Fine! Chapter 9!

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Chapter 10

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Fula swam for almost an hour; it was about time that he stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot." He said. "In order to past the Ometin Ocean, you must go through the Sami City."

"Sami City?" Sakura asked with curiosity. "What's that?"

"The correct question is, where's that." Fula corrected her.

"Fine. " Sakura said. "And...?"

The fish smiled. "We'll be there soon." Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other with confusion.

It wasn't long until they spotted something in front of them. "Yikes!" Syaoran said. "What on earth is that?"

In front of them was a huge "waterfall", only the water goes up, it stretches from one end of the sea to another. "That, my friends, " Fula explained. "Is the border line of the Sami City."

"How are we going to get through it?" Sakura looked down on Fula. He flopped his left fin, and three pearls popped out. "First, you'll have to put these in your mouth, I'm a fish, I can breath under water, but you, my friends, can't. Therefore, these pearls will provide you with oxygen while you're under water." They put the pearls into their mouth like he ordered. Then Chocy thought of something. [Wait a minute; didn't he just take these out of his fin? Which is like...taking something out of your armpit! Groose!!!! He wants us to put THIS thing in our mouths??] How ever, he thought a little deeper. [Well, it's either this or suffocated....] He closed his eyes, and put it in his mouth, trying not to touch it directly with his tongue.

"Okay, time to dive!" Fula went in front of the waterfall, and said the password: "X$%#!!"

"Is he swearing at us?" Syaoran asked. He looks mad. "Oh no." Fula backed up, "It's just the password!"

An opening appeared on the water, Fula signaled them to swim through, and as soon as Fula went in it closed.

They went through a tunnel made of beautiful corals, that came in different colours. "Wow..." Sakura said. "It's like a wonderland..."

"We shall be there pretty soon..." Fula said. They came through the tunnel, and what they saw was unbelievable. Houses and buildings made out of beautiful crystals, they all look like crystal palaces. There's this particularly big one in the center of the city. People all have scales and fins on their heads; most of them are blue, and some green ones. Everyone was swimming around or riding on fishes and seahorses that is half the size as Fula. A guard came to them. "Hey!" He yelled. "You're not people of the city, who are you, and what are you doing with the princess's pet? It's been missing for days!"

[Princess's pet?] Syaoran thought. "We're travelers! We wanted to get to southern part of Ometin." He replied the guard.

"That's no reason to take the princess's pet!" the guard pointed it's spear towards them.

"Please!" Syaoran said. "It isn't what you think!"

"It's okay." Fula said. "They're with me."

"Very well, you can go." The guard let them go. "Wow." Sakura said. "You sure have power."

"Of course, I'm the princess's most precious treasure." He said proudly.

It might be strange for Sakura and Syaoran to see those people actually fins and gills on their heads, but to those citizens, Sakura and Syaoran are the strange ones there. People were staring at them, thinking, 'it's people from the land', and, 'why are they with the princess's pet?' Sakura and Syaoran felt terribly awkward about all those eyes. "Fula, are we there yet?" Sakura asked quietly, as if every word she says will shake the ground.

"We're there!" Fula cheered. They arrived at the biggest crystal building in the city. The guard went to pet him, "Hey, Fula, haven't seen you in days! What happened to you? The princess was really worried!"

"It's a long story... Oh, can you let these people in, too? They're the ones who saved me." Fula glanced at Sakura and the others.

"Sure, thing." The guard went back to his position to open the gate. Fula slowly swam into the palace.

Inside was a long, tall hall filled with paintings on crystal frames. "Do you see these pictures here?" Fula said to them. "Each one of them is a member of the royal family."

Servants were coming up to him to ask, "How are you" and "where have you been?" Every one of them shows respect for Fula.

They went up a huge stairway, and in front of them was a big door. They can tell by the size and decoration of the door that the room belongs to a very important person. The door opened, and a girl with long, bluish shinny hair came rushing down, "Fula! Fula! I heard that you're back! Where have you been! I searched all over the city for you!!!" She hugged Fula (or at least tried to). Her arms were way too small to wrap the gigantic fish. "Oh, it was a long story...anyway, these people (and chocobo) are the ones that saved me so I can return home safely!" Syaoran jumped down, Sakura rode on Chocy, and both of them slide down together. "Syaoran," Syaoran held out on hand and introduced himself. "Li Syaoran." The princess shook his hand. "I'm princess Zeldia, and those two are?" She looked at Sakura and Chocy. "Oh!" Sakura blushed. "Kinimoto Sakura! Very nice to meet you!" She bowled. "And this is our pet, Chocy." She petted Chocy's head.

"Thank you for saving my Fula. I must give you a reward." The princess said.

"Oh, there's no need, Fula is already doing us a favor by taking us to the southern part of Ometin." Syaoran said.

"That can't possibly do, here, why don't you all stay for a day or two. Until I think of something to reward you. And let Little Fula have a rest until it escorts you again?"

[Fula has been worn out, hasn't it...] Syaoran thought. "Sure." He answered and smiled.

"Great, I have to go now, Fula needs a rest. The servant here will guide you to your rooms." A Samian (people of the Sami City) girl came out, and bowled to them. "Oh," Zeldia looked back at them as she started to go. "And please join us for dinner tonight. My father will be there too!" She turned around, and headed off.

"Her father?" Sakura said, holding on to Syaoran's sleeve. "Isn't that the king?"

"That's right," The servant said. "You are so lucky to have the honor to eat with our royal ones." She took Chocy, "We'll be putting him in our underwater stable, and he'll be taken care of nicely there." Another Samian man guided Chocy to its stable. "As for you two, follow me." She started to walk towards the direction opposite to Chocy's.

Sakura never let go of Syaoran's sleeve. "You think Chocy would be alright?" She looked at him with a sense of worry in her eyes. "Don't worry." Syaoran smiled. "Princess Zeldia won't do anything happen to Chocy after we saved Fula's life." Sakura leaned closer to him.

~~~~~

Princess Zeldia put Fula to sleep after she cleaned him and fed him till he barf. She gently tugged him in his little cave, and was about to get out of Fula's playing area when one of the servants called her. "Princess Zeldia!" The servant stopped in front of her, holding a jewelry box, "This was delivered to you just then, it's from the same man that gave Fula the bracelet that it accidentally swallowed."

"What?" Zeldia reacted. "Why on earth would he give a bracelet to Fula? He doesn't even have hands!"

"Well," The servant answered. "This person was originally giving it to you, but some how, the chef put it in Fula's food."

"I'm firing that chef..." Zeldia said. "How nice of this person to give me another one!" She opened the box, and gasped. "This...." She said.

"What's wrong, princess?" The servant asked.

"Ah..." She said, slowly. "Are you sure that this is a bracelet?"

"Huh?"

"...........It looks like a neck ring to me~!" She smiled, and cheered. The servant lost her balance and fell. "Um..." She forced herself to get up. "I guess, you can use it as a neck ring..."

"Hey, great idea!" (You'll see what she means when you see her neck; it's full with neck rings...) She picked up the neck ring and studied it. "It's very nice...who sent it again?"

"Um..." the servant hesitated. "He didn't leave a name, but it says on the box that he's from an 'on land country'."

"Hmm..." Zeldia studied it even closer. "Maybe I'll send him a note." She put the neck ring back into the box. "Tell me when dinner's done." She ran back into her room.

~~~~~

Sakura and Syaoran went into the guest room. The room was tall and high class. It comes with two beds that were shaped into a seashell, some flowers in each corner, and a bathroom. The walls were styled with beautiful pictures that are carved on the pavement. "What a lovely room!!" Sakura exclaimed excitingly. Suddenly, her face dimmed down. "Only if Chocy is here...."

Syaoran patted her shoulder. "Look, if you're that worried about Chocy, we'll just go visit him in the stable after dinner."

"Okay! It's a deal!" She smiled brightly and lifted up her pinky, they pinky swore.

After they put all their belongings away, the servant came and tells them dinner's done. And led them to a big dinning room that can fit almost fifty people; they saw an old man with long, white beard sitting on the biggest seat. He's quite muscular for his ages. No trouble guessing who he is. "Good evening." He spoke. "I am Zeldia's father, king of the Sami City."

Sakura and Syaoran bowled politely, a little embarrassed. "It's an honor to meet you."

"Oh, you don't have to treat me like I'm the god or something." He laughed. "Just be casual."

Both of them sat in a seat besides him. "Where's princess Zeldia?" Syaoran asked.

"She's probably dressing up." The king smiled. "Oh, that's my girl...after her mother died she's the only one I've got."

"Don't tell your sad story again, pa!" Zeldia came in. "Not in front of the guests!" She wrapped her arms around him. "The past is the past, you have to look at the future, and to do so you have to take care of yourself! I heard your back is hurting again."

"Oh...when one gets old, there's got to be some sickness. All I want now, is you getting marry to a decent man, and take over the city, then I can retire and enjoy my life."

"Dad..." She smiled. "I'm not going to take care of you. So don't push me on the marriage thing."

They went on, Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other and smiled. Seeing Zeldia and his dad getting along so nicely makes them happy. "You can almost feel the love..." Sakura said quietly.

"Yeah..." Syaoran agreed.

~~~~~

They went to visit Chocy liked they promised. Chocy was lying lifelessly in the stable, almost bored to death. When he heard Sakura called his name, he jumped up like a boosting rocket. Sakura and Syaoran came into the stable with a basket of food in their hand. "Look, Chocy!" Sakura said, lifting the basket higher, "It's your favorite! Cake rolls with strawberry jam!" If there's anything Chocy would die for, it's strawberry. He jumped up and down endlessly till Sakura settled him down and fed him. They sat in the stable like a family.

~~~~~

Zeldia went back to her room; she loosened her hair, and sat in front of the mirror. She combed her blue hair, and asked the servant to bring in some to bring in some hairpins. Just when she put away her comb, the jewelry box with the nice ring in it caught her attention. She slowly opened the box, and stared at it. She remembered the way her father pushed her to get marry. [Could this person has a crush on me?] She smiled to herself. She opened the box, and took out the neck ring. She felt an evil force as she put on the neck ring. A stroke of pain hit her chest; she kneeled down as a response. The servant came in with her hairpins, when she saw the princess was in pain, she rush towards her, leaving the pins behind. "Princess!" She cried. "Are you okay?" She turned towards the door. "Doctor! We need a doctor here!!"

Suddenly, Zeldia's legs turned into a long fish tail, her body gets bigger, and the tail grew until it's about 5 meters long. Her eyes were covered with evil glimmers, and fangs were growing out of her mouth.

The servant was petrified. She screamed for help. The guards came rushing in, shocked by what they're seeing. Zeldia took her first attack. She swept the tail across the room, and knocked all of them out of her way. The servant hit her head on the wall and fainted. Zeldia roared, using her tail to make a big hole on the wall, she exited the room to outside.

The big bang of her destroying her own room alerted Sakura and Syaoran, they rushed outside the stable along with Chocy. Servants came rushing out of the palace. Syaoran stopped one of them. "What's going on here?" The loud noise continued. Zeldia was doing some more damage. "Monster..." She said, with fear in her voice. "There is a monster in the west wing of the palace!" She ran away along with the others. Syaoran looked towards the west wing. Clearly the big bang noises were coming from that direction, there were smokes coming out too; obviously, something was doing a whole lot of damage to the palace. "Come on, Sakura!" He yelled. Sakura nodded, they jumped on Chocy's back and rushed to the scene of the crime.

They came across Zeldia's room to see if she's alright, but to their surprise her room seems to have the most damage. Guards were lying around the floor, walls were broken and ceilings were collapsed. "Oh..." The servant regained consciousness; Syaoran lifted her head up. "What happened? Where's Zeldia?"

The servant answered with a weak voice. "Princes...Zeldia...is..." She coughed.

"Where? What happened to her?" Sakura rushed.

"She's...that monster..." Both of them gasped. They can't believe what they were hearing. "What happened?" Sakura cried. "How come she turned into a monster?"

The servant breathed deeply, "She...she was in pain.... then I went to see if she's alright...then...she transformed..." She passed away again. "Hey!" Syaoran yelled. He put her down. "Is she alright?" Sakura asked.

"She's just asleep. She'll be okay." Syaoran stood up, and jumped back on Chocy. "But why did the princess turn into a big ugly monster?" They headed towards west wing.

"Sakura!! Syaoran!!" It was the king. "You should stay here! It's the safest place! I've already asked for the general to send out troops to destroy the monster! If we don't stop it, it'll go into the city, the citizens' lives would be fatal!"

"What? No!" Sakura yelled. "You can't kill her, she's Zeldia!"

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"It's true!" Syaoran jumped down. "You have to tell them to withdraw right away!"

"Nonsense!" The king was furious. "How dare you insult my beloved daughter?"

"Look, the decision is for you to make! If you don't believe us, the troops will kill your own daughter!" Syaoran reasoned with him.

Both of them looked at each other, no one spoke for a moment. The general came to make report to the king. "Our troops are no match for the monster, should we sent out more?" The king was still staring at Syaoran. He swallowed hard, and answered the general. "Retreat."

"What?" The general exclaimed.

"You heard me, I said RETREAT!!" The king yelled. The general saluted. "Ye...YES! SIR!" He ran to give out orders to retreat.

The king sat down on a chair, rubbing his face with his hands, he turned to face Syaoran. "My daughter or not..." He said. "I'll still have to make sure that my citizens are safe!"

Syaoran gave him a confident smile. "Leave it to us!" He jumped on Chocy, and rushed toward Zeldia. The king looked at them as they ran towards his beloved daughter's direction. "Who are those kids...?"

Zeldia was out of the gate already, men were withdrawing, just like the king ordered. Fula swam to her. "Zeldia! Zeldia! Please! Stop it, right now!!"

"Fula!" Sakura cried. Fula turned and saw them headed towards him. "Sakura! Syaoran!" He said.

"You recognized her?" Sakura asked. Fula nodded, and used his fin to point at Zeldia. "Look!!"

At that moment, all of them saw it, the bracelet that once controlled Fula's body and turned him into an ugly fish. "The bracelet!!!" Sakura cried. "But why is it on her neck??"

"She probably figured it look better on her that way...(sweat dropped)" Syaoran said. "Anyway...we'll have to try and keep her from the city." He jumped on Fula. "Come with me!" He ordered.

"Wait!" Sakura said. "What are you going to do?"

"Distract her, and try to get the bracelet off her." Syaoran said.

"Are you going to hurt her?" She asked with concern.

"..." Syaoran hesitated. "Depends." Sakura's heart stopped for a moment. Syaoran's eyes tell her that his mind has made up; he's going to stop her, the easy way, or the hard way.

Syaoran rode on Fula, and swam upwards, towards Zeldia's neck area. "I really don't see how are you going to take the bracelet off of her." Fula said.

"We'll have to try!" Syaoran took out his sword. Zelia's tail whipped Fula on his left side, they flew ten meter to the right before they came to a stop. "She's bad news." Syaoran said. "Watch out for her tail!"

They charged towards her again, this time they watched out for her tail, but didn't see the other stuff coming. Zeldia spited out pure acid, "Yikes!" Syaoran and Fula dodged just in time. "There's no way that we can get even close to her neck!! How can I take it off?!" Syaoran yelled.

Sakura took out her staff. "Maybe this will help!" She pulled out the Water Card. "WATERY!" She commanded. "Form a whirlpool around it!"

The whirlpool surrounded Zeldia. "Great!" Syaoran said. "But what do I do now? I can't get in, either." He looked at Sakura. "Um..." She said. "Oh, I'll stop the whirlpool in the count of three, you can take her by surprise, just go behind her, and take the neck ring off."

"I hope this works..." Syaoran said.

"One...two..." Sakura started to count when Syaoran was in his position. "Three! Watery return!!" The whirlpool stopped, and Syaoran rode Fula to charged to Zedia's neck. But Zeldia felt them and she swung her arms wildly and hit them back into the palace, making a big hole on the wall.

"SYAORAN!!!!" Sakura cried. She rode Chocy, and rushed to them. "Syaoran!!! Syaoran!!! Are you okay?" She found him lying on the huge stairway out side Zeldia's room; Fula lied on the bottom of the stairs. Sakura got off Chocy and ran towards him. "Syaoran!!"

He got up slowly, didn't seems to have any bones broken. He's fine. Sakura hugged him, and started to cry. "Are you okay...? I'm sorry that my plan didn't work..."

"Silly girl, it's not your fault." He forced a smile. Meanwhile, Fula was slowly getting up. "I'm afraid I can't fight anymore." Syaoran walked towards him. "It's okay, you rest right here." He got up, and was starting to walk back out when Sakura stopped him. "You can't get out now...you can be killed."

Syaoran looked at her. "I was trying to go easy on her because she's Zeldia, but it seems like I'll have to take her seriously." He took her hand. "You'll have to know that this means I might have to hurt, or even kill her."

"Syaoran..." Sakura looked into his eyes, her tears blurred her vision.

"I'm sorry, but I have no other choice..." Syaoran said. "It's whether the whole Sami City, or her." He let go of her hand, and turned to face his enemy.

He stood in front of her with no sign of fear, or hesitation. [I'll have to do it...] He told him self. He put the sword in front of him, and gathered up energy. Zeldia roared at him, trying to scare him away, but he didn't go. Instead he stood there, eyes closed, charging up for power. Zeldia roared again, this time she's going to attack.

At that moment, Syaoran thought of all the people that'll be mad at him: Zeldia's father, Fula, and all the citizens of Sami City.

Zeldia rose up her arm, with sharp claws on every finger, she was all prepared to slice him up.

But what about Sakura? Will she think of him as a murderer, too? Will she hate him for what he has to do?

The claws came down.

[What? What do you mean? Has to? I don't have to kill her! There're some other ways! What am I doing? This is the worst choice I can possibly choose!] Syaoran thought to himself. He took one last look at Sakura. She was looking at him with a pitiful face. The feeling seems so far away, as if she's look at him from the other side of the prison's cell. [Why...?] Syaoran asked himself. [WHY?] He leaped to attack Zeldia.

Zeldia's claws came down almost the same time he leaped up, he smoothly dodged her sharp claws, and cut her on her neck.

It all happened so fast, its seems as if Syaoran had chopped her head off. He landed, and put his sword away. Sakura and the others stared fearfully at Zeldia, who remained frozen. She collapsed, and returned to her original self. Fula caught her. "What happened?" He asked.

Syaoran didn't really chopped her head off, all he did was broke the bracelet. The pattern of the tattoo was completely destroyed, as a result, she returned to her original self. Sakura went to see if she's all right. Just when she got close enough, the bracelet was broken into millions of pieces, and the soul of the bracelet was sucked in to Sakura's necklace ----- where the crystal is.

"Syaoran!!" Syaoran turned around as he heard Sakura called him. She jumped on him, and giggled like a hyena. "I knew that you wouldn't hurt her! Syaoran is the best!!" She wrapped herself around him, and squeezed him so tight, he can hardly breathe. "O...okay! Sakura, I got the point!" He said, blushing. Sakura looked at him, arms still around his neck, her face filled with thankfulness. "I trusted you." She said softly.

Syaoran blushed and turned away to avoid eye contacts. "That was a dangerous shot, you know, one slip and she could've killed me."

"Thanks, Syaoran..."

~~~~~

"The time has come...for our role in the legend to be complete..." Zeldia said. After she turned back into her original form, she had settle down, and they all gathered at the dinning room to meet.

"What role?" Sakura said.

Zeldia looked at her. "A legend had been passed down, from one generation to another, it goes like this...

"The seal from the hell will break, villains will be free, but the hero and his heroine will save us all. As the guardian of water, we, the member of the Sami City's royal family must grant the two heroes the power to help on their journey." She paused, and put her hand in front of her chest. She closed her eyes, as a bluish crystal appeared in her hand, it glows with beautiful white light as it flows in the air. The crystal flew towards Sakura and Syaoran; they cupped the crystal with their hands. "This is...?" Asked Syaoran.

"It's the Crystal of Aqua, it is our job, the royal family of Sami City to pass this on to you.

The crystal flew higher, suddenly, it released a large amount of light, split into half, and vanished into Sakura and Syaoran's body. "The time will come for it to help you to defeat the missioners from hell."

"How?" Sakura asked.

"I'm afraid I can't answer you, my job is only to keep it, till you arrive. I have no idea of how the crystal works." Zeldia ordered the servant to bring Fula into the room. "Now, you must continue on with your journey."

~~~~~

They received a large amount of money from the royal family of Sami City when they leave. Fula had taken them up the shore. "Thanks for everything, I'll miss you guys!"

"You, too!" Sakura and Chocy waved as Fula dived in to the ocean. Sakura sighed, and went on the back of Chocy along with Syaoran. They're finally here, southern part of Ometin!

"You know, Syaoran, you really looked handsome when you took down the monster form of Zeldia!" Sakura said with a little blush.

"Wha...What??" Syaoran, however, blushed like crazy.

"Maybe when you grow up, you can be an action movie star!" Sakura laughed.

"Oh, please, Sakura!" Syaoran said. They left the shore and went on with their journey...

to be continued...