Shin couldn't wait any longer. He wanted to help his friend right now. He was getting too impatient now. He decided to do this on his own. He flew away from the shrine. Shin decided to confront Tori himself. Suddenly, he stopped, spotting a kitsune was in his way. "What do you want? I'm in a hurry!"
"You are Shin, correct?" Kyūryu asked.
"Yeah, and what do you want from me? I'm going to stop my friend no matter what!" Shin walked past through Kyūryu. Kyūryu stopped him by touching his shoulders. She wouldn't let him pass.
"Wait! I'll go with you." Kyūryu said. This was what Yuuki Nohara told her to do. To come with Shin and stop Seika's plan. "My master said I must go with you. We must stop Seika's plan before things gets much worse than before!"
Shin was too stubborn. He believe she was nothing more but a burden to him. He wanted to do this alone, saving his best friend was priority for Shin. "Fine, if you can beat me in a fight, then you can come with me! If I win, you're staying!" Shin insisted. He didn't want anybody else to get involved with his problems.
"Deal," Shin started attacking Kyūryu by swinging his right arm at her. Kyūryu let go of his shoulders, quickly pushing him away from her. Shin began shooting barrages of energy balls at Kyūryu. Kyūryu took a deep breath. She tried to stay calm. Yuuki remembered telling her about the patterns of these energy balls shooting at her. She went in her soliloquy state. "Okay, Kyūryu, remember what Yuuki said about situations like this!"
She tried remembering Yuuki's teachings about bullet patterns. He told her, he learned the pattern by watching the Shrine Maiden's fight. From word he said, Okay, Kyūryu, when your opponent starts shooting the bullets, you must know about the patterns. Every bullet has its pattern, and their own way to be dodged. You must analyzed the size of the bullet, just to make sure you're able to go through the bullet size. You must also calculate the speed of the bullets, that also comes useful because you're able to outspeed the bullets.
Kyūryu took his advice. She analyzed Shin's bullets. There were medium size, about the circumference of ten. They weren't moving too fast, nor were they moving too slow. She finished analyzing Shin's pattern. Kyūryu found the weak spot of Shin's shooting. I found the weak spot. I just need to go through the middle while dodging from left and right, Kyūryu thought. She flew straight through the middle at Shin.
Shin continued shooting bullets at her. He wondered why she was moving right into him. What is she doing? Is she trying to kill herself, Shin thought. Within a blink of an eye, Kyūryu was already in front of him. Shin flinched for a moment, unable to react fast enough.
"Attack Skill: Kyuubi Signer: Nine Gates of Trial!" Suddenly, Kyūryu had already grown nine-tails. On each end of the tails, they were shining gold. She started shaping into an orb. Kyūryu began crashing into Shin within that orb form. They both landed on the ground, with Shin injured badly, and Kyūryu, the victor of this fight. She grabbed him by his neck. "I won, now we're going to stop Seika together!"
"Fine, let's go....." Shin stood up. Kyūryu let go of Shin, giving him some space to breath. "Jeez, you are way too strong for me to handle......Who are you anyway?"
"Names do not matter...." Kyūryu retorted.
"Sure they do, that's what makes one trust the other." Shin countered. He made a good point. Kyūryu had no choice but introduced her name to Shin. Those words reminded her of Tou.
"Fine, my name is Kyūryu. I'm just a shikigami, nothing special about it." Kyūryu introduced herself. She acted like she didn't exist, someone who wasn't that special.
"Who is your master?" Shin asked.
"Yuuki Nohara....." Kyūryu answered.
"Yuuki Nohara!? You mean the Sleeping Youkai, Yuuki Nohara, one of the Legend who created Densetsu just like Lady Seika?" Shin was shocked. Kyūryu nodded her head. Shin was caught off surprised to realize Kyūryu was Yuuki's shikigami. He knew he was no match for Kyūryu. She was too strong, especially someone who was the shikigami of Yuuki Nohara.
"Let's go, Shin. We have to defeat Seika before things can get much worse than it is....." Kyūryu warned. Shin didn't want to just stop Seika; he also wanted to help his friend, Tori. He didn't move until Kyūryu agreed to his terms. Kyūryu was on the move, but she noticed Shin wasn't moving a single muscle. "Hmm? Come on, let's go....."
"I won't, not until we're going to save Tori as well!" Shin argued.. Kyūryu sighed, covering her whole entire face with her hand. She had no choice but to say it as well. If Shin was going to move, Kyūryu might as well say it.
"Fine.....we'll save Tori as well......" Kyūryu sounded really irritated upon agreeing with Shin. Shin was glad Kyūryu was willing to cooperate with him. They both continued to move. She needed to find the subterranean mansion where Seika lived. Yuuki inform Kyūryu that Shin was the only one who knew where this mansion was. They both flew to the mansion.
Shin pointed to the east. "You see that? That's where we'll find Tori!" Shin clarified. Kyūryu was shocked to see what was in front of her own two naked eyes. There was a huge hole which looked like it was literally dug through the ground. So this is where we'll find Seika, Kyūryu thought. The hole had covered approximately almost all of the entire forest around the hole. They went inside the hole. Inside the hole, they were nowhere to the ground; they were still flying in the air. A normal human would die if they fell right into this giant hole unless they knew how to fly.
After a few hours, Kyūryu and Shin finally reached the end of the hole. Kyūryu looked around the underground hole. So this is the infamous Cave of Umbra, Kyūryu thought. The Cave of Umbra, an underground world thought to be a myth. The cave was completely dark, so there were lanterns that lit the underground world. There were some residence in the Cave of Umbra. Most of them were monsters, but a few of them were humans. They lived peacefully in this cave.
Kyūryu and Shin moved forward to the nearest village in the Cave of Umbra. Suddenly, Kyūryu felt a sensation coming to her right. She quickly moved away from this upcoming aura. An unidentified object crashed into the ground. "I smell a pesky fox! It's time for fox hunting!" the person said. It sounded like a mature women. Kyūryu was shocked to see the person. She immediately knew who that was. The large women gazed upon Kyūryu's eyes.
"Hey, hey! I know you! You're that kitsune child who I didn't get my chance to skin!" the women recalled. She had a horn on her forehead, so she was an oni just like Fuuko. Kyūryu walked backwards, frightened to encounter the nightmare of her life. Memories began to come back, haunting her once more. Her heart was beating so fast, so afraid facing the female oni. "Maybe, I should introduce myself before I skin you! The name's, Crash Torakuma!" the oni introduced herself. Crash walked towards Kyūryu. Kyūryu didn't move. She was too scared to move. "Hmm?" Crash quickly moved back from Kyūryu. "Who do we have here?"
A portal opened from the ground, right in front of Kyūryu. Yuuki came out from that portal. "Kyūryu, are you okay?" Yuuki asked. Kyūryu nodded her head. She was too scared. She remembered Crash's face. Kyūryu remembered Crash holding on two fox with both of her hands, those two foxes were her parents. Luckily, she was saved by Joe, that was why she was so devoted to Joe. Yuuki looked at Crash. He knew she was a strong opponent. An oni were always strong, with their massive strengths, no human cannot surpass them nor can they even dared to hit them once. "Alright, Kyūryu, your mission is over..... as long as you can find this place, you can now take a break....." Kyūryu didn't respond back to him like she usually does. She was still paralyzed upon meeting her parent's killer. Yuuki grabbed her, and he took her back to the portal. He gazed into Kyūryu's yellow eyes. "Kyūryu, you can take a break now. Do you understand me?" he said, with a serene voice. He tried calming her down.
Kyūryu's face turned red. She began to blush as Yuuki stared at her with such an intense look. She nodded her head. Kyūryu needed to cool her head from upon seeing Crash. By looking into Yuuki's eyes, she was finally able to stay calm. He looked like he really cared for her. Kyūryu was a bit happy. This was the perfect master she seeked for, the master who cared for their students.
Crash was left alone. She had nothing to do anymore. She looked to her left. Shin was right next to her. "Hey, what are you doing? Seika ordered you to carrying some more dead bodies for her. She's getting really hungry!" Crash informed. Shin didn't respond back to Crash. "Hmph, whatever. It's not like I ever cared about that stupid cat boy......"
Shin was shocked. He didn't understand why Kyūryu was scared of Crash. He saw the whole thing. Despite she was the shikigami of Yuuki Nohara, he didn't expect her to be afraid of Crash. Shin returned back to the shrine. He didn't want to stop Tori by himself, and he didn't want to see Seika in person. Shin couldn't imagine how mad Seika would be.
He looked at the sky. "If anyone can help my friend, then that'll have to be you, shrine maiden. If not, then it must be you...."
-----
Does anyone have any better for Crash? She's a kijo, or female oni. As expected, she has impressive strengths, and my friends thinks her name is terrible, especially for a character like her. Comment below if you have a name suggestion, it would mean a lot for me! Don't forget to leave a vote as well! Love you for supporting me, Ryu out!