Chapter 16

Inside Demon Forest

Tori "Where are we?"

Li "This is Demon forest. The Beast of the Dark showed me this place last night."

Sakura "Before I would come to this place only on full moons. But, I never knew why. However I did know we would come here now."

They see a gigantic blue heron fly about the trees. It sees them and lands.

Heron "Who are you? What are you all doing here?"

It sees their amulets and bows.

Heron "Welcome to Demon forest, the holders of the legendary dragons. I am the Protector of the gates to the demon forest."

Meilin "Where you expecting us to come here or something?"

Heron "Yes, I was flying high and low just to look for all of you. To stop the arguments between the gods that is trying to rule over the Beast of the Darks and Phoenix of Lights domain."

Ruby Moon "Do you have any other information you have for us?"

Heron "You can cross the turtle, frogs, goldfishes, dolphins, doves, rabbits, sheep, monkeys, pandas, horses, dears, butterflies, crickets, and rosters domain because they will help people who pass thought their territory. But don't pass the bears, boars, foxes, mountain lions, rams, lions, spiders, scorpions, snakes, crocodiles, ravens, rats, sharks and bats lands because they will eat you or maybe take you all as prisoners."

Spinner Sun "Then who is in the Beast of the Darks and Phoenix of Lights domain?"

Heron "I don't really know. Good luck in your journey bye!"

The Heron flew away and the group starts to head north.

Swamp area of the forest

Meilin "Well this isn't a very pleasant place to be."

Mark "At least we brought extra clothes in our back packs."

Mark sees a frog and catches it.

Tori "Hey! If you keep holding that frog you'll get warts."

Mark "That's not true I have tons of frogs back in the U.S. so don't say I'll get warts!"

Sakura giggles because he decided to pick on some one else for a change.

Madison "Wow there are tons of frogs all over the place."

Kero "There are also turtles."

Yue "We must be in either the frogs or turtles domain."

Ruby sees a giant turtle and a giant frog talking to each other.

Ruby moon "Excuse me. But can you tell us whose domain we are in?"

Frog "We share each others domain."

Turtle "We help each other and keep each other entertained so we won't get board."

Spinner sun "We are going to the middle of the forest. Can you tell us what domain we are heading to?"

Turtle "Why not refresh inside the palace, so we can tell you every thing you need to know."

Frog "We insist. Usually we don't have new comers."

Yue "Thank you."

Keroberus "We all would be glad to."

Ruby moon "Where is the palace?"

Frog "Why not let us take you travelers there?"

Spinner sun "Thanks."

Meilin "Wow! They're huge!"

Inside the Frog's and Turtle's Palace

The palace was made of jade. It had statue frogs and turtles made out of jade.

Meilin "Cool palace. I wonder if I can get anything here?"

Everyone had a great time and ate. As they were eating Mark took the picture out of his pocket and saw the new note in the back. He read it and turned it back to the picture with everyone in it. Mark looked at it carefully and saw something on Sakura's arm. Mark gets up.

Mark "May I speak to you Sakura?"

Sakura "Ok?"

She follows him.

In Another Room

Mark "Sakura can you tell me about this?"

He pointed at the picture with the scar on her arm.

Sakura "That is the sign of the Beast of the Dark."

Mark backed away from her.

Mark "What?"

Sakura "Don't be afraid Mark. I have control over my other form."

Mark "Your other form? What will happen if you go berserk?"

Sakura "That won't happen. I will make sure that I won't ever go out of control."

Mark "Ok. I hope you're right though."

They head back to the dinning room.

Dining Room

Li "Thank you for the feast."

Frog "Your welcome."

Turtle "Servant can you clean up while we talk with our guest?"

Servant "Yes, Lord Turtle."

Frog "Oh yes. Servant? Can you also bring the game floors outside?"

Servant "Yes your excellency."

They turn back to the group.

Turtle "Ok now it's your turn to do something for us."

Mark "What can we do for you?"

Frog "We can have one on one battles with each other."

Meilin "What kind of battle?"

Turtle "In games, for skills in wisdom to help you all."

Meilin "So what games do you want to want us to take part in?"

Frog "First lets start with martial arts."

The Frog turns into a good-looking man with a green robe on.

Meilin "Wow! Awesome! Let's start outside now."

In the Forest

Everyone is watching a small crystal clear lake that shows them Meilin and the Frogs movement.

Frog "Ok. If you are able to pin me to the middle (A circle with a red circle) of your floor at this place you win. And if I -"

Meilin interrupts "If you pin me you win."

Frog "No. If I catch you with this I win."

He holds up little jade frogs.

Frog "I can only hit you if you are in the middle (A circle that has a pond) of my swamp. You can transport your opponent to the location only once."

Meilin "Well come on let's start."

The frog jumps on the trees and disappears in the leaves. Meilin gets ready for his attack. The frog runs up behind her and tries a jump kick. Cleverly she does a back flip and jumps on him. Frog quickly slips out of her arms and transports her to the swamp. Meilin sees herself stuck in the mud. She grabs on to a branch and pulls herself up. The Frog appears and tries to throw the little jade frog on her. At least she got out of the way. She jumps on the trees and tries to catch him. Meilin jumps kick and hits him to the ground. The Frog gets her off him by kicking her into the air and jumped towards her. Meilin grabbed a branch and kicks him to a tree. The Frog and Meilin fight with fists and legs against each other. Meilin has a hard time because he just keeps getting out of the way. Even the Frog had a hard time catching her with his jade frogs. Then Meilin got a great idea. She starts heading towards the place she has to pin him. The Frog knew what she was going to do. But he tries to catch her with the jade frogs before she gets to her domain. Then Meilin made a turn going directly to the middle of his domain. The Frog follows her and sees Meilin go on to his circle. The Frog jumps into the air.

As soon as he was going to throw the jade frogs on him, Meilin caught him, transported him to her domain. She grabs his arm and pinned him down to the floor.

Meilin "I won. You lose."

Frog "But how?

Meilin "Look under you."

He saw the red circle on the floor and turns back into a Frog.

Frog "You're very good. No one has ever one in the first game."

Meilin "What happen to the people that were caught?"

Frog "Nothing we just had to teach them how to become better at the best ability they've got. We let them try again and again until they win."

Meilin "That's a weird idea."

Frog "If you think about it, the people that were caught learns what they were doing wrong and they learn from their mistakes."

Back in the Frog's and Turtle's Palace

Li "Great job Meilin."

Sakura "I knew you would win."

Madison "And I got it all on tape."

Meilin "Great I wonder how I battled."

Turtle "Now who is good at swordsman ship?"

Li goes up and takes his sword out.

Li "I am."

The Turtle turns in to a young man with a green and brown robe and gets his sword out.

Turtle "Let's begin in the bamboo forest."

In the Bamboo Forest

Turtle "The point of this game is to confuse your opponent, get their sword and slide it into this green hole. You can't kill your opponent. If you cut them or slice them accidentally they will automatically heal."

They run though the bamboos. The Turtle attacked first and cut all the bamboo that was around him causing a distraction for Li. The Turtle jumped into the air while Li is surrounded by cut bamboo. * Where is he? * Turtle was aiming his sword directly at him. But Li was able to kick the sword out of Turtle's hand. He goes after it and tries to grab it until Turtle grabbed a rock and tripped him with it. Turtle got his sword back.

Turtle "Remember that you should always stay focused and don't let your guard down."

Li got back up and charged at him. Turtle ducked and tripped him. Li was able to land on his feet.

Turtle "Now you are focusing."

Next Li jumped into the bamboo and disappears. Turtle turned around and saw Li. They clash swords and gave each other mean looks. The Turtle grabbed his hand and twirled him into the air for his move. Unexpectedly Li came into control and flew into the sky.

Turtle "It seems you are a very talented swords man my boy."

He jumps up to where Li is and continued to battle. They can hardly be seen because of the high altitude they are in. A few minutes later a sword plunges down to the earth and a little green robed person goes diving after it. Then another figure goes after it too. The sword hits the ground; a hand picked it up from the air and a pair of feet in green shoes landed. Li has won.

Inside the Palace

Sakura hugs Li.

Sakura "Wow Li you really won! That was a great battle and it was also amazing when you flew."

Li "I had to concentrate very hard. If I hadn't I would have lost."

Turtle "Kid you are very talented and you should have this."

The Turtle gave him his sword and the belt that goes with it.

Li "Please. I don't deserve this."

Turtle "I insist. I have four other swords like this. Anyway this is for you so you can remember me by."

Li takes it.

Li "Thank you. I will always treasure it."

The Turtle looks at Madison.

Turtle "Are you good at chess?"

Madison "I was one of the best players in the school."

Turtle "Lets play."

In the Ballroom

They go out to the ballroom and see huge chess pieces. There were pones and every other chess pieces.

Madison "Whoa! This is incredible!"

Turtle "Mind if we begin our game?"

Madison goes to the white chessboard pieces.

Madison "Ok. Pone, move to quadrant d 5."

Turtle "Pone to quadrant f 8."

Ten minutes later

Madison "Check-mate."

Turtle "I'm very impressed. You have a great strategic mind."

Sakura "Yeah. That's why she always gets A's in school."

Madison "Well."

Eli "It's almost noon now."

Mark "Let's eat lunch and then continue our journey."

At the Table

Li "Do you know when it will become a Full Moon Lord Turtle and Lord Frog?"

Frog "It's always a Full Moon here."

Mark "What!?!?"

Turtle "It's true, because that's how the Master of the Dark gets its energy."

Tori "Do you know any story's about the Master of the Dark?"

Frog "It was also known as the Beast of the Dark."

Turtle "It was created by an evil magician and told it to do every thing he wanted. After the evil magician was defeated by Clow Reed, the dragons and the phoenix. It controlled all of the evil beast in the forest and kept the peace at night. One day it went with the Phoenix and went to the other side of the world to fight something off. We had to fight off the evil beast that wanted to take over the Phoenix's and the Beast's territory. After two years they both returned. When the Beast returned it went berserk and tried to kill us all. So we had to gather as many gods to destroy it. The phoenix of light died during the battle because of interference. But we know that they are in someone's soul."

Sakura looks down and gets a cold rush from her veins.

Turtle "Hmm? Is there some thing wrong my child?"

Sakura sits strait up. "No I'm fine."

Turtle "Ok because it's your turn to fight us."

Frog and that young man can help you."

The Frog points at Eli.

Turtle "What is your specialty?"

Eli "Magic."

Turtle "We know some spells."

Frog "We will start in the court yard."

Courtyard

Frog "This is what we do. We will take one opponent and battle them into the woods. You must cast stronger spells to over power your opponents. When you defeat them you must help your partner and support them."

Turtle "When your partner and you defeat us you will considered the winner."

Eli "Sakura I will take Lord Turtle while you go take Lord Frog, ok?"

Sakura "Fine with me."

Lord frog and turtle turns into their human forms and follow their opponents into the woods.

Eli's battle

Eli goes in front of the Lord Turtle and shoots one of his red beams. (Ruby Moon and Spinner Sun are inside his staff) Lord turtle makes a green beam and shoots it. The beams collide and a big explosion blinded both of their eyes.

Lord turtle disappears into the bushes and Eli jumps into the treetops. Lord turtle starts to look for him and got a small beam in his hands. Eli jumps at him. Lord turtle lets the beam go directly at him. Eli quickly dodges it and shoots an invisible beam at him. Lord turtle defends himself by accidentally falling to the ground. He got up and jumped high into the air. Eli jumps after him and kicks him on the chest. Lord turtle recovered by landing on a tree and countering his attack. Eli also recovered. He grabbed the Lord Turtle’s arm and plunged him to the ground. Lord Turtle was clever enough to turn Eli's attack into his own. Before they hit the dirt Lord turtle grabbed

Eli's arm and made him hit the ground. Eli took the hit hard and it was K.O.

Sakura's Battle

Sakura was getting ready for her first attack. Lord Frog jumps into the air and grabbed her arm. She shocks him and smashes him into a tree. When she gets to the ground she calls out the power card and knocks the tree down.

Lord Frog goes through the tree and camouflages in the ground making it impossible to see him.

Sakura "Hey! What happened to him?"

She sees the hole and looks around.

Sakura "If I have to end this now I will."

She brings up her staff and throws a card up into the air.

Sakura "FIREY!!!"

Everything went ballistic. Lord Frog appears right in front of her and gives her a smile. Lord Turtle comes and makes all the fire disappear. She gasps.

~Eli must have lost. ~

Lord Turtle "Your friend is very cleaver but not cleaver enough to dodge a counter attack to the ground."

~ I need Eli. Power card give half of my magic to Eli. ~ The drain weakened Sakura but it made Eli wake up.

Sakura "ELI!!!"

Eli transports him self to Sakura's location.

Eli "Thanks for reviving my magic."

Sakura "No problem. Let's finish this."

She calls out her master staff.

Sakura "Eli would you like to do the honor of using your water element to flood the area?"

Eli "My pleasure. WATER COME FORTH!!!"

Sakura calls shield and, puts her staff in the water.

Sakura "THUNDER!!!"

The two Lords were shocked. They fell down and turned back into their animal forms.

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Author's note:

E-mail address: KSACCS@aol.com