Are you gonna stand there and
look at each other or are you gonna help?"
"Why should we? We can just use Mokona's cabin for the night!" answered
Umi.
"And you, Ferio gives you something and all of a sudden you've gotten
all quiet, come on we have things to do before I cook Mokona-uhh I mean
dinner."
"What is it with you and Mokona?" asked Hikaru impatiently.
"It's either him or one of the cute animals we saved at the clearing,
all this fruit is gonna give me the runs, I want meat tonight!"
"You can't eat Mokona!" screamed Hikaru defensively as she hugged the
creature to her chest.
"I bet you're enjoying that pervert! Come on, quit hiding behind that
girl! Dan seemed angry and Hikaru blushed again, seemingly the object of
his jealous attention.
Umi frowned, "Don't those two ever stop flirting?"
Fuu frowned to herself, "I don't think it's that bad."
Umi glared at her, "Of course you wouldn't! You and that Ferio guy are
just as bad!"
Zagato frowned as he looked into his mirror and saw the inside of the
forest of silence. "Those children are still alive."
Inova spoke from behind him and he frowned. "What are you doing here?
Get out before you're destroyed fool!"
"Hmm, Mega brunt." A strange sound came from behind him and he turned to
see Inova writhing on the floor in silence as smoke billowed from his
body slowly.
Xellos appeared from the shadows and smiled at him, "That didn't quite
have enough oomph to it, I'll have to try something different next time."
The tall dark clad figure turned back to his mirror ignoring the man.
"I slowed their progress in the forest of silence a little, they are
behind schedule now," said the mage pleasantly. "I warned you not to
underestimate them, Alcione will not be returning to you this time."
"You taught her a new trick, and still you do not believe she will
triumph?" Zagato gave the man a sidelong glance.
"It wasn't enough, you can still save her if you'd like, or not. It
doesn't matter, I'm certain that if she properly motivates the male magic
knight she will be destroyed. If she manages to take down a girl or two
with her it's her own problem. I'm not taking responsibility for her
incompetence if she fails to destroy even one of them." Xellos smiled and
turned away from Zagato leaving his back completely open and showing the
man just how little he feared him.
"Interesting," said the man as he stepped over Inova's steaming form.
What is Alcione's new trick and how could she use it to destroy the
magic knights? Will everything go smoothly for the knights now that they
have reached Eterna? And what of Dan's personal test? Will he be able to
make the grade and obtain escudo? Will Xellos ever get tired of blasting
Inova? And finally, what will Mokona taste like? Chicken? Beef?
Find out the answers, [Hopefully to all these questions, but that's
pushing our luck a bit isn't it?] Next time!
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com