Chapter 17

Yue and Eriol exchanged an understanding look before sitting down on the green grass, in a meditating position. Yue closed his eyes concentrating already, focusing his energies, his whole being on what was about to take place--the hardest battle they had ever had to fight before. Eriol, however, turned to Sakura and said softly, "Release her."

"Release her?"

"Watery."

Sakura nodded and grabbed the Clow key, always around her neck and chanted, "The Key that hides the forces of darkness! Show your true shape to me! I, Sakura, command you under contract. Release!"

She threw the Watery card out and touched it with the wand, the element sprang forth from the sealing, rushing forward and situating herself in front of the two that were now meditating. Both of their eyes were closed as Watery reached out with her hands, evenly balanced in front of their faces, knowing what she was to do, knowing what she had to do. She didn't glance one time back at her mistress; she instead looked into the eye of her foe, the one she would have to fight and defeat for Sakura. She grit her teeth and snarled at the small pixie creature, sure that this battle would be over before it even began.

The show of teeth caused not a trace of emotion Siwan's clam eyes as she moved a step forwar\d to the overpowering presense of an elemental in spiritural, in power form. She simply bowed politely to Watery as she waited for Dangyun to lower himself in the same way as Eriol and Yue. As she straightened up, she felt the power coming into her after Dangyun pointed his finger at her, a pale blue light radiating from it, touching her, overwhelming her with his strength, his magic. She was suffused in the light, gradually seeming to turn opaque, then transparent. No words were spoken as this new water-formed Siwan's eyes glowed as it met Watery's.

The card's throat convulsed as it saw her worthy adversary. Things were not going to be easy as she felt the power brimming forth from this guardian, not a true single force of nature, but able to be all if given enough support from her master, Dangyun. Watery didn't wait for Siwan to gather more power; she gathered herself, all her of and sucking in as she turned from an angellic being into something amorphous. She poured herself into creating an undeniable force, meant to take Siwan by surprise, stopping the flow of magic before Siwan could counteract with her own powers.

It nearly worked, nearly. But Siwan had been mentally warned somehow by Dangyun to expect what was unexpected, so her muscles tightened as she strained against the push of Watery's force, and succeeded ultimately into staying her ground, her feet planted as solidly as could be hoped for in the space of air. But it didn't stop the breath from being knocked out of her as she nearly buckled under another gigantic push from her opponent. Though she was not one to give up so easily, she was new to these elemental powers and as she begin to see the pattern of how to use it, her eyes gleamed with the knowledged and Watery's lit up with a hesitation.

That slight hesitation was all that Siwan needed to push back with all the force in her, making Watery stand in the defensive now. She drawed upon the elemental forces as if she had born one like her enemy, using all the power at her hands, she surged into Watery, seeking to drive her opponent to the ground, for once drenched into it in her amorphous form, it would be hard to entangle herself out of it. For Watery was in this form rather than her angellic one because in this form she was all powerful and able to use herself to her fullest ability. It was what Siwan was counting on. It only made her weaknesses greater.

Watery made a distress sound and Yue quickly moved to assist her, suddenly flying to her aid behind Siwan's back. But before he could assist Watery, Dangyun directed his other hand to Yue, almost like grabbing him with his magic, keeping the moon guardian at bay. Eriol could not assist as he put more surge into his magic, trying to give Watery enough power that she would no longer be at the defensive.

Yue struggled against the power binds as Sakura cried out, "Eriol-kun! What can I do to help? I feel so useless…"

"You can't release another elemental to help, Sakura. Don't release an elemental, but a non-elemental card, is allowed, isn't it, Dangyun?" asked Eriol through gritted teeth. His forehead trickled a little sweat as he suddenly stood up and moved to Watery, placing his hands upon her amorphous form and slowly felt his magic trickle into her form.

"Non-elemental," Dangyun agreed, his voice a bit harsh as he too stood and came up behind Siwan, part of his magic still concentrated on keeping Yue in a position where he could not lend aid.

"Release Jump!" Sakura exclaimed and moved over to where Yue was so violently struggling, his limbs becoming like glue as he fought against the restraints. She grabbed onto Yue and mentally urged Jump to give it her best shot. But it was to no avail and the three of them were stuck in Dangyun's grip, but the tenuous hold was beginning to tell upon his form, he mentally berated himself for doing away with his dark guardians, but they were almost unmanageable against the lighter forces, such as Sakura. There whole aim was to destroy, and how was he to tell them they were not to destroy, just simply defeat?

He was glad that Sakura was in that bubble, unable to do anything, then he would not be forced to fight against her, even though it drained him faster and quicker than he thought it would. There was no choice, he had to win the first three stages, or else there would be hell to pay. God, he didn't even want to think of the consequences of Siwan taking upon three elemental forms, when it was nearly impossible for a non-elemental to even hold one of the phases of life.

"Sakura!" screamed Syaoran from the crowd that included Shaolin, Touya, and Tomoyo. "Do something Kero!"

Kero, who up to this point had been doing nothing, suddenly transformed into the sun guardian he was, standing underneath the bubble that contained both Sakura and Yue, the Jump card having returned to her seal. He sighed as he attacked Dangyun from behind, his power shocking Dangyun's hold upon the bubble. It was almost better to leave the two of them in there, that way they could not aid or be hurt by Dangyun.

He was quickly hit by Dangyun's wandering power and knocked to the ground, groaning he tried to stand, but was forced down by Dangyun's strength, a trickle of it managed to hold the widening bubble. He could tell that the sorcerer was straining, trying to divide himself out enough that it was almost to his breaking point. Even though he was glad to see a sign of weakness, it was too late for it to do them any good.

Siwan with Dangyun's help had forced Eriol to his knees and Watery was drenched into the ground. Kero still tried to wiggle his way out of Dangyun's hold, but it was to no avail as Eriol's face fell into his hands and he said hoarsely, "Sakura, return Watery."

Dangyun released his hold upon Sakura and her other two guardians, Yue immediately grabbing hold of his Mistress before she fell upon the ground. She was neither weak or tired from her exertions of trying to get Yue out of the bubble, but her smile of concern touched Dangyun's heart as she glanced upon her fellow comrades. He wanted her to look at her that way, but was it already too late? Was this all for nothing?

It was then she looked at him with a mixture of happiness and sadness, and Dangyun was not so sure that this win was a loss after all.

"Return Watery!" she called out, the Watery slowly disintegrating back into the Sakura Card seal, an apologetic smile on her face as she felt she had not done the best to her abilities to the Mistress she was so fond of.

She turned to face Dangyun, unable to read the harsh lines upon his face. His expression was that of a true warrior, she noted. And he has won this battle,and I almost want him to win. It sends a thrill down my spine to watch him in work, but how can I enjoy his victory when it hurts others that I care for? She glanced around and saw Touya's anxious face, Tomoyo's glistening tears, and Syaoran's pale face. Most of all, she saw Eriol's weariness as he stood beside her, and Yue and Kero's determination at the hopeless. I can't give in. I can't… Even if I want to.

"Choose Dangyun," she said with more of an edge than she felt, certainly more surity.

"The Earth from which we all come from," Dangyun answered eloquently, his breath so smooth as he hugged Siwan's tired body to him. He had used her too much, it was too hard for her this battle. He shouldn't have been so confident that he would win, for it may be too much for her, to transform into three elementals and survive. She was not as strong as she use to be, for she had not been training in so long. And for her, an elemental was usually an easy thing, but she had been sleeping all this time she should have been training. Even two elementals might be a danger to her life. So he would give her time to rest and pray that she would be able to continue. If not… he wasn't sure what he would do. "And for this you will face me."