Subject: [FFML] [MKR][ThreeMagicknights][ch.7]
From: Ryoga P Hibiki
Date: 3/2/2000, 7:19 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

	Sorry if this is a double post, but I posted it earlier and didn't get
it back in my mail box. [I always do when I post something.] Everything
else I posted today did come back through making me think maybe it got
lost in the eithernet somewhere. Or perhaps my modem cable has kinks in
it and the little 1's got caught and clogged up all the 0's, whatever the
problem it seems to be fixed now, it was either my computer or the list
and now I'm not sure if anyone got it.
	Actually if that went through before this is a triple post, I posted it
under the wrong title before [as part 6] and I think that threw some
people off. As before if you've already read this I'm sorry, but here it
is again. 
	This is the last time I promise, if it doesn't work you'll just have to
get it off my web page.
	
	The Three Magic Knights.

	Part 7

	Dan vs. The Mashin of Earth.

	"What is this thing an orange?" Dan gazed quizzically at the fruit in
his hand as the group of travelers sat around during a meal break. 
	"I think so, does it seem weird to you that Cephiero has the same kinds
of foods as earth does?" asked Fuu as she popped another piece of the
fruit in her mouth.
	"Not really, it surprises me more that I haven't been able to catch any
meat. I was a fairly good hunter back on earth," he looked towards Mokona
again and sighed. As much as he wanted a decent meal, he wasn't about to
kill the only source of smokes he had on the planet. 
	Fuu sighed heavily as she looked at the small object Ferio had given
her. "Ferio."
	This of course caught the boy's attention immediately. "Thinking about
that guy again?"
	"No, not really," lied the girl with a slight blush.
	"Hmm, I don't think you're a very good liar," retorted the boy with a
wry smile.
	Her blush deepened and she glared at him in anger. "Something that takes
a lot of practice I guess."
	"What's that supposed to mean? What the heck is that thing anyway?" he
leaned in and frowned as he inspected the object in her hands. Fuu
responded by pulling it tighter to her chest.
	"It's a gift!" she snapped.
	"Say, isn't that the thing he gave you that's supposed to grant wishes?"
asked Umi suddenly becoming interested in the boy's teasing.
	"Yes," replied the girl.
	"Did your wish come true yet?" Umi appeared beside her with an excited
look on her face.
	"Not yet," admitted Fuu.
	"Are you nuts? That's the sort of thing you're supposed to try out right
away! Let me try it!" Umi scrambled after the girl and forced her back,
eventually Fuu relented and handed the object to her.
	"Great! I wish that we get back to Tokyo real soon, and that I win that
fencing tournament!" cried the girl triumphantly.
	"You mean the tournament that you had in a week when we came to
Cephiero?" asked Fuu.
	"Yup!" replied the girl cheerfully.
	Hikaru looked confused and thought back to the days they had been in the
strange world. "Haven't we been here more than a week?"
	"Yea, but Cephiero is the land of the will! Time will pass more slowly
if I will it to be so!" reasoned the girl.
	"When Miss Umi says it like that it almost sounds like it will happen,"
commented Fuu.
	"It's your turn Hikaru!" said the blue haired girl as she handed the
object to her. 
	Dan quickly snatched it away and inspected it closely. "I don't trust
this thing," he muttered under his breath.
	"Hey! Give that back!" exclaimed Fuu angrily as she rushed towards him.
Hikaru looked miffed, but not really angry. All of the girls gasped in
shock when the boy snorted and popped the object in half along a clean
cut line along the side of it.
	"What did you do! You broke it!" exclaimed the blonde in horror.
	"I didn't break anything, this is some sort of electronic device," said
the boy in annoyance. "I can't believe you wouldn't look more closely at
something a complete stranger gave you. You're usually pretty
distrusting," the girl blushed again at his response as he started to
poke at the insides of the device. "I think...it has a speaker in it?
Maybe, I don't recognize a lot of these parts, but it looks like a
transmitter. That right there looks like a microphone."
	"A transmitter?" asked Umi.
	"Yea," said the boy giving her an annoyed stare.
	"But, how would you know that?"  asked Fuu warily.
	"I work for a computer company back home, I build them; I make custom
computers for people. I can also repair radios and most other electronic
equipment. This set up is a little strange, but I think I can figure out
exactly what it does pretty easily given some more time." He put the
cover back on and handed it to Fuu. "Just don't say anything you don't
want as public knowledge into it."
	Fuu turned completely red and then shook it off with a disbelieving
stare. "How can someone as young as you have a job building computers?"
	Dan blinked and stared at the three of them as they looked on
expectantly for the answer. "Fuu, I'm twenty-three years old."
	"What?!" screamed the girls in unison.
	Hikaru got some sort of small dark cloud over her head as she fell to
her knees and stared at him. "He's almost ten years older than me? But
that means...we can never..."
	"Wow, you look so young!" exclaimed Umi.
	"I think it happened when I came to your world just before we got shoved
into this one," the boy shrugged his shoulders and leaned against a tree.
	"You did say something about being from a different world than us didn't
you," Fuu looked thoughtful as she tied to remember exactly what it was
he had told them.
	Hikaru sunk even lower as her schoolgirl dreams were not only shattered,
but also crushed into tiny little sparkling bits.
	"Yea, I can't go home until we're done here. I wouldn't be surprised if
I got home and no more than a half-hour had passed. A friend of mine does
this sort of thing to me all the time."
	The girls all looked at him for a moment. Fuu stepped forward. "You have
a friend who sends you to other worlds as a joke?"
	The boy nodded not quite getting what the excitement was about. "Yup,
that about sums it up."
	"You're joking right?" gasped Umi.
	Hikaru had yet to pay much attention to the conversation after finding
out his real age and being reminded that he wouldn't go back with them to
her own world.
	Dan frowned and turned away realizing that he was being awfully nice to
the girls he had plans to kill in the near future. "Forget about it, we
need to get moving again, my being from somewhere else doesn't change
anything right now."
	Fuu frowned and looked at he object again, "We came so close before he
shut us off again."
	Umi nodded in agreement and started after him. "I think he's coming
around."
	Fuu wasn't paying attention at the moment though as she looked at the
jeweled object in her hand. "Does Ferio know what this is? If he did, why
did he give it to me?" She wasn't quite sure if she should be angry with
him. After all, if his story was true there was a chance he didn't know.
A moment later she realized she had been left behind and jogged after her
companions.
	The all came to a stop as the ground began to shake again, Dan growled
slightly and turned back to see the girls shaking around clumsily.
	"Oh, don't tell me Cephiero is crumbling again! We're not even magic
knights yet!" cried Umi.
	Fuu sighed as she watched Mokona bounce around on the ground coming to a
stop in its head. "If only there was some way we could gain the knowledge
on how to become the magic knights!"
	The crystal on the creature's head started to glow as it lay on the
ground and Dan frowned. "It figures."
	"Hello little ones!" said Xellos as he appeared in the image before
them.
	"You again?! What happened to Cleff?" cried Hikaru.
	"Oh, him? He's just encased in stone with no power left, don't let it
bother you," said the mage cheerfully.
	"What?!" cried the girls in shock.
	"You heard him," grumbled Dan as he walked in front of them. "Hurry up
and tell us what we need to know monster."
	"Tsk, there's no need for name calling Dan!" retorted the man playfully
as he gave him a warning glare.
	"Whatever, I'm in no mood for pleasant conversation," the boy popped a
cigarette into his mouth and lit it casually.
	"That's easy enough," replied the mage. "In order to become the magic
knights you have to revive the rune god, or Mashin if you'd prefer."
	"Mashin?" Dan looked at the image quizzically and blew a puff of smoke
into Xellos's face.
	"How do we find this rune god?" asked Fuu with a glance of slight
annoyance, Dan had obviously gone into full blown asshole mode again.
	"Your cute little guide knows the way, I wouldn't worry about it. The
sooner you restore Cephiero the sooner Clef gets back to normal and you
go home," the image faded away after giving them a final wink.
	"That was relatively painless," muttered Dan as he started walking
forward and kicked Mokona ahead of the group. "Let's get goin dirt rat."
	"Mr. Dan! That was mean!" cried Hikaru in shock as she chased after the
animal.

	Ferio growled as he put the counterpart to the transmitter in his
pocket. "That jerk, ruining my fun that way. I'd better just be glad he
didn't break it, it'd be a lot harder to follow them without her carrying
it. "Still, the way she had whispered his name a moment ago made him feel
strangely warm inside. "I'd better get going so I don't lose them."
	A sound in the forest distracted him for a moment and the boy rushed
towards it with the sword of light in his hands. He stopped and looked on
in awe as Ascot appeared before him with a large sand covered beast in
front of him. 
	"I can't believe those magic knights are still alive, and they killed
poor Adalante! Hojino, I know you can do it, but we need to come up with
a plan to lure those magic knights into the open for you!" Ferio stepped
forward and stopped cold as a figure passed by him. 
	"I didn't even hear him!" thought the boy as Xellos turned around and
smiled at him. 
	"Well, are you coming or not?" Ferio stepped up and walked next to the
man. "Hey, Ascot!"
	The boy turned around to see one chillingly familiar figure walking
towards him with a new stranger by his side. "What do you want?"
	"Watch your mouth kid," warned the mage as he looked at him coolly for a
moment.
	Ascot quieted down and looked away. "Wow, that's a pretty scary looking
monster," commented Ferio.
	"I want a favor of you boy," said the mage coolly as he turned towards
Ferio.
	"Who me?" said Ferio in confusion as he pointed to himself.
	"Yes, I want you to lure the magic knights into the desert. That's all
you have to do," The mage smirked and turned towards Ascot. "There's your
plan, if you screw it up it's your own fault."
	The child's eyes widened in surprise and he simply nodded.
	"You want me to set a trap for those girls?" asked Ferio warily.
	"No, I want you to lead them to the desert. It's important, you'll see
why if you stick around long enough," the mage made sure the boy wasn't
paying attention and clutched him on the shoulder. "This will seem
benefit both sides, Ascot is dangerous, but no real threat to the magic
knights."
	"Just who's side are you on anyway?" asked the boy as he carefully
assessed the man.
	"Now that, is a secret," replied the mage with a wink as he walked away.
	Ferio seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding to himself. "All
right, I'll do it, if only as payment for this sword."

	Dan frowned as the three girls stopped and looked at an armed guard
standing before the gate to a village. "I hope we're not required to have
a passport," commented Fuu.
	"Hey Mokona, you have everything right?" asked Umi as she looked at the
creature in Hikaru's arms.
	Dan merely walked through them blowing a long column of smoke as he
walked. He stared at the guard and the man stepped back nervously. "Come
on."
	The girls nodded and followed him into the gates. "Mr. Dan, what would
you have done if he had not allowed us to pass?" asked Fuu nervously.
	He didn't look back as he answered and glared at the goings on around
him. "Gone through him."
	The three girls shuddered and distanced themselves from him even more.
"Hey!" cried a familiar voice. They all turned to see Ferio leaning
against a wall, "What a coincidence meeting you here!"
	"Coincidence my ass, you've been following us using that transmitter you
gave Fuu. What do you want?" snarled Dan, he wasn't in the mood for
delays, but Ferio would probably lead them to what they needed to do
next.
	"Hey! I don't know what you're talking about!" cried the boy
defensively, unfortunately he was a bad liar. Fuu didn't seem to notice
as she was preoccupied by looking embarrassed. "Look, I'll treat you to
lunch! What do you say? You hungry?"
	Dan seemed to consider this for a moment but Hikaru answered first. "You
bet I am!"
	Umi smirked and elbowed Fuu in her ribs lightly before pushing her
forward forcefully. "Come on, don't be shy!"
	Dan smiled to himself as he pulled a small bottle from his shirt while
walking behind them. 

	A large friendly looking woman placed a plate in front of the group.
"There you go, these are our famous pastries."
	Ferio looked up at her, "Hey lady, tell us that story you told me."
	"I'll pay twice as much if you tell the truth," snorted Dan lazily as he
placed a coin bag on the table. Ferio twitched and glared at him.
	The woman looked at him and he tossed her the bag lazily. "Well, this
young man paid me to tell you about a monster in the desert just outside
of town. He said to make it sound like an old legend, and that we were
terrified of it."
	"I thought as much," muttered Dan. "Was it Xellos?" asked the boy as he
turned towards Ferio.
	The boy hung his head and sighed. "Yea, I had to do it, he gave me this
sword and I had to pay him back! Please believe me, I'd never let you
guys get hurt out there! He said it was important for you to go and that
I only had to lead you there!"
	The mage in question appeared suddenly at a neighboring table. "Well, at
least he's honest sometimes."
	Dan sat calmly while the three girls whirled around with weapons drawn.
"Sit down!" he snarled angrily.
	The three complied reluctantly as Dan faced his most annoying rival.
"Well, you want to tell us why we have to go out there?"
	"No, not really; I'll only say that it's important." The mage sat back
and sipped at a cup of hot liquid carefully eyeing the food for a moment.
"Ooh, that's a nasty looking poison on those pastries, good thing you
didn't eat any of them yet."
	Dan looked over at him with a look of pure rage and said nothing. The
bottle empty bottle clattered on the ground next to him between himself
and the woman, Ferio jumped up in shock pointing his sword towards her.
"Poison?!" The three girls looked at the woman in shock and Dan realized
that they thought it had been her.
	"Lord Zagato has a fearsome hold on these people, she was probably
trying to keep him away by getting rid of us. From what I understand so
far, it's common knowledge that his minions follow us around, let her
go." Dan pushed the woman through a doorway before she could protest and
sat back down at the table again. "We can't trust anyone anymore."
	"That would explain the village where we killed Alcione, ne?" said
Xellos with a knowing smile.
	"Least of all you Xellos, I know you aren't working for Zagato, but
you've obviously got your own agenda!" retorted the boy angrily.
	"Careful knight boy, you aren't ready for that just yet," whispered the
man. Dan frowned when he realized that no one else had heard him.
	"One of Zagato's minions is waiting in the desert for us, I was gonna
try and get him to take me to Zagato himself, but you've pretty much
blown that now," said Ferio with a disappointed look on his face.
	"The sword of light alone won't be enough Ferio," replied Dan
cautiously.
	"What? But he told me..." the boy was cut off by Xellos's laugh.
	"I only said that the sword could kill him, and it can. Just not the way
you're thinking boy," replied the mage carefully.
	"What's that supposed to mean?" snarled the boy angrily.
	"That's a secret."
	Dan stood up from the table and started walking with the other five
following closely behind him. "Where are you going?" cried Hikaru as she
ran up next to him.
	"Obviously we have to go into the desert, I'm tired of sitting around
here wasting time," he replied while lighting up another cigarette.

	The group stood at he edge of the desert and gazed into the dunes. "Here
we are," said Xellos cheerfully. Ferio stepped forward and put his leg up
onto a rock gazing over the horizon carefully. "We'd better get going
Ascot is waiting for us somewhere."
	The rest of the group plodded forward with Hikaru, Xellos, and Dan
taking the lead. They stopped cold as the ground began to shake again
shifting the sand around them. Fuu and Umi gasped in shock while Ferio
held them back, before their eyes the other three seemed to be swallowed
up by the sands. 
	"Hikaru!" cried Umi in shock.
	"Mr. Xellos! Mr. Dan!" cried Fuu as she broke free of the boy's grip and
charged forward. In the center of the sands a large hole appeared in the
ground between them, they could see only blackness below.

	Dan landed hard on the stone ground and was about to stand up, suddenly
a heavy blow sent him back to the ground and he looked up angrily to see
Hikaru sitting on top of his back. "Get off!" 
	The girl looked down at him with an odd expression on her face. "Yes,
darling..." she started to remove her clothing slowly and within a few
moments Dan was still staring in shock.
	"That's not what I meant!" he cried.
	"Take me!" cried Hikaru as she threw her arms around him rubbing her
chest against his. The boy threw her arms aside and stepped back in
disgust. 
	His sword appeared in his hand as his mind worked. "I can use this! If I
think Hikaru is possessed I can kill her and get away with it!" The ten
foot long Katana shined from the light of the small hole he had fallen
through far above them. The rest of the room appeared to be pitch black
and only a few rocks littered the sand covered stone floor around them.
	"Darling, I need you!" cried Hikaru passionately. "Can't you tell I love
you?!"
	"Put your clothes on, you're only fourteen girl!" he stepped forward
cautiously and glanced around. It was odd for Hikaru to be acting this
way, and he knew it. After he killed her he'd probably have to take care
of whatever it was that was forcing her to do this.
	Without warning the girl fell to her knees in tears, "If you don't love
me, then please just kill me!" she rushed forward and put her chest
against the blade. This threw the boy off amazingly and he dropped the
sword to the ground staring at the long mark that started to bleed along
the girl's naked body now.
	Suddenly he threw his hands up into the air and screamed. "Lighting!" A
ball of light appeared over his head illuminating the cave. A large stone
tiger statue appeared on the wall opposite him with faintly glowing eyes.
A voice spoke into his mind.
	"I am the tiger of earth, show me the proof of the strength in your
heart!" Dan stepped back and looked to Hikaru. "Is this what's causing
it?"
	The doors behind him blasted open suddenly as Xellos walked in followed
by a still fully dressed Hikaru. "Mr. Dan we found you!" cried the girl
happily. She froze in place as she noticed her counterpart standing
beside him in the nude.
	"What the hell are you doing to me?!" she cried in shock.
	"Hey, you threw yourself at me! I had nothing to do with it!" he
retorted defensively.
	The girl noticed he was still fully clothed and let the matter pass. She
froze however when Xellos grabbed her by the back of her neck. She fell
with a slump and passed out on the ground. "Alone at last. Well Dan, I
can see that your ego needs a little deflating, come on." He waved his
hands in front of him and whirled his staff around skillfully in his
hands. The bottom portion of the staff slid away revealing a long blade.
	"If I kill you?" asked Dan hopefully.
	"You get to return home early," said the mage cheerfully.
	Dan rushed forward and grabbed his sword off the ground as he rushed
forward meeting the mage's blade head on. Xellos smiled watching his face
with his golden eyes as he blocked and parried every blow, but still
allowed himself to be pushed back through the large doorway.
	Dan snarled and spun around once they were through the doors forcing his
opponent to jump upwards and back onto a long narrow stone walkway that
crossed a seemingly bottomless pit.
	Dan charged forward and met him in the center of the bridge and the
blades clashed again sending sparks flying in every direction.

	Hikaru stood from her place on the ground and turned to see that the
false Hikaru had vanished. Apparently the tiger god had found a better
test for Dan, not that she was aware of it. All that crossed her mind was
that he seemed to be doing this in her defense. "Mr. Dan?"

	Xellos smirked as he pushed Dan back after another easily blocked strike
throwing him to the ground. Dan was forced to crawl backwards on his
back. "You are beaten, it is useless to resist!" True to form Dan parried
the blade pointing at his throat away and rolled to his feet. 
	"You shut up! I'm going to kill you and get out of this nightmare!" he
roared as he charged forward forcing metal against metal creating another
shower of sparks.
	"Release your anger! Only your hatred can destroy me!" quipped Xellos
with a wry smirk appearing on his face again.
	Dan grunted as he hacked downward with a double handed strike attempting
to cut the monster in half. He was surprised when Xellos simply blocked
the strike and rotated his own blade throwing Dan's sword over his head.
It clattered to the ground and the boy fell to his knees as a sudden pain
erupted through his arm. His eyes went wide as he pulled his right hand
back revealing blood covering his hand. He looked back and saw that his
left hand was still holding the handle to the sword. He felt a sharp
point against his neck and froze in place.
	"How ironic," muttered the mage looking at the result of the fight.
	"What, aren't you going to turn me to the dark side?" snorted Dan
through the pain managing to let out a short laugh.
	"Why bother, you're already there," replied the mage. "Fool, don't you
realize yet?" The boy looked up at him not understanding what he meant.
"You'll find out soon enough." He looked up and saw Hikaru watching the
scene with a complete mask of horror on her face.
	"Please don't! Please don't kill him!" she called as she fell to her
knees with tears in her eyes.
	"All right," replied the man as he walked forward and grabbed Dan by
severed arm. The boy screamed in pain and a smooth rounded metal piece
with a hole on the end of it appeared where his limb used to be. 
	"What?" gasped the girl in shock after realizing what Xellos had said,
she blinked and stood up.
Dan frowned as he lifted the blade with his right hand. The sword took on
a strange glow suddenly and became flattened and wider. Three small
circular holes appeared at the base of the sword on the blade and the
handle seemed to vanish. Almost as an after thought he placed the bottom
of the blade into the hole on the arm piece. He wasn't surprised when it
fit perfectly.
"Next time I won't be able to just knock it away," replied the mage.
"Bet's off though, you lost. Even if you kill me you won't go home yet."
	Dan turned around and muttered something under his breath. He slowly
turned around and Xellos narrowed his eyes suddenly.
	"Ragna blade!" roared the boy as he spun around slashing at the mage.
Xellos was long gone and the bridge was shattered in front of him
blocking the way they came in. "I'll get you for this!" screamed the boy
angrily as he walked back to find Hikaru waiting for him.
	"Dan, are you..." she trailed off and looked at his arm.
	"Do I look all right to you?" he replied lifting the blade up so she
could see it. His features softened slightly as he turned away. "It
doesn't hurt, he healed it when he did this." Silently he walked forward
and looked at the tiger god. "Now what were we saying?"
	The statue glowed and changed before him, a large golden robot appeared
before him with a few tiger like qualities. He gasped in shock and stared
at it greedily. "Cool!"
	"You have proven yourself worthy! Now gaze upon my true form, you cannot
yet accept all that I am, when that time comes I shall return to you!"
said the booming voice from all around the cave. Hikaru shrank back
slightly frightened by all of this.
	"Yea, yea. This is just like Gekkigengar three! Well, not really, but
cool!" he seemed pleased and almost as if he had forgotten completely
about the battle he had just lost, he also appeared to be ignoring the
very important speech he had just gotten.
	"I shall await that time, be well magic knight!" the robot glowed with a
golden light and vanished into the crystal on the front of Dan's armor.
	The boy suddenly became angry. "Hey! Gimme back my Gekkigengar!" he
cried as he pounded on his chest in annoyance.
	"Dan, I hate to bother you, but...did we just wake up the rune god?"
asked Hikaru sheepishly.
	"Yea," he replied without looking back at her.
	"How are we supposed to get out of here? I mean, you destroyed the other
way..." she looked back at the broken bridge and sighed heavily.
	"All right, all right," He muttered while looking upwards. "Levitation!"
the pair flew upwards towards the light.
	Xellos smiled as he emerged from the shadows. He had enjoyed doing that
to him, and was lying about transporting him back if he had won. Still,
the boy would have surely failed the test the Mashin had given him
originally. It was a lucky break the god had decided to switch at the
last minute. The two floated up and vanished into the light causing the
mage to smile again. "I'm just glad he didn't think to get rid of her by
leaving her down here." Still, he supplied Hikaru with a backup
levitation spell just in case.

	Dan frowned when he emerged from the hole with Hikaru still in tow. He
had pulled his own levitation spell off of her about halfway to the top
expecting her to fall to her death, she didn't though and he found
another reason for killing Xellos later. He would have just left her, but
assumed that she'd just find a way out on her own if he did.
	Hikaru looked around after landing and saw her friends rushing towards
her. Umi and Fuu both attached themselves to her neck violently while the
two boys watched.
	"What happened to you?" asked Ferio as he noticed Dan's arm. The boy was
currently placing small colored stones into the holes on the blade of his
sword arm. 
	"I lost a fight," he replied simply. "We also woke up one of the rune
gods, we'd better get going." With that said he turned into the desert
and started walking again.
	"That's wonderful!" cried Fuu cheerfully. "Wait did you just say..."
	"One of?" asked Umi in shock.
	"There's one for each of us, we'd better get going if we want to get
them all," replied the boy simply without looking back.

	A short distance away young Ascot smiled as he looked into the small
sphere in front of him. "Too bad they didn't die in that hole, I guess
we'll just have to take care of them then huh Hojino?" His question was
replied to by a deafening roar from under the sand.

	To be continued...

	That was a long one, whew! Next time, they face the peril in the desert.
Could it be too perilous? Xellos annoys Zagato some more, and Hikaru
tells the girls of what she saw Dan -ahem- do for her. Plus, find out why
Ferio is really pissed at Dan. More great fun.
	
	C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com	

	URL@ Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203


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