Thicker Than Water: Part 5
Tred was lying on the couch in his apartment, trying to recover from the injuries he had gotten in the fight with Phineas. That had happened yesterday. Because the upper portion of their house was destroyed, Tracy and Amanda had gone to stay with their grandparents while the house was being repaired. The contractor had said it would take a week to fix. At least he had fallen for the tornado story. Tred still couldn’t believe that had worked.
Tred was about to go to bed, when Amanda and Tracy barged into the room.
“Hi Tred, we’re back!” Amanda ran in, dumped her bag on the floor, and sat next to him.
“What?! I thought you were supposed to be at your grandparents for the next week!”
“Well...” Tracy put the rest of their stuff on the floor and took a seat on the recliner. “We were, but I didn’t want to stay with them, so we’re staying with you!”
“Oh no.” Tred got up and started to push Amanda toward the door. “You can’t stay here, there’s, uh, no room.”
Tracy blocked the doorway and pushed Amanda back to the couch. “Tred, this apartment is huge, and besides, we own this place so you have to let us stay.”
“But I don’t want you to...” Tred looked over at Amanda, who was putting on her best puppy dog face. “God, I hate that look.” He tried to look away, but it had already worked. “Oh, fine. You can sleep here.”
“Yea! Slumber party!” Amanda began to move the furniture out of the way, so their sleeping bags would fit. “Don’t worry, we won’t be too loud.”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” Tred sat back down on the couch.
Amanda left Tracy to finish setting up, and sat next to Tred. “Sooo, Tred. Did ya figure out what Kasei’s plan was yet?”
“No. I think she just wants me killed, but her henchpeople seemed like they were trying to keep us relatively unharmed. There has to be something else.”
“I hope so.” Tracy went up to the VCR and put in a tape. “Look, they finally dubbed some of the episodes with Trunks into English!”
Tred sighed. “Speaking of Trunks, how did your sailor suit turn into that?”
“I hoped you would know.” Tracy began to sing along with the opening DBZ song. “My attack is really spiffy now, though.”
“Yeah, the ice attack.” Tred couldn’t figure out where that had come from either. “Sage had light powers, Ami had water...”
“No, Ami has ice powers too!” Amanda moved off the couch to join Tracy. “Remember, she told us.”
“Ok, so now Tracy is using the other half of her powers. So why does her outfit resemble Trunks’?”
Tracy turned toward Tred. “Tred, remember when you first tried to explain our weapons? You said that our minds had chosen them. So couldn’t I have just chosen Trunk’s outfit?”
“It’s possible.” Tred thought about it for a second. “Ryo has a second transformation too. Heck, Serena has a ton of them.”
“But I go right to the second transformation. Didn’t something special have to happen when they did a second level transformation?”
“Yes, Ryo had to absorb everyone’s powers and Serena... Serena just has too many to keep track of.”
Amanda looked at Trunks on the TV. “Hee hee, look! Tracy looks like Super Saiyan Trunks when she transforms because she still has blonde hair!”
Tred looked too. “You’re right, she sort of does.” He shook his head. “At least you got more powerful. If everyone had a second level transformation, then we may have a chance to beat Kasei.”
“Ummm, what about Phineas?” Amanda stopped the tape to make Tracy listen.
“I don’t know.”
“But Tred, we’re gonna have to face him again. And what happens when we do? We can’t kill him.”
“I know that, Amanda. But I don’t know how to make him good again.”
Tracy got up and headed to the kitchen to get some food. When she returned, she turned the tape back on. “Why does Phineas hate it when we call him Finny?”
“Because I used to call him that.” Tred rose from the couch and headed toward his room. “Try not to stay up all night. Tomorrow we will go and find a good place for training.” He went into his room and shut the door.
“Ok, but Tred still didn’t answer our question.” Tracy put in another DBZ tape. “Remember Nathan? We didn’t help him out too much when he turned good.”
Amanda turned to Tracy. “We have to try. Tred would be devastated if he lost his brother again. Besides, Nathan was kinda weak, I bet Phineas won’t die that easily.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Tracy shut off the lights. “But, as hard as this fight will be, it’s going to be so much fun!”
* * * * *
When Phineas arrived at Sorceress Kasei’s castle, he could barely keep conscious. By habit, he went straight to where he usually hung out with the other villains, Ebiru’s chambers. There he found Ebiru bandaging up Darker Shadow’s face and Athena looking at a bunch of scrolls.
Athene looked up as Phineas walked in. “Tough fight?”
“Uh huh.” Phineas walked over to Ebiru’s bed and fell on to it. The others watched in surprise.
Ebiru stopped helping her brother for a moment. “Could you please not die on my bed?” She got no answer from Phineas. “Great.” She turned back toward Shadow. “Is this good enough? I can’t believe a cat scratched you up so badly.”
“It wasn’t just the cat. It was that attack. They weren’t supposed to be that powerful.”
“They weren’t, but something happened to the green one.” Ebiru checked the bandages one more time. “Yes, that’s fine. Give it a few days, it shouldn’t leave a much of a scar.”
Athene got another scroll out. “There is nothing in these that explain what happened.”
“I’ll bet Tred doesn’t even know.” Shadow went over to the scrolls, picked one out and opened it. “Talpa and Beryl really didn’t look into the consequences of their plan too well.” He pointed to a paragraph in the scroll. “It says here that the possibility of using the gems for evil purposes is very slim if the powers are derived from good.”
“For all we know, it does explain it.” Athene looked over at Phineas again. He was still deeply asleep. “Phineas didn’t translate that much of this Guardian script.”
“Remember, he wasn’t a full Guardian.” Ebiru took the scroll from Shadow. Phineas had written in the translation of some stuff, but not all of it. It also wasn’t helping that his writing looked like chicken scratch. “I can’t read any of it.”
“Next time we’ll get him to translate it into Japanese instead of English, he might do better with that.” Athene took one last glance at the scrolls and then started putting them away. “As long as only one of them gets stronger, we’re fine, but we can’t count on that.”
“I know that if this plan is to work, we need Phineas, but he isn’t helping us as much as he should.” Shadow started to try to wake Phineas up, but Athene stopped him.
“Let him sleep, he is just a kid.”
“Fine.” Shadow turned away and left the room.
“I guess I’m going to use my backup bedroom again.” Ebiru headed toward the door. “I wish you guys would stop using my room as a recreation center.”
“Its the best place, Shadow’s room has nothing in it, Phineas’ is a mess, and I have too many fragile things for those two klutzes to break in my room.”
“I know, I know.” Athene and Ebiru walked down the hall. “If we don’t win the next battle, Sorceress Kasei will be very upset with us.”
Athene shook her head. “We will not lose next time, I can promise that. I have a new plan and it will work.”
* * * * *
Tracy and Amanda were sitting at the table, eating breakfast, when Tred came in.
“I got it.”
Tracy gave him a confused look. “What?”
“We can go up to the state park to train. Nobody is there now. It's perfect.”
“Cool!” Amanda moved over so Tred could sit down. “Can we call the Ronins and see if they can come?”
“I already did.” Tred poured himself some cereal. “They should be here soon. I reserved a whole section of cabins, so space won’t be a problem.”
“Good idea. The group tends to get a bit large when we all get together.” Tracy stood up and looked out the window. “Speaking of them, they’re here.”
“Yea!” Amanda ran out of the apartment. In the driveway she saw Rowen, Sage, Cye, Cale, Dais, Sekhmet, and Yuli. “Rowen!”
“Hey Amanda!” Rowen walked toward her and handed her a large box of books.
“What are these?” Amanda looked them over. There were a bunch of Japanese mythology books and some in a weird language that Amanda couldn’t identify.
“Mia sent them. She said Tred would know what they are.” Rowen looked at the others. Erica, Candice, and Danielle had come over and were playing with Yuli. Sage and Dais were trying to find all their stuff, and everyone else was on the swingset. “I guess we’re ready.”
“But we aren’t.” Tracy came carrying a large suitcase. “We were just told about this today. Give us an hour and we’ll be all set to go.”
“Ok.” Rowen saw Amanda’s cat, Hunter, crawl underneath the car. “Does this cat talk?”
“Uh... no.” Amanda gave Rowen a strange look and then went to pick up the cat. “You’re gonna have to come with us, kitty. Let’s go find your brother.” With that, Amanda ran into the house.
Tracy sighed. “Now I have to pack for her.” Tracy turned to the backyard, where everyone else was. “Whoever isn’t ready in an hour isn’t coming!” She laughed as everyone rushed to make final preparations. “This is going to be really interesting.”
Rowen nodded. “Of course it will be, it always is.”
* * * * *
A small beam of sunlight poured through the one window in Ebiru’s room. It pierced the darkness and shined right on Phineas’ face. He mumbled something and rolled over. The sunbeam continued to intensify until it finally broke through the haze surrounding Phineas’ mind. He started to stir, not really remembering where he was. Thinking he was in his own room, Phineas reached over to where he thought a table was. Instead of encountering the familiar piece of furniture, his hand met empty space, and Phineas ended up reaching to far and tumbling out of the bed.
“Ouch.” Phineas rubbed his head, on which he had just landed. Now fully awake, he started to remember what had happened. As he got up from the floor, a sharp pain ran through his head. “Ugh, I feel horrible. Next time Kasei needs somebody to ‘test’ Tred, she can call Athene.” Phineas stumbled down to a sort of kitchen, where Ebiru and Athene were preparing breakfast.
“Well, look who finally woke up.” Ebiru pulled out a chair for him.
“Yeah.” Phineas looked at the two witches. Ebiru had a plate of uncooked eggs in front of her. She was staring at them and concentrating hard. “What are you doing?”
“Athene dared me to try to cook these using magic.”
Phineas looked at the eggs. They were still as raw as ever. “When are you going to start trying?”
Athene started laughing as Ebiru glared at him. “It’s not easy, you know. Blowing up stuff, shooting energy blasts, and big spells are simple. It’s the little ones that require a lot of concentration.” As she spoke, the eggs began to sizzle and turn white. “See. I told you I could do it.” Ebiru pushed the eggs toward Phineas. “Here, test them.”
“No way. I’m not eating something you made. Remember when Shadow ate that stuff you cooked? He was sick for a week!” Phineas ducked as an energy bolt flew by his head. “Sorry, but its true.”
“So this is how my underlings spend their time.” Sorceress Kasei walked into the room, a really pissed off look on her face. “Looking at this, one would think you three had actually won a battle.”
“We’re sorry, Mistress.” Athene, Phineas, and Ebiru bowed down before Kasei.
“If you were truly sorry, you would find Tred and bring him here!”
“Yes... we would, but you see...” Athene looked to Ebiru for help.
Ebiru cleared her throat. “Well... we were going to capture them, but one of them changed and we wanted to study that, to see if it would affect the plan before we defeated them.”
“Well, see that you get to that soon, and don’t fail me. I will not accept anymore excuses.” Sorceress Kasei gave them one last glare before leaving the room.
“Whew, for a moment there I thought we wouldn’t be going on another mission ever again.” Athene called up a crystal, to see what was happening at Tracy and Amanda’s house. To her surprise, it was deserted. “What happened?! Where did they go?!”
Phineas took the crystal from her. “They left? Great, now we have to track them!”
“No.” Athene called the crystal back. “You’re the one who let them go. You’re the one who will track them.”
“What?! But I... You failed too!”
“Sorry, Phineas.” Ebiru headed for the door. “But it’s your job. Besides, you should be glad, you get the first shot at Tred.”
“I should be glad, my ass.” Phineas muttered under his breath as Ebiru and Athene left. “Fine then, I’ll find them, and I’ll defeat them, and I’ll get all the credit!” Phineas teleported out of the castle.
* * * * *
“Isn’t everybody ready yet?” Tracy paced in front of her vehicle. Rowen was laying on the driveway, watching the clouds. It had been three hours now. Tracy was going to honk the horn again when everybody came running out of the house.
Amanda ran up to Tracy and got into the SUV. “Sorry.”
Candice headed over to Tracy’s parent’s van. “We were talking and we lost track of the time...”
“And Candice had to do her hair!” Sage came over and took the paper from Tracy. “That’s what took us sooo long!”
“Could you guys just get in?” Tracy pushed Sage toward the Durango.
Everybody dumped the last of their bags into the cars. Rowen was driving the van and Cye, Candice, Amanda, Cale, and Yuli. Sage, Sekhmet, Tred, Danielle, Erica, and Dais were in the Durango with Tracy driving. As Tracy started up the SUV, Tred slipped in the passenger seat.
“So... do you know how to get there?”
Tracy reached over and whapped Tred upside the head. “Of course, you loser! I’ve been going there since I was five!”
“Ok, just checking.” Tred pulled the map out from his pocket just in case. “How long is the drive?”
“Two hours.” Tracy pulled out of the driveway, followed by Rowen. “We should be at the park after lunch.”
“Ok.” Tred looked behind him. Danielle and Erica were making signs and holding them up to the window. He spotted the van behind them and signs were in their window too. “What’s going on?”
Danielle tapped Tracy on the shoulder. “Tracy, we need to stop.”
“Why?”
“Because, Rowen is pulling over for a bathroom break.”
“It’s only been five minutes!”
“But, they have to go!”
“Fine!” Tracy stopped at the nearest McDonalds. “This is the only time I’m stopping.”
“Ok!” Everyone piled out of the van except for Tred and Tracy.
Tred looked over at her. “I think we might be driving for a bit more than two hours.”
* * * * *
Phineas had been following the group for a while now. It was the most annoying thing he had ever done. Every ten minutes they would stop at another rest stop. Their trip had taken four hours so far.
Phineas stood next to the phone booths as he watched Erica and Dais go into the gas station for some pop. “This is sooo boring. Why do I always get stuck with the boring jobs?” He saw the vehicles pulling away, and Erica and Dais running after them. Phineas watched them drive down the highway, then decided to just go to the next gas station and wait for them there.
* * * * *
“Are we there yet?” Sekhmet whined. At the last stop, everyone had switched vehicles, now all the guys were in the van. And, to make matters worse, Amanda and Candice had taken all their candy with them. “This is taking forever! What time is it?”
“It is five minutes later than the last time you asked.” Tred was getting annoyed too. He was also worried. Tred thought he had seen Phineas a few times. He looked at the map again, and at the exit they had just passed. “Hey Rowen, the next one is the exit we want.”
“Alright!” Dais threw the notebook that he and Cale where playing hangman on up into the air.
“Its about time.” Cye agreed. He reached over to wake up Sage. “Hey, we’re here.”
“*Snore*”
“Ok, so he isn’t waking up.” Cye looked out the window. The forests and lakes were such a contrast to the thruway. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Yeah, well... look while you can, we’re just going to blow it all up when we are practicing anyway.”
“Cale!”
“What?!”
“You can’t blow it all up, it’s a state park!” Rowen shook his head. “Geez, sometimes I think you all are hopeless.”
“Wait! I only meant is that wherever we go, things don’t stay intact, that’s all.” Cale slumped in his seat and pouted. “You all think I’m a maniac.”
“Nope.” Rowen grinned. “That would be Sekhmet.”
Tred had to stop Sekhmet from attacking Rowen while he was parking the van. “Ok, get out, now!”
* * * * *
Everyone unpacked and set up the camp later that night. The next day they decided, much to Tred's objections, to forget training and to do what they wanted. Amanda, Candice, and Erica made Tred take them to the beach, Rowen, Cye, Danielle, and Yuli went to the nearest town to get more supplies, and Dais, Sekhmet, Cale, Tracy, and Sage went hiking.
* * * * *
"TRED!!!! Come out here! I'm drowning!"
"That's nice." Tred looked up from his book and saw Amanda splash around and dive beneath the surface of the lake. He sighed, and then returned to his reading. They had been trying to get him to go swimming all day. It was a miserable day. Not including the fact that it was November, it was windy and cold. Tred had begged them not to swim. But they proclaimed that they would be going everyday, no matter what. So there Tred was, sitting under an umbrella, reading one of the mythology books Mia had given him and trying not to complain too much. After all, he thought, they are having fun...
"Ahhhh! Tred, a shark! Come in and save us!"
"No!"
"You're no fun!" Erica stuck her tongue out at Tred and swam towards Candice and Amanda. "So, how do we get him in?"
"I know!" Candice turned to face Tred. "Stand back guys, I'm gonna try something Cye taught me." She closed her eyes and concentrated. The water began to swirl around her. Soon, a huge wave was rushing towards Tred.
"Alright, Candice! This is great!" Amanda laughed and then called out to Tred. "Hey, Tred! You better watch out!"
"What's wrong now..." Tred saw the wave heading towards him. He tried to get out of the way, but it was to no avail. The wave crashed over his head and swept him into the water.
* * * * *
"Losers! I got up here first! Now I get to pick the next trail!" Tracy stood triumphantly on the peak of the mountain. She watched the others stagger up the incline. Cale had made a bet that he could beat any of them up the mountain. Now he was the furthest behind.
"How... how did she do that?" Sekhmet wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Tracy doesn't even look tired."
Dais stopped and leaned up against a tree. "Maybe its all the sugar she eats."
Cale sat down next to Dais. "My feet hurt! And I'm thirsty! Does anybody have any water?"
Sage pulled out a canteen from his pack and threw it to Cale. "She ran all the way up the mountain, it must be super sugar. Hey, Tracy! We give up, you win. Can we rest now?"
"Yeah, I guess it won't kill me." Tracy sat down and pulled out a Pixy Stix. She noticed the guys staring at her strangely. "What? What's wrong?"
Dais cleared his throat. "Did you eat those things before we started hiking, by any chance?"
"Of course. Why, want some?" The guys held out their hands eagerly. While they downed the rest of her candy, Tracy stood up and headed down the mountain. "Alright, break's over. I'll meet you at the Bear Caves when you all are done." Tracy ignored their groans as she left.
* * * * *
Phineas had followed them into the park, noted their location, and then left. He decided to find out what they were doing before he attacked them. Next, Phineas headed to Salamanca, which was the closest town. He was just walking around, trying to figure out what to do. Since he had not been allowed to leave Sorceress Kasei's castle for most of the time he stayed there, Phineas was not familiar to most modern things. This town was fascinating to him. Phineas saw a park in the middle of the town and headed there.
* * * * *
Cye put the last bag of groceries in the back of the van. He turned to Rowen, who was struggling to hold Yuli, who was standing on Rowen's shoulders.
"Come on, Rowen! Lift me up higher!"
"I can't Yuli, the only way to get higher would be to stand on the van!"
"Then hop on it..."
"Yuli!" Cye stood behind Rowen and let Yuli fall into his arms. "I think we're done with the errands, what do you want to do now?"
Yuli thought for a second. "I think I saw a park down that way."
"Great!" Danielle went into the van, rummaged around a bit, and pulled out a frisbee. "Don't tell Tred that I have this, he banned them."
"Ok, but only if I get it first!" Rowen took the frisbee from Danielle and started running toward the park.
Danielle and Yuli took off after him, leaving Cye behind.
"Hey, wait up guys!"
It took Cye a few minutes to lock up the van and to get to the park. In the distance he could see Rowen and Danielle playing pickle-in-the-middle with Yuli. As he walked through the trees, Cye thought he saw a flash of red. He gave it no notice. "It must have just been my imagination, they wouldn’t be all the way up here."
* * * * *
Phineas watched as Cye left the woods and walked over to the others. "For a Ronin, he sure is oblivious." He ran his hand through his red hair. "And I've better be more careful, I almost gave myself away. I don't want to fight them yet, it would be better to wait a bit longer." Phineas sat down next to a tree. “Just my luck, I run into then when I don’t want to. Stupid Ronins.”
* * * * *
“Look at this place. It’s so spiffy its making me sick!” Tracy had jogged all the way to the bear caves, but seeing all the signs for the tourists had ruined the trip. She turned around and saw that the guys weren’t following her. “Oh come on! Now I have to go all the way back and get those losers!” Tracy was going to head back to the mountain when she got an idea. “I think I’ll just go back to the cabins. Serves those losers right for not keeping up.”
* * * * *
Dais looked around the clearing. “Wasn’t she supposed to be here?”
“I think that’s what she said.” Sekhmet climbed up on top of one of the caves’ entrances and sat down. “I guess we missed her.”
“Where are Sage and Cale?”
“Maybe they died of exhaustion.”
“I hope not, Sage had the map.”
* * * * *
“Sage! Where are we?!”
“I’m not quite sure...” Cale took the map from Sage and whacked him in the head. “Owwch! Why did you do that?!”
Cale sighed. “We’re lost. This sucks! I want to go home!” Cale sat down on the ground.
“Me too. Why did we agree to come anyway?”
“I don’t know! At least it can’t really get any worse than this, though.”
* * * * *
“Uhhh... wha... what hit me?” The wave had finally washed out to sea, leaving a completely soaked Tred on the shore. Amanda, Candice, and Erica ran toward him to see if he was ok.
Amanda kneeled down beside Tred. “Hey Tred, are you alright?”
“No, I’m not alright! I’m all wet and I’m cold and I’m wet!”
Candice lowered her head. “I’m sorry. We just wanted you to go swimming with us.”
“Yeah.” Erica’s lip began to quiver.
“Oh no, you aren’t going to make me feel sorry for you!” Tred stood up and turned away.
“But Tred...”
“No! It’s not going to work this time!” All three girls burst into tears. “Aww jeez, stop it, please?” Tred was at a loss as to what to do. “Come on, I forgive you.”
Amanda looked up hopefully. “Really?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Will you go swimming with us tomorrow?”
“No!”
“But...” Tears began to roll down Amanda’s face again. “But... we want you to...”
“No.” Tred tried to block out the sounds of their whimpering, but it wasn’t happening. “Arrggghhh! Fine! I’ll go swimming tomorrow! But only if you stop crying!”
“Yea!” Immediately the girls cheered up and they each gave Tred a hug.
“Damn you, why are all three of you such good actresses?”
* * * * *
“I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored...” Sekhmet stopped whining when Dais glared at him with his one good eye. “What?”
“You aren’t helping the situation any.”
“Well, its not as if you are either... now what’s wrong?” Sekhmet had noticed Dais staring at something behind him.
“Ther...there’s...”
“What!”
“There’s a thing behind you!”
“What?” Sekhmet turned around and saw the biggest bear he had ever seen right behind him. “Shit!” He jumped from the rock and hid behind Dais. “What does it want?!”
“I don’t know! Give it some food!”
“I don’t have any!” The bear roared and Sekhmet started running, with Dais close behind. Then bear started chasing them. They raced down the trail, passing Sage and Cale.
“Hey guys! Where were... hey!” Dais and Sekhmet each grabbed Cale and Sage and dragged them up the trail. Sage looked back and saw the huge bear behind them. “What is that?!”
Dais cringed and continued running. “Don’t ask. I think Sekhmet made it mad.”
“How exactly did I make it mad?!”
“You were sitting on its home!”
“The bears don’t actually live in the caves, do they Sage?”
“How should I know! Bears don’t live in Toyama!”
The four guys kept running, not realizing that the bear had given up a while back. When they finally reached the main cabin, they rushed in and locked the door. Tracy was sitting in the kitchen area.
Cale collapsed onto the floor. “Don’t go out there!”
“Ummm, may I ask why not?”
“Sorry, Tracy. There are things out there you don’t need to know about.” Sage pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge and started to guzzle it down.
“Oookay... but when you do go outside, watch out for the bears.”
“What?!” Four glares bore down on Tracy.
“Yeah, they head up here at this time of year. You didn’t know that?”
They didn’t answer. Sage, Dais and Sekhmet just groaned and joined Cale on the floor.
* * * * *
Cye was sitting on a hill, watching Danielle and Rowen throw the frisbee around. Yuli sat beside him, feeling really guilty.
“I’m really sorry the frisbee hit you in the head, Cye.”
“I know. Its ok, I’m not mad.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes Yuli, now go back and play. I’m going to head back to the van.”
“Ok!”
Cye watched as Yuli ran back to the others. Then he got up and walked back through the woods. On the way, he thought he saw someone sitting against a tree. Now who could that be? As Cye got closer, he saw that it was Phineas, he had fallen asleep against the tree. “Phineas! What are you doing here?!”
Cye’s shouting woke Phineas up. He looked up and saw Cye standing there. “Shit! Why are you here?!”
“I believe I asked you that question first! Armor of Torrent...”
“No wait! I don’t want to fight…”
“Dao Shin!”
“...right now.” Phineas watched as Cye transformed into his armor. “Great. Ok, Ronin, if this is what you want, then take this!” Phineas shot a bolt of energy at Cye just as he was done transforming. Cye avoided it and used his sure kill.
“Superwave Smasher!”
* * * * *
Rowen, Danielle, and Yuli were sitting on the swings when they saw the wave of water rise up above the trees.
Yuli looked to Rowen. “Was that Cye?”
“I don’t know, but we’d better go check. Come on Danielle, transform!”
“Alright.” Danielle pulled out the gem from her pocket. An orange light surrounded her as her outfit changed into the orange sailor suit.
“Armor of Strata, dao inochi!” As Rowen pulled out his kanji marble, a black void surrounded him and ribbons and cherry blossoms fell around him. When it was over, Rowen was in his blue and gold armor. “Come on, let’s go help.”
“Ok. Yuli, stay here until we come back.”
“Sure, Danielle.” Yuli watched as Rowen and Danielle ran off toward the battle.
* * * * *
Cye was definitely losing this battle. The whole forest around them had been demolished. Why did I have to go and start this fight?
Phineas again knocked Cye into one of the few remaining trees standing. “Why don’t you just give up, Ronin? It’s plain to see that you don’t have a chance of winning!” He walked over a picked Cye up by his throat.
“I won’t give up to scum like you!” Cye was going to try to use his attack again when the clearing suddenly was illuminated.
“Don’t harm our friend!” As Cye and Phineas paused and looked to see what was happening, Sailor Halo stepped into the clearing, followed by Sage, Sekhmet, Dais, and Cale.
Cye looked confused. “How did you guys know...?”
Tracy glared at him. “Quiet, Cye! You’re ruining our entrance!” She turned back to Phineas. “People like you should not be destroying nature like this! I will right wrongs like this and triumph over evil! In the name of the, uh, element... Sage what’s your element?”
“Light!”
“Oh yeah, In the name of the element of light, I, Sailor Halo, with the help of my fellow Better Sailor Scouts,” Tracy pointed to Sage and the warlords behind her, “will punish you!” As she finished, all five of them burst into giggles. “No wonder Sailor Moon does that all the time! It's fun!”
“Yeah, we should do this again.”
“But of course, Sailor Sage.” Tracy noticed that Cye was still trapped by Phineas. “But we have to save the day first!”
“Hee hee, Sailor Cale to the rescue! Black Lighting Slash!” The attack hit Phineas and made him drop Cye. “Your turn, Sailor Dais!” When nothing happened, Cale looked around for Dais. He was sitting in a tree. “Dais! Get down here and help!”
“I don’t want to be a Sailor Scout!”
“Get down here!” Cale used his nodatchi to hit the branch Dais was sitting on. Dais jumped down and landed on his feet.
“Ok, fine. Web of Deception!” The landscape around Phineas changed. It now looked like the forest had never been damaged. The illusion hid the warriors from view.
As Dais set the illusion up, Rowen and Danielle came into the clearing.
“It’s about time you two got here!” Cye was still just a little mad. “Get over here and help!”
“Yes, Cye.” Rowen took out an arrow and notched it. “Arrow Shock Wave!” The attack hit Phineas and pushed him back a little. He just shook it off and with a flick of his hand, he dissolved the illusion. But, instead of attacking again, Phineas began to walk away.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Danielle started to run after him, but Sekhmet held her back. “You can’t just leave!”
“Yes I can. I never wanted to fight in the first place. It was your little blue friend that started it.” Phineas turned around and faced the group. “And make sure you inform Tred that I will face him again.”
“Wait! Don’t go! We were winning! Seismic Slash!” Danielle’s attack hit thin air, as Phineas teleported away.
“Well, that’s another victory for the Better Sailor Scouts!” Sekhmet began to twirl his swords around.
“This is just great.” Rowen turned to Sekhmet and whapped him upside the head. “And you five aren’t helping!”
“What?”
“Nevermind, let’s just go home and keep an eye out for Phineas.”
“Fine Sailor Rowen, but you wouldn’t feel so grumpy if you joined us too.” Tracy caught one glance at the Look of Death that Rowen was shooting at her and began to run for the van.
