Khaos Wars

Chapter 8 - A new enemy

 "Crystal Pink Diamond! Transform!" "Crystal Sapphire! Transform!" "Crystal Topaz! Transform!" "Crystal Amethyst! Transform!" Aika watched as the other girls transformed; pink, blue, yellow and purple shone brightly around her. Everyone changed similarly to her; dresses in their respective color, ribbons in their hair and the transparent crystal on their chest. Emiko's hair was the only one that changed its length; it was now almost as long as Zakura's, still up in two pigtails. All of them had a staff like Aika's, only in their specific color and crystal on top; all of them had different lengths. Reina with the longest, Aika second longest, Emiko in the middle, Yumiko second shortest and Zakura with the shortest.

Aika studied them carefully. There was suddenly something different about them, aside from the clothing and darker haircolor. They seemed so... strong. And they looked like a determined and skillful team.
"Aika! Hurry up!" Emiko interrupted her thoughts.
"Crystal Emerald! Transform!"

All five of them ran after Nikka, who flew across a big park close to the sports center they were outside of. Nikka stopped on the other side of it, but Aika couldn't see any signs of a monster yet. Could Nikka really predict where they were going to show up? What did that machine have to do with all of this?

Certainly, a moment later, a loud monster cry rang through the air above them. All the people in the park scattered in all directions; everyone knew what those cries meant. A monster resembling something of a huge moth with two sets eagle claws and beak came flying and landed in front of them. Luckily all the people were already gone. Daisuke never told her the specifics about how they were made. Apparently they weren't something that already existed; they were abominations.

The girls didn't wait for it to attack first. Aika stayed a bit behind the others. Colorful orbs, bursts of light, monster cries and an intense wind from wings flapping surrounded her. She was blind in all the chaos; what were they thinking? Rushing at it like that could get them seriously injured, or worse; she didn't dare think about it.

The creature lifted one of its claws and tried to strike Aika down. Reflexively she attacked it as it approached her. The monster shrieked in pain and pulled its claw back. A sudden moment of realization hit her.
"Guys, attack the claws! Those are its weakness!" Aika yelled. The others didn't hesitate and did as they were instructed. Orbs of colored light in different sizes hurled towards the beast's claws. Aika noticed that the size of each girl's attack had to do with the length of their staff; longer staff meant bigger, slower orbs. Shorter staff meant tiny, rapid orbs. Also, just like her, no one could spam their attacks. After a while they needed to recharge for a minute.

The injuries from Aika's last fight still hurt. She had healed quite a lot thanks to that thing Daisuke gave her, but moving around so much made the pain worse again. She distanced herself from the fight to get a hold of herself; that was better than potentially getting herself or someone else sliced up. A distant whistling sound caught her attention. The monster reacted to it and flew back into the air. Aika and the other stared at each other in wonder as it disappeared.

"Did it run away?" Reina looked confused at the others.
"Is that even possible?" Zakura asked just as confused.
"Come on, we have to follow it!" Emiko said hastily, ignoring their questions.
"No! Stay where you are!" Aika had a bad feeling about this. Emiko was a pain, but she didn't want her to get hurt.
"Are you crazy? It's going to slaughter everyone if we don't stop it!"
"Somethings not right!" Aika yelled. Emiko seemed taken aback.
"Number four has a point. Monsters never run away, they will destroy everything in their path even if it kills them."
"Yumiko, not you too. Fine. Stay here, while I risk my life for those innocent people!" Emiko turned her back to them and started to walk away. That attitude was going to get her killed one day. She didn't get far before Reina put a hand on her shoulder. Emiko came to a halt and turned around; shocked to see that it was Reina.
"Emiko, wait. Do you hear that?" Everyone went silent for a few seconds. Aika held her breath. And then she heard it again; the monsters wings flapping in the air. It had returned.

Zakura took a few steps backwards, looking troubled towards the monster.
"Guys... It has company." Everyone turned their heads upwards to see what she was talking about.
"Is that a... boy?" Reina asked. It was. A boy about their age, Aika assumed, stood proudly on top of the monster's torso. The creature flew nearer to the ground. She couldn't believe her eyes.

Kazu jumped down from the monster's back. Aika recognized the two swords in his hands; the same ones from that night. He spun around with them at an unbelievable speed, straight towards Reina. At this rate she would get decapitated. A sense of horror filled Aika.

Kazu collided with Reina and an intense blue light almost blinded Aika, and presumably, the others too. Reina had used her staff to create a big, blue orb that she used as a shield. The shield shattered and threw glass-like shards all around them as the two of them were shot backwards in opposite direction of each other. Whew.

Having pushed Reina away, Aika was now the one closest to Kazu. He turned around facing her. He seemed amused about all this; he looked at her with an evil smirk. For a split second she was happy to have his attention; but she quickly realized that he didn't recognize her with the transform and was going to attack her.

Aika backed away a few steps, frightened, and readied her staff to defend herself. As Kazu approached she heard Yumiko scream.
"Number four, move!" She rapidly shot small yellow-glowing orbs at Kazu. About seven of them rushed towards him. Aika quickly jumped backwards to avoid the attack, but still had her eyes on him. No way could he dodge all of them. She couldn't believe he would die right in front of her, but she couldn't look away.

He dodged the first orb and deflected two others with his swords. What? Aika didn't know that was even possible. He was way more skilled and frightening than any monster she had encountered. Was this really the same Kazu from that night? She looked around; the rest were running towards the city, after the creature. She and Yumiko were the only ones against the alien.

"Keep it together, Aika. Your life is not the only one at stake this time." Aika tapped her cheeks a few times. Just as she was ready to aid her friend she heard another scream. Kazu had deflected one of Yumiko's attacks right back at her. She fell unconscious to the ground, wrapped up in a yellow light before her transform disappeared. Kazu walked towards the passed out Yumiko, lifting his longer sword. Aika pressed the crystal on her chest and ran in front of Yumiko, still surrounded by the warm, green light. She spread her arms wide open, as if to protect her friend. Her transform disappeared and she turned back to her old self; the one Kazu knew. She stared him right in the eyes.
"I know you're better than this, Kazu."