Fan Fiction ❯ The Goddess Sagas ❯ Light, Innocence and hope ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: Light, innocence and hope

"...I can't believe that they aren't even cancelling the mission today...!" Mara exclaimed as she sat on Ryan's bed with Parfait

watching him as he gathered a few healing items.

"...."

"Ryan...are you going to be ok? I mean it must have been scary..." Parfait shivered. "Finding someone dead like that...who

could have done such a thing..."

"Yeah! He was 5th rank! Could it have been those monsters...? I wonder what happened to them to make them so viscous."

Mara frowned in thought.

"No." Ryan turned around shakeing his head. "It wasn't the monsters...his wounds...they were like nothing I've ever seen, even

though the monsters were powerful they couldn't have ripped him apart like that."

"Then what...?" Mara lowered her eyes as she drifted off into deep thought, something that did not come easy for her.

"Who was he anyway?" Parfait asked.

"Master Jabora said that he was Allen Cooper, one of the eldest students in the school, he achieved 5th rank around an year

ago.." Ryan informed as he straightened his shirt.

*Knock! Knock!*

The trio turned towards the door and watched as a figure allowed it's self in.

It was Miss Lena, she was one of the top teachers in the whole school even though she was no older then twenty she had quite

a lot of experience. She received orders from Master Jabora himself which made her highly respected. She was quite pretty,

with thick black hair tied up in a lose pony tail, golden glasses which farmed her green eyes and peachy cream skin, sure she

was a little chubby but that did not really matter to the huge amount of boys and even some girls at the school which had started

a Lena worship club. Miss Lena was also kind and loved to have fun but for some odd reason for the past few months she

hadn't beensmiling much. On the contrary, she seemed close to tears and all the friendliness and fun had left her personality

leaving only a ghost of herself behind.

"Ryan, come meet in the main hall if your going to the mission today."

"Miss Lena, can we really not wait to go to Allen's funeral? I mean, he was 5th rank, and I kind of knew him...isn't the

honourable thing to do would be at least attend the funeral?"

Lean frowned then shook her head. "I'm afraid not...if it was up to me I would have no problem with it but as you know the

Head Master is Master Jabora..."

"We'll say goodbye to him for you." Mara reassured, Parfait nodded in agreement.

"Ok...I'll see you guys when I get back."

Mara smiled sweetly. "I'll be waiting for you, please be careful." The cat-girl stood on her tippy toes to give him a small lick on

the cheek.

"Big bro, take this with you, it's my good luck charm..." Parfait handed him a large red locket with golden engravings on it.

This was an item that had been found on them after they had been found and brought to the magic school. Inside was a picture

of a young woman, with bright blue eyes and blond hair. Ryan knew he saw this woman many times before but he could not

remember just where.

"Thank you, Parfait, I'll take care of it."

"You better." Parfait grinned from ear to ear. "I'll see you again when you are 5th rank! I can't believe it, me the sister of

someone in 5th rank!"

Ryan grinned and gave both girls a hug and a kiss on the cheek before he fallowed Lena out of the room.

"Promise me you'll be careful Rya!!" Mara called as she watched him leave.

He walked into the main hall and saw ten other students already gathered. They were all humans except for Mimi who waved

to him as she saw him standing there.

He walked over and stood beside her as Head master Jabora began to speak to the small group.

"Hello students, today is the first day of our mission to achieve first rank. Those getting 90 points and over will be accepted.

Before I go on, I'll call out the names of those who are suppose to be here.

"Keith Soun?"

"Here."

"Richard Moysa? "

"Here."

"Rose Caraway?"

"Here."

"Teri McGee?"

"Here."

"Mimi Sakura?"

"Present."

The crowd glanced at her because of her different response and she blushed looking down at her feet and began to shift uneasily under their stares, but the Head Master soon dismissed it and continued

reading the names.

"Karl Cabrera?"

"Here."

"Tommy Will?"

"Here."

"Grace Nakamura?"

"Here."

"Alice Walker?"

"Here."

"Rex Larox?"

"Here."

Ryan looked at the red headed boy with the afro and frowned. Rex was the bastard son of the teacher Miss.Laura. This was one of the few times he ever heard him speak, it was a deep and booming voice that almost shook the walls. Whenever he was around him, Ryan would feel uneasy, this guy...there was just bad vibes about him.

"Ryan?"

Ryan snapped out of his thoughts and responded a little startled.

"Here!"

The Head Masters eyes stared at him for a moment then turned back to the paper in his hands, his face suddenly frowning.

"Genki Brief?"

There was no response. The crowd looked around for the boy but did not find him among the group of gathered students.

"I guess we're leaving without him then." Master Jabora began but at that moment---

"Hey--!! Wait, come on!! I'm here! I'm here!" Genki exclaimed as he ran threw one of the hallways towards them while he was

finishing pulling on his black shirt and buckling his belt for his baggy jean shorts. His jean vest laid underneath one of his arms.

Not to mention the way his long brown hair was tied up in a lose pony tail which messily fell to the middle of his back. He

looked as if he had just woke up....he probably did.

"Mr. Brief, late again? If you do not start behaving better and start making an effort to be on time I'll have to lower you back

down to 1st rank!" Master Jabora scowled at the boy who bit his lip and nodded fearfully.

"Ok, as I was saying those who score 90 points and over will be accepted into 5th rank. Your points will depend on you

actions in the mission in the region of Anju."

"Master Jabora, just what is our mission, you have not told us anything about it. Last time I tried to achieve 5th rank we at least

knew our mission weeks before we went...what do we have to do at Anju, is it something to do with those black magic

users...?"Genki questioned bluntly.

Jabora's eyes narrowed at the boy and then softened. "I'll tell you the truth of this mission. Those 'black mages' seem to be up

to no good. They seem to be searching for a relic in the temple Anju, so we are there to stop them from finding what ever they

are looking for. It works well for the training and we'll be paid by the king for our deeds."

Genki nodded as gasps went up from the crowd at the thought of battling real black magic users.

`Anju was a goddess worpshipping shrine afterall...guess my perdiction are right...as always.' dispite the smug look on his face, a look of worry shimmered in his eyes.

"There will be three groups of four and those groups will be assigned with a mission guide who is one of our top teachers."

Mr. Jabora gestured towards Lena, a middle-aged red haired woman who was small and tiny and another woman who was

young, blond and very curvy and wearing a ton of makeup. The red heads name was Miss. Laura and the blonde was Miss.

Lexy. These teachers made up the head teachers of the school and was known as the `Great L's'

"Each group will have a leader, the three leaders will be the students with the highest points. I'll now call out the leaders,

team-mates and what guide they will have."

Ryan began to drift away in thought until he was awoken when he heard Keith's name being called up.

Keith was a team leader...and there were only three students remaining. Him, Mimi and Genki.

"AWWW NOOOOOOO!!" Genki moaned dropping to his knees. "Not Keith's team!! I am always stuck with him! Why god, do you insist on mocking me!?"

Ryan knew just what the boy felt and he felt sorry for him even though he was much displeased to the fact of Genki being on his

team. It wasn't that the boy was mean to him like Keith was...hell no! Genki was friendly and an all around good guy but he

was constantly jumping about, he was blunt, he was always joking around, and he would always end up getting into trouble

because he was constantly running ahead of everyone. Not to mention the boy was a video-game and Judo freak! The boy was

probably the only one at school he did not have a weapon...wait...forget that. His whole body was a weapon! Ryan should

know, he was pounded by him in one training session. Not only that but he also balnced his time with machines and teconogly, and was always inventing something that wrecked hovoc across the school, which was mostly the reason for the head master's hate towards him. There was something freaky about him though. In relgion class the boy always really over reacted if the teacher or even a student got the smallets thing wrong about the goddess. It a simple term, Genki was weird.

"Hello, puberty boy, guess I'M your leader for this mission." Keith smirked meanly. Keith always refered to Genki like that. The two boys were seen hanging around each other a few times but they did not really act as though they were friends. The reason why Keith insited on calling Genki puberty boy was the fact the boys voice sounded as though it was still going thre puberty, and he was very high pitched and squeaky when he spoke, which soemtimes was wuite funny.

"..." Genki pouted at the overused insult. "...At least Mimi's here" a grin appeared on his face and in a matter of moments his arm was around the

half-fairy.

Mimi stared up at him blushing pink as the human just stood there grinning madly. Another thing about Genki, he had a huge crush on the fairy-half, and everyone in the school knew it, except for, god help her, Mimi.

"........." Ryan rolled his eyes but jumped as he felt an arm around his shoulder.

"Hi, my friend, how are you? Guess your stuck with me again huh? Hehehehe!" The boy began giggling madly.

"Sugar high again?" Ryan groaned. This boy was so hyper it made Parfait look lazy. That is a very scary thing. "Get your hand off of me."

"No..." Genki whsipered. "I have to make it look to Mimi that I put my hand around all my friends...I don't want her knowing..."

"I'm not your friend!"

The boy frowned, and removed his hands, crossing them over his chest with a childish pout.

"Come on troops, let's get going!" Lena clapped her hands, and led Keith and the rest of the team outside towards three cars.

They seemed to be driving forever, they took turns so no-one would get over tired at the wheel, but still they were getting

tired of waiting.

"Miss. Lena? How long is it before we reach Anju?" Ryan yawned tiredly.

"We should be arriving in around five more hours." Lena informed before turning back to gaze out of the windows.

"Damn! I can't wait before I can kick some butt!" Genki exclaimed punching his first into the palm of his other hand.

Keith smirked meanly. " If they don't kick yours first, puberty boy."

Genki growled turning red in the cheeks. "GO TO HELL!"

Keith chuckled and turned away from the other to stare at Ryan with his intense eyes.

"You may be on my team Ryan but that those not make you equal or better in strength then me. At the end of this I'll prove it to

you, and then Mara will want to be with me instead of with a loser like you."

Ryan narrowed his eyes at the other boy but then decided not to say anything, it would only cause this to end in a fist fight and

having them both disqualified from the battle and the chance of 5th rank.

"I don't think I can bring myself to drive this car for another minuet...!" Mimi moaned pitifully. She was driving for a long time

but she still had an hour of her turn left, they all had to do three hours each and Keith and him had already done their shares.

Miss. Lena being of such high rank did not do any of the driving which made them think that the teacher would be nice and take

over Mimi's last hour considering she did not do anything yet except for stare out the window but she just remained unmoving.

Mimi groaned at Lena's un-helpful display and continued to drive.

"...Hey, um...I'll take over for you, I don't mind driving for four hours..." Genki suddenly spoke up.

"Oh?...Um, thank you." Mimi smiled blushing as she stopped the car and watched as Genki sat in the drivers seat.

The hyper boy grinned and winked at her. "No problem!"

'Well, that was nice of Genki....hey wait a minuet!' Ryan's eyes grew wide and he turned towards Keith horrified. Keith was

looking at him with the same expression. Just by the expression on each others faces they knew the other remembered the last

time they got in a car with Genki Brief.

"NO!!!" The two boys screamed trying to pull the hyper-one out of the drivers seat before he could start the car. They were a

second to late and were rammed back in the seats with a grunt as they car took off at around eighty miles per hour.

"YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Genki exclaimed howling with laughter as all the back seat passengers were rammed up against

the seats screaming with fear as the car narrowly missed ramming into the trees.

The ride from hell was finally over as the car stopped and they climbed out of the car. The others teams were all ready

gathering and lessoning to there mission objectives.

"Keith, your team will guard the area outside of Anju temple. It's very important that you do not let anyone inside of the temple.

Understand?" Lena instructed.

"Yes. We understand. Come on troops, let's go!" Keith was already off towards the temple before anyone could say anything.

"Wow, he actually seems excited to battle those mages..."Mimi trailed off with a frown.

"Well, that's Keith for you. Always into blood-shed." Genki hunched his shoulders taking off after there captain.

"...He seems pretty excited too..." Ryan commented at Genki's behaviour.

"Yeah." Mimi chuckled.

"Argh!"

A scream startled both of them and them and they ran off to see what was going on.

Genki had been surrounded by around seven black mages. The attack had taken him by surprise but he was now standing in a

fighting position ready to attack.

One the mages made the first move as he dashed towards him with his magic staff pointed towards the boy.

Genki jumped into the air kicking the mage in the gut sending him crashing backward into a wall.

"Argh!" The boy cried as one of the mages summoned up an lightning blast from his staff. The attack was painfuln but somehow Genki managed to remain on his feet but the attacks was coming at him all at once.

"INSANE DUST!!" Mimi called rising her fairy staff into the air as she came onto the battle feildwith Ryan.

Golden dust fell over some of the mages, causing them to stand in confusion then they began to attack themselves and each

other.

Ryan dashed forward slashing down at a few with his sword while Genki shouted thanks and began to attack the remaining

mages. The battle was soon over with and the group turned to each other.

"Thanks for helping me, I couldn't take them all on my own." Genki grinned.

"No problem, but...they were kind of easy...They seemed more like....illousions...." Ryan could not fisnish what he was saying before Genki scrowled at him, clecnhing his fists.

"What ya mean by that!? You try taken on seven mages by yourself!!"

"I didn't mean it that way..." Ryan began to protest.

"Hey...were is Keith...? We should catch up to him, in case some mages attack him..."

"It'll be his fault for running ahead!" Genki snapped, sounding jealous over the worry in Mimi's tone for the other boy.

Mimi shot him a dirty look and turned to Ryan. "Come on, let's go catch up to Keith."

Ryan nodded and began to follow Mimi leaving a flushed Genki behind them.

"Hey...c...come on!!" The hyper boy called to them before he began to chase after them in a desperate attempt to catch up.

Keith glanced over at them from where he leaned against the wall of temple Anju. All around him lay the bodies of mages.

Some burned, some chopped into pieces...others they were better off not knowing what happened to. Fresh blood dripped

from Keith's gun blade.

"Whoa..." Genki muttered as he stared at the bodies threw wide brown eyes.

"K...Keith...d...did you do this?" Mimi stuttered gripping onto Genki arm from fear.

"Keith, you took all these mages on by yourself? How is that possible? Me and the others we came across seven of them, they

weren't that strong but still...defeating all seven of them alone would be impossible because of the way they attacked but

yet hear we see around twenty mages all dead..." Ryan shook his head in disbelief at the blood shed.

Keith grinned coldly. " It's impossible for you three...your weak, why do you think they made me leader instead of one of you.

They know I'm the better of us..."

"YOU--!!" Genki growled in his high pitched voice. "Your not any better then us!"

"Really, puberty boy? Unlike you I did not cry out for help. I did not even suffer any wounds."

"You heard him scream and you did not even go to help him!? You did not even care?" Mimi's face flustered angrily.

"So what, Tinker bell? He's ok."

"Hey! Don't call her Tinker Bell!! Her name is MIMI!" Genki defended.

Ryan had shut the augment out of his ears and had began looking around the area. The temple was regular sized. Not being to

large or to small and made out of stone. In front of it was a water fountain, that he was pretty sure that if he looked at for to

long would make him want to go to the bathroom. Thick trees surrounded the area, they seemed impossible to pass threw.

"Well, what do we do now?" Ryan asked Keith turning his attention away from the tress.

"What can we do? This is the area we have to guard, we just stay hear and wait for some black mages." Keith grumbled

plopping onto the ground.

"Awww man!!" Genki moaned smashing the wall of the temple with his first, actually causing the stone to crack.

"Hmmm...I guess it's for the best. I don't want to hurt anybody..." Mimi frowned as she leaned up against the temple wall.

'So much for an exciting adventure.' Ryan thought in disappointment as he laid on the blood stained soil, his eyes gazed up at

the sky above him.

'...I wonder how everybody is doing anyway...Mara...Parfait...just what are they doing now? Are they worried? Are they

messing up my room, or are they attempting to surprise me with something when I get back? '

Ryan closed his eyes letting the breeze hit his face. It felt relaxing even though he knew he was laying on a blood stained felid.

'...Help me...' a voice whispered in his head and his eyes snapped open. Almost in a flash he could see the image of a beautiful

young girl before his eyes. She had long thin brown hair with streaks of gold running threw it. Around her creamy peachy skin

she wore a white hood and cloak. She seemed to gaze into his soul with piercing pale bluish-green eyes.

Ryan sat upward with a gasp catching the attention of the others around him.

"Ryan?" Mimi asked in concern, cocking her head to the side in confusion.

Ryan's eyes widened in surprise as before him he saw two mages running towards the trees. They ran threw them, but not in the

normal way. The space were they ran seemed to open up, as if it were a doorway, as if it was...Ryan gasped.

'Those tress, it's an illusion! It must have been placed there by those mages, but why? What are they hiding over there?'

Ryan was on his feet in a matter of moments and running towards the 'tress' not even stopping when he heard Genki call to him.

"Were in hell is he going!?" Genki exclaimed.

"Did he lose it..." Mimi wondered while Keith watched in confusion.

The trio gasped as Ryan disappeared threw the illusion.

"An Illusion!? Damn...! Those mages tricked us, everyone come on!" Keith ordered taking after Ryan.

"But--!! They told us to guard Temple Anju! We can't leave! We'll get points deducted!!" Genki protested.

"I agree...I don't want to have to fight...but then what did we come hear for? We have to find out what they are hiding behide

that illusion, maybe we'll even our points raised for finding out about this illusion." Mimi reasoned.

"Ok. Let's go!" Genki grinned taking off with Mimi flying behind him.

"Whoa..." Ryan gasped staring up at the huge temple floating in the sky above him.

"...What in the hell...what is that thing?" Keith's eye brows furrowed in confusion as he stared upward at the huge temple in the

sky.

"WHOA!!! COOL!!" Genki exclaimed as he arrived at the sean and gazed up at the flying temple.

"Do you think that's Temple Anju?" Mimi asked titling her head to the side.

"But wasn't that temple back there..." Genki began.

"It was another illusion." Ryan cut him off.

"What? But it felt so real..." Genki shook his head in disbelief.

"The words 'Anju' in the ancient sorcerer language meant 'Flying' so, in English 'Temple Anju' means 'flying temple.' But no one

has ever sean Temple Anju flying, so it must have been hidden behind this illusion for a long time." Keith informed.

"So...how do we get up there...I can fly but..." Mimi frowned at the rest of the group.

"I got my air board, so don't worry! It can fit two at a time on it. So I can bring up Ryan and Keith." Genki bragged as he took

a small white box out of his pocket and pulled out a capsule with the nbr.3 written on it. He clicked on the button on the very

top of the capsule and threw it onto the ground. In a poof of smoke an air-board appeared in front of them.

As stated before Genki was an electronics nut, rumor even had it that he was a child of the powerful `Brief' family of Angeles whom was a family of the most brillant sceintests in the world. He had all the latest gadgets and his older

sister Bra worked at a place called Capsule corporation which made these capsule things which were able to fit items of any

kind inside of them. Now that Ryan thought of it, the rumores must be true, for he only heard of a Capsuel Corp in the hidden city Angeles. They had such manical wonders in that cit, hell, they could even make fully furnished capsule homes appear out of these capsules. An air-board was

an item he and his older brother Tenki made together. It looked like a skate board but with wings. It was painted bright red

and blue and was rather large but narrow. It was able to fly to almost any height but made a rather loud and annoying buzzing

sound as it did so.

"Good. I'll meet you guys up there! Be careful not to fall off that thing!" Mimi called out as she flew upwards towards the

temple.

"She told me to be careful..." Genki repeated with a dreamy look on his face.

"...Genki..." Ryan sighed snapping his fingers in front of the boys face to bring him out of his love sick trance.

"Huh!? What? Eh!?" Genki looked around himself confused and then grinned sheepishly as he was brought back to reality.

"Oh, sorry. Ok, who do I bring up first?"

Keith made a disgusted face and turned away with his arms crossed over his chest. "I would not ride that THING with YOU if

it meant my life. I'll fine my OWN way up there."

"HEY!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY BOARD!?!" Genki growled his face flushing with rage.

Keith smirked meanly. "It's not fit for someone as strong as me...I'll fine my own way up there, I don't think I can lower my

pride enough to get on that thing with you."

"WHY I OUTTA!!!!!" Genki began to stalk towards Keith with his fists balled up but the hyper boy was yanked back by Ryan

whom sighed.

"Genki, calm down, lets just go up there. If Keith wants to stay down hear, that is his own decision.

Genki frowned. "FINE STAY HEAR!!" The boy turned away from Keith and climbed onto the board. "Come on Ryan."

Ryan took a glance at Keith then fallowed Genki onto the board and flew off into the sky.

They were met by Mimi who was waiting patiently for them at the top.

"This place...it's so creepy up close..." She muttered as she wrapped her small arms around herself to stop from shivering.

"Yeah...If your cold...ah...here..." Genki blushed as he handed Mimi his vest jacket. "It's no much, but it'll keep you warm."

Mimi took the heavy vest in her hands with a small smile on her face. "Thanks Genki. This is very nice of you."

"Aw it was nothing!" Genki blushing like crazy laughed putting one hand behind his head nervously.

"Come on guys, lets get inside." Ryan ordered as he began to approach the entrance of the temple.

"But...what about Keith?" Mimi wondered.

"He wanted to find away up here on his own, didn't find ME or MY board good enough for him. The bastard..." Genki

growled.

Mimi frowned and shook her head. "That's just like Keith for you. Oh well, lets go."

The inside of the temple was huge...and empty. They could here their footsteps echo around the room soundlessly as they

walked around.

"Hey...what's that up ahead?" Genki asked lookining forward.

"I don't know...Hmmm..." Ryan walked forward towards the object in front of them. As he approached it the torches around

him mysteriously let aflame, bathing the area in the glow of fire light.

"Wow..." Mimi whispered in awe at the object that had appeared out the darkness.

It was a statue of the great goddess Key. The statue looked like a young and very beautiful girl. Key was the goddess of light and life, it was her that was

suppose to have given life to all things on the planet. There was a legends that says that Key after using all her power to create

life on the planet disappeared. Other legends said that Key was sad over the wars on earth and had killed herself from grief. All

the legends were very different from each other but they all had the same story at the end. Key no longer watched over the

planet, humans and all other species were on their own, to rule over their own lives without a god or goddess their to guide

them, or blame their troubles on.

"Could Temple Anju be a temple hohnoring the goddess Key?" Ryan asked his two team mates, who shurgged their shoulders.

"I guess...come on, lets explore a little more." Genki and Ryan began to walk away but was stopped by Mimi's surprised gasp.

"The statue! Look! It's crying!!" The fairy-half exclaimed pointing towards the tears. Tears of blood.

"These tears seem so unholy..." Ryan murmured approaching the statue once again. One of the blood tears fell onto his hand,

splattering against his skin.

-FLASH-

A young woman was standing in a brilliant light, golden curls fell over her creamy shoulders. A young man with short red hair

and blue eyes approached her, and the woman looked at him threw beautiful intense blue eyes and smiled. The man says

something but Ryan could not hear his words. The man then extended his hand towards the woman, wings extended from the

woman's back as she reached out her hand. The two hands touched and then there was a bright light and the young woman

was gone.

-FLASH-

"WOW, Ryan!" Mimi exclaimed sounding dazzled.

.

"Would you look at that...it's so beautiful..." Genki said his voice barely above a whisper.

A light so bright was shining from the goddess statue and then a girl stepped out of the stone.

"....It's you--!!" Ryan exclaimed as he gazed at the girl in front of him. It was the girl he had saw in the vision before. Everything

about her was the same except for her eyes which were foggy as if she was in some kind of trance.

"Who are you?" Ryan forced himself to ask, he could feel his body trembling.

The young girl stared at him then spoke in a voice that echoed magically off the walls.

"My name...I have no name, if that is what you want to know. And if you wish to know who I'm I don't know the answer to

that. I'm neither me or her. And she is neither herself or I."

"What are you talking about?" Mimi frowned in confusion while Genki backed away slightly as though trying to hide himself.

The girl ignored him and turned her gaze back on Ryan. "Help me, please. The forces of evil is looking to take over me...you

must find the eight..the eightwho protect the goddess. You...you three and friends you will gather must...protect ...the worlds.... "

"You mean us?" Mimi asked startled.

" 'Protector of hope, it is your duty to protect and make sure that my children do not lose hope. You must never allow your

hope or anyone else's to die. It is up to you to keep everyone strong and to let them believe in themselves. As long as there is

hope no battle is lost, so as long as hope remains pure then people can surpass everything. Take the ' Hope orb' and become

the 'warrior of hope.' " The girl spoke, out of her hands came a glowing sliver crystal, that shone with a brilliant light. It floated

from the girls hands and into Mimi. The crystal flared and entered inside of Mimi's body. Mimi gasped falling unto her knees

breathing hard.

"Whoa...Mimi, are you ok?" Genki asked concerned but the voice of the girl interrupted him.

"Protector of innocence... It's time to accept your destiny which had been givin to you so long ago.You must keep those with pure souls safe from the corruption of the shadows...your quest will be a

hard one, for innocence is such a hard thing to keep. But as long as you know the truths of friendship and love you will always

remain innocent. Learn to look inside of others to find the innocence inside, it is your duty to protect the innocents from

darkness, and to defeat the evil before they can spread there darkness onto those who are pure. Take the 'Orb of Innocence'

and become the 'warrior of innocence.'

Genki stared as a ivory crystal came out of the girls hands and landed into his. It glowed intensely and disappeared into his

body like the 'Hope orb' had done with Mimi.

Ryan stood silently gazing at the girl in awe. She was so beautiful. The girl looked over at him, her face looked sad as she

spoke to him.

"You, Ryan, you are the 'guardian of the light' and the worse enemy of darkness. Hope and innocence does not stand a chance

without you. Only you can save this world from the darkness with the help of your friends. This faith will be a hard one, and not

one everyone will want to accept. The path of light is always the hardest to walk for temptation is always against you. Do you

accept the 'Sphere of light?' only one as pure as it can use it's power...do you think that you are pure enough to handle it? Do

you accept this faith?"

Ryan nodded slowly. The girl smiled a nodded, a golden circle came from out of her body and floated towards him. He

watched in awe at the golden orb that shone in front of him with a pure golden light.

"Once you touch this orb, your faith will be forever changed. There will be no turning back...for you or your friends..."

"I accept my faith." Ryan said as she lifted out his hand torching the orb. It glowed with a brilliant golden light and Ryan

watched dumbstruck as his sword unattached it's self from his side and floated beside the golden sphere.

"Sword of darkness...and the sphere of light...let good and evil become one." The girl mumbled and the two items began to

glow. One golden one a dark disturbing purple and then in a flash of white light the items had become one. The swords handle

had turned golden, and the blade was a long and pure slivery colour. Unlike before it contained something reassuring about it.

Something good. The orb was resting on top of the handle, shining with the light of goodness.

"Be brave Ryan. Your journey will be a long one, but you must never give up. We will meet again...very soon..."

"Wait!" Ryan cried but the girl disappeared in a flash of light leaving him and his trance-out friends alone in the room.

'Who are you...? And why us?'

"Ohhhh...what happened...?" Mimi moaned as she came out of the trance, looking around herself startled as she climbed back

onto her feet.

"Where is that weird girl? What did she do to us?" Genki asked shaking his head as if trying to shake away the confusion.

"I don't know who she was but...I think we should get out of hear." Ryan was about to turn and leave when a voice shouted

from a darkened corner.

"Halt! You three! What are you doing here!? For entering this place where you are not allowed, you shall die!"

The trio turned towards it startled, they were surrounded by around twenty black mages.

"Oh! Hey...we don't want any trouble!" Mimi stuttered as she slowly backed towards the exit.

"I don't think they'll lesson to that...what do we do Ryan?" Genki asked backing away with Mimi.

"We fight."

"Are you CRAZY!?! There's too many of them!!" Genki exclaimed.

"Hell, sometimes you have no choice but to fight, you can either die trying to escape or you can die trying to win. I think I

would rather fight! You with me!?"

"Yeah!" The two others shouted together and stood in fighting positions.

Ryan gripped the sword at his side and leapt forward towards the lead mage. Their first true battle had began.

One of the many black mages that had gathered started the attack. He dashed towards Ryan, his staff glowing with powerful

magic, ready to strike the weapon threw the boys chest. Something inside Ryan snapped and he drew his sword forward as the

mage was almost on top of him. The mages mouth opened in a mute scream as his eyes widened and he seemed to fall

backward in slow motion. Blood sprayed from the open wound in his chest splattering all over Ryan's face and clothes. The

boy just stood there shocked, he could feel himself trembling. He was shocked and scared by his actions...he just could not

believe what he just did. But he did not really have time to dwell on it before the other mages attacked.

The battle was a rough one. These mages were stronger then the ones they had faced before and the trio was now bleeding

from many wounds and had many burns marks as a result of fire magic. The mages weren't doing all that great either. Many had

been killed off, and the remaining ones were becoming weakened from using so many magical attacks.

"Shit! They just keep coming and coming!!" Genki cursed swiping two of the black mages away from him with a kick to the

knees and a punch two the face.

"I know what you mean! Ouch!" Mimi's reply was cut short as she was blasted from behind with one of the mages fire balls.

"Mimi!" Genki exclaimed but was stopped from rushing over to her aid by two more black mages which attacked him from the

sides.

Ryan swiped at the mage in front of him, cutting him neatly in two as he sent a kick at the mage behind him.

"Give up! We don't want to fight you!" Mimi screamed to the remaining seven mages.

"WE WILL NEVER SURRENDER!!" One of the mages screamed dashing forward in rage. Mimi screamed in fear covering

her face with both her hands as the mage dashed towards her.

" GALLET GUN!!" Genki exclaimed extending both of his hands, a bright wave of pinkish chi blasted out of his hands towards

the enraged mage. The light exploded causing Mimi to scream as the blast off the explosion sent her reeling back into Genki's

arms.

"Mimi? You ok?" Genki asked the fairy-half in concern and worry.

Mimi nodded slowly and turned to look at the incinerated mage in amazement. "...Genki...I did not know you could do that..."

Genki grinned proudly. " When you train at fighting as much as I do, you learn how to control you Chi and you can use your energy to attack. Now shall I show these mages another exsample?"

"L...lets get outta hear!" One of the mages stuttered running away in the dark hall, the other mages took off after him except for

one severely wounded mage who stayed behind staring at them in pure cold rage.

"You'll be sorry for coming hear after you meet our great master! You will pay!" The mage began to power up an powerful

blast in his hands, power crackling around him as the attack charged up.

"No--!!" Mimi shouted in alarm and tried to run forward to stop him but was stopped as Genki held her back by her shoulder.

" Your using too much of you magic!! You wont make it!!" Ryan warned, his voice quivering in panic.

"YOU WONT ESCAPE!!" The mage screamed and sent the blast flying over there heads and crashing in two the wall near the

entrance. The large rubble fell from the temple and crashed to the floor in front of the doorway. The mage laughed "You wont

escape now...Hehehehe..." those were the pitiful mans' last words before he fell to the floor dead.

"Dammit! He blocked the exit!" Genki swore, smashing the wall with his fist.

"...What do we do now...?" Mimi frowned sadly at she watched Ryan shake his head as he stood over the body of the black

mage.

"Idiot..." Ryan mumbled turning away from the fallen body and towards his two friends.

"Lets, search for another way out."

The two nodded and fallowed Ryan threw one of the large dark hallways.

"Master!" One of the black mages exclaimed running up to a tall figure dressed in black robes.

"What is it?" The figure asked irritably, her back remained turned to the follower.

"There are three intruders! They beat most of us mages, we can't stop them from arriving to the top of the temple!" The

follower trembled as he knelt down in front of the darkly dressed figure.

"Oh, really? Well...let them come, There really isn't anything in this temple for us to protect anyway."

"...Then, why are we hear, oh great master?" The mage found the courage to ask peaking upward at the figure.

The figure laughed smoothly. "That's really none of your business you know."

"F...forgive me, m...master!"

"These three must be really talented if they could find the real temple of Anju, just the talented warriors we were looking for.

Our Lord will be pleased if we could bring these three back to him. Who are they anyway?"

"...W...well, one is a fairy-half, the other is a human boy and the other....the other is a...d...demon-half..."

"What!" The figure hissed turning it's head sharply to look at the mage threw narrowed eyes. " A demon-half ? Are you

serious?"

"Y...y...yes ma...ma...master..."

A smooth smile spread over the figures pale face, it twisted into a smirk. "Really? Lord Taromecika will be so proud of me if I

bring a rare bread like that back. Go gather up the rest of the mages and give the order to destroy the fairy and the human but

bring the demon-half to me."

"Yes master." The mage got to his feet and was ready to leave the room when the voice of his master stopped him as he got

near the door way.

"On seconded thought, let them come up hear, I wish to destroy them myself. It'll be fun to get some exercise."

"...A...alright, m...master...if that is what you desire, what is it you want me to do now?"

"You? You are no longer needed, say hello to the others I sent to hell for me, won't you?"

"M...M...master!!" The mage protested, his eyes widened as he watched a orb of magic fly towards him.

"NOOOOOOO!! MASTER!!!!!!!" The mans screamed echoed off the walls as the ball of magic engulfed him.

"Those screams...they're so scary....so horrible..." Mimi whimpered as the group climbed the stairs to the top of the tower.

"Mimi...." Genki frowned, unsure of what to say.

"guys!" Ryan hissed to them. "We're approaching a door, I don't know what's on the other side so be ready for anything."

"Got ya." Genki nodded getting ready to attack as Ryan opened the large wooden door.

The trio walked into the room, the walls were made of glass, and the floor was made out of shining blue tiles. In the front of the

room stood one tall and slender figure, staring out of the window, acting as if it had not even heard them approach.

"Who are you!" Ryan demanded the dark figure as he drew his sword.

"Must you be so demanding?" The figure asked turning to face them. Black robes hung off it's body, and a hood blanketed it's

face in shadows.

"My name is not for lowly peasants like you three to know. But you may call me 'Shadow.' "

"Well, ' Shadow' what is the business of you evading temple Anju!" Ryan questioned, never lowering his sword.

"Yeah! And why did you order those black mages of yours to attack us!" Mimi exclaimed.

Shadow laughed. "Sorry, but I answered all the questions I was going to answer. Now face the wrath of a true black mage!!"

"Not if I can help it! YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Genki exclaimed leaping forward, sending a series of punches and kicks to

Shadow. The attacks were done with much skill but it was no good against the mage who teleported out of the way of each

blow.

"I'm getting tiered of this..." Shadow yawned, a sent a 'small' fire ball flying towards Genki who fell to the floor burnt and hurt.

"Genki!!" Mimi exclaimed. "Ohh! You'll pay for that!! PETAL DANCE!!"

A blizzard of pink flower petals surrounded Shadow, who stood in the middle of the attack unaffected. The attack died down

as Mimi got to tiered to keep the attack going.

"Is THAT the best you can do?" Shadow laughed. "Let me show you a REAL attack."

"Mimi--!!" Genki exclaimed from the floor, to week and beaten to get to his feet.

A blast of light shot out of the mage's finger, like a bullet would shoot out of a gun. The blast of light shot Mimi threw the

stomach, causing her to scream and fall to the floor, trembling, one hand holding the bleeding hole.

"No!-Mimi!!" Genki groaned as he watched the fairy-half fall to the floor, the boy unwilling closed his eyes as he blacked out

from the pain.

"MIMI!! GENKI!!" Ryan screamed to his fallen friends.

"Only you remains, you certainly are a demon-half, aren't you?"

"...H...how do you know that...? I thought that only those at the magic school knew what a demon half looks like."

"The pointed ears, fangs and the tail is a dead give away you know. Come with me, my lord Taromecika would love to meet

you."

"I'd NEVER go any where with you! You'll pay for what you did to my friends!!"

Ryan dashed forward, his sword ready to strike, but like as what the mage did to Genki, every time his sword got close enough

to hit it the black mage would teleport away and appear somewhere else.

'This is pointless...every time I attack he disappears...wait...I can use my demon side to sense his chi...got it...he'll

appear...behind me!"

Ryan twisted around smashing his sword at the mage who surprised by the way that Ryan knew were he was going to appear

did not have the speed to teleport away in time as the sword slashed across his chest.

"YOU BASTARD!!! DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The mage screamed, a ball of light came out of his hands,

blasting into Ryan, sending him flying into one the glass walls, slightly cracking it from the force of the impact. Ryan groaned as

he landed onto the ground, and as he felt a foot step onto his chest.

"You three disappoint me, I was excepting a real battle. How weaklings like you defeated my black mages I may never know

but....I guess it doesn't matter. Do you have any last words before you join the others I sent to the eternal plane of suffering.

"Go to hell." Ryan spat.

Even though the figures face was covered by the hood he could sense him grinning. Silently the mage formed another ball of

light into his hands. Ryan closed his eyes waiting for the impact of the blow he knew would kill him.

A flash of bright light flashed threw the temple, this light was accompanied by a scream of pain. The scream did not belong to

Ryan.

Ryan pushed himself upward in confusion. His brain unable to resister what had just happened. The black mage laid sprawled

on the ground, a puddle of blood had formed under her.

"I knew you three would be helpless without me."

Ryan turned to see Keith standing behind him, his trade-mark smirk plastered onto his face.

"Keith, how did you get up hear?"

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out. Anyway, we should leave. I think we did more then what we needed to do to

get ninety points."

"Wait, let me revive Mimi and Genki first."

"Suit yourself."

Ryan was glad he brought the healing potions with him, they worked like a charm and Mimi and Genki were back on there feet

in a matter of moments.

"Keith!? What took you so long to get up hear!?" Genki exclaimed, anger clearly in his voice.

Keith just laughed, running a hand threw his hair. " So you missed me that much, puberty boy? I'm touched."

"THAT'S NOT IT!! WE COULD HAVE REALLY USED YOUR HELP BEFORE YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!" Genki

screamed, his voice becoming even more high pitched making the others in the room hold there ears.

"...Shut...up....I may be dieing...but I don't want to die deft..." The body of the black mage croaked.

"Huh!!?" He's still alive!?" Mimi exclaimed wide eyed.

"Alright! You better tell or else we'll make your dead a painfully one!" Keith threaten as he gripped the mages black robes in his

hands.

The mage remained silent, causing Keith to become infuriated.

"Well lets see what you look like."

In one mighty tug Keith ripped the robes from the mages boy, the true form caused the group to gasp surprised. Underneath

the dark robes was not the evil twisted man the were excepting to see but a young woman no older then themselves. But that

was not what shocked the hell out of them, it was that they knew this woman.

"Kathy!" They exclaimed in shock as the stared down at the blue haired and brown eyed girl who turned her head to her side to

avoided looking them in the eyes.

"What the hell!" Keith growled threw clench teeth as he pulled her into a setting position by her shirt while everyone else just

stood still in confusion.

Kathy Fernandez, she was a 5th rank student at their school. She always looked after the lower rank kids and helped the new

students that came to the school. She was a cheerful and kind girl...up until a few weeks ago that is, after that she began to act

different and then she went missing.

"...Kathy? Why...?" Mimi managed to squeak out in a tiny voice. Kathy looked up at them tears rolling down her pale cheeks.

"Mimi...." Her voice softend, then turned sharp again. "Leave me alone! I work for Taromecika....no...I...I..." Her voice became strained and then she started to cry.

"...Don't....trust....*them*...." Kathy chocked out before her eyes glazed over and she fell limp in Keith's grasp.

"KATHY!!" Mimi wailed, falling to her knees beside the girl. Kathy had been one of the only people at the school who

defended Mimi a lot, and treated her as kind of a little sister, so everyone understood Mimi's grief but none of them really knew

what to say.

"Who was them...? Who did she mean...?" Genki asked confused. " And why the sudden change in personilty? Um...wasen't she trying to kill us a few moments ago?"

"I have no idea, but we should get back... we have to report this..." Ryan sighed sadly.

"Hmmm...We'll have to hurry, then, we are soon due back. Come on." Keith turned and began to leave. Ryan paused for a

moment then fallowed.

"Kathy..." Mimi whispered threw her tears.

"Come on Mimi...we have to go..." Genki frowned in concern for the grieving fairy-half.

"....But...we can't leave her hear like this...Maybe we can save her..."

Genki shook his head sadly. "She's gone Mimi."

Mimi closed her eyes to stop the tears from coming but did not exceed to well, then finally she found enough strength inside to

speak.

"Alright..."

She allowed Genki to help her two her feet and help lead her out of the temple since she could not see well threw her puffy

eyes. As the reached the exit of the temple which Keith had uncovered by blasting the rocks into pieces with his magic, Mimi

paused looking back into the darkness of the temple and muttered only two simple words,

"Goodbye Kathy..."