((In Character Post (IC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler))
Venue: Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler))
Author: Alanna & Stephanie Keith, all rights reserved))
((What follows is the un-censored version of Iky's story about her zombie dragon hunt, told in the former sanctum of Etzel in Los Angeles after the Story: Patchwork))
Introduction: Before
you start reading, a brief introduction of the characters may be in order…
Kaze (“Wind”) – Experienced demon-hunter, living with
the werewolf change for several years now.
Originally from mainland Asia, but has traveled the world extensively. Currently lives in Japan, serving a new
master, and learning new battle techniques.
Ikiyouyou (“In high and proud spirits”) – Japanese
demon-hunter, cursed at a young age by a wayward spell, now sporting canine
features. Namely white dog ears and
claws. Has served her Japanese sensei
for many years before Kaze’s arrival.
Summary: The
story takes place in modern times, in Japan.
In particular, this episode describes an early mission, just after Kaze
and Ikiyouyou start working together.
* * * * *
Youkai
Busters: First Encounter
By
Ikiyouyou and Kaze
* * * * *
Frigid
winds howled through the craggy gray peaks of Mount Samuiryuu. Nothing grew on these lifeless rocks, and
nothing could be heard other than the wind and the soft creaking of a taut
rope. Claws scrabbled on hard stone as
Kaze paused in rappelling down the cliff’s face. A loosed pebble was knocked free, and she
watched as it plummeted downward, eventually lost in the haze below. Sighing, she glanced upward through her
frosty breath to where her partner waited somewhere above. They had almost reached their goal. Finally.
Wind ruffled Kaze’s black and silver fur as she considered her position.
She hung
suspended just above a rock overhang, under which the cave should be hidden. A good leap and swing should have her
touching down just inside. Taking a deep
breath, Kaze yelled upward, “Yo! Almost
there!”
A white
head appeared above, silhouetted against the gray sky. “Good!
Catch!” Ikiyouyou held out her
hand and promptly dropped a black, undistinguishable object.
“Whaa--!” Kaze twitched violently out of the way and
snagged the backpack’s strap on its way past.
Swinging lightly back and forth, she shouted back, “Watch it! You almost hit me!”
Only a
muffled response was heard, and Kaze assumed Ikiyou had gone back to preparing
the rest of their gear. Growling softly,
she used her claws to stabilize her swing.
“Give me a minute so I can anchor the rope!” Then, with a mighty push, she swung off and
dropped the remaining forty feet to the cave’s floor. She unclipped herself from the rope, dropped
the pack on the floor, and cast about for some stone to tie the rope down
with. Finding nothing, she resigned
herself to holding the rope with one clawed foot. Then she glanced above to the black shape of
the overhang. “Ready when you are!”
Having
already clipped two packs of supplies to the rope, Ikiyouyou slid the first one
down the rope to her waiting ally. She
clipped on the third and started to ponder the mission for the nth time. She really wished she were elsewhere at the
moment. Preferably somewhere with
sunshine and blue skies. But no. She had to accompany that crude, hairy, thing
down there on yet another mission, to spirits knew where, that Iki could
take care of herself. She had to
baby-sit that werefreak until it proved itself worthy of those swords, Masamune
no Daburu Himitsu[1],
in Sensei’s possession. Letting out a
gusty sigh, Ikiyou arched her back to ease tense muscles, and gazed off into
the sky.
“Hey! You fall asleep, or what?” Ikiyou started, and twitched a white ear in
annoyance. Roughly kicking off the
second pack, and shoving the third, and last, soon after it, she readied
herself for her own dramatic entrance.
Deciding to bypass the direct route of the rope down the front of the
overhang, she sprinted off to the side.
Bending down and touching the tips of her clawed fingers to the ground,
she vaulted over the cliff’s edge.
“Ya-haa!” Rockslide Ninjutsu was
totally cool! Channeling energy to the
hand touching the stone, she slid downwards, long white hair trailing after and
blue kimono flapping in the wind. Gray
rock became a blur as it rushed past her.
As she
passed the overhang, she touched a foot to the wall, redirecting energy to slow
her descent. Spying Kaze, she came to a
halt and gave a jaunty wave. Then she
kicked off of the wall and launched herself safely into the cave.
Ikiyou
strode over to where Kaze stood gazing into the depths of the cave. The werewolf twitched an ear in
acknowledgement. “Hey! See anything?” Iki asked.
Kaze remained silent for a few moments.
Briefly, Ikiyou wondered what it must be like to have senses as keen as
Kaze’s. Sure, being a dog “demon,”
Ikiyouyou had all the senses of a finely trained hunting dog: enhanced sight,
hearing, smell… But, after working together through several missions, all the
indications were that Kaze took “enhanced” senses and upped them to the next
level. Or the next several
levels. Must be nearly maddening,
Ikiyou thought, to be constantly bombarded by all those intense
sounds…smells…And, although Ikiyou had yet to see it herself, Kaze had
hinted at having even stronger senses in her final form. Wolf.
“Hmmm…” Kaze seemed to almost lazily stare into the
gloom, head held upward, nose and ears twitching occasionally. “Nope.”
Then her glowing golden eyes shifted craftily to the side to land on
Ikiyouyou. “But now that you’re
here, I do catch the stench of something really nasty.”
“Hey!” Ikiyou growled.
Kaze
smirked and returned her attention to the darkness. “I’m pretty sure it’s that…thing…we’ve
been tracking. The scent is thick here,
but extends farther into the cave. It
seems recent.” All of Kaze’s knowledge
and experience screamed “dragon!” But
there was something just wrong with the signs that had been left
behind. Something unnatural. Kaze had the strongest feeling that she
should know what that meant, like it was on the tip of her tongue…
“This place
reeks of youkai.”[2] Iki stated.
“Ya think?”
Kaze turned
around to grab the packs. She tossed two
to Ikiyou. “Here.”
Ikiyou
tossed them back. “Here yourself.”
Kaze gave
Ikiyouyou her “What-the-heck?” expression.
Ikiyou, waving a hand loftily in the air, turned around to face the
cave’s depths. “I’m going to be sniffing
out the enemy, I can’t be carrying the packs around.”
“You can at
least carry one, fleabag.” And Kaze
shoved a pack into Ikiyou’s arms as she strode past into the gloom, hefting the
other three onto her back.
Rolling her
eyes, Ikiyouyou proceeded ahead of Kaze, pulling out an mp3 player from her
deep pockets. Arranging the headphones
over her ears, she got down on all fours and started to sniff out the trail. Well aware that Kaze’s hearing was many
orders of magnitude above her own, Ikiyou said, “Give me a ring if you hear
anything.”
“Hmph.”
Rocking to
the beat of her music, Ikiyou followed the scent trail. “Free to run around all daaay…Free to do
it all my waaaay!” She sang. Kaze let out a quiet snort of amusement, but
let her tail wag to the beat, which she could clearly hear. The two demon-hunters continued onward,
vanishing into the blackness.
After
roughly half an hour, the tunnel widened.
Kaze stopped as she spied a heavy, rusted iron door blocking the
way. Ikiyouyou continued onward, nose
glued to the dirt. “I want to
chaaange the world! Kaze wo kakenukete…” Kaze watched, eyebrow raised. Suddenly, some uncanny sixth sense brought
Ikiyouyou up short, just shy of the door.
She brought her head up with a jerk, hair brushing against the iron
surface. Ikiyou blinked. “It’s through here!” She pointed.
“So open
it.”
Ikiyou put
her shoulder against the door and heaved with all her might. Very, very slowly, the door groaned
open. Kaze flicked her ears back at the
noise. Iki stopped when the opening was
just wide enough to admit the two of them.
Well, what do ya know…she did it.
She roll a perfect twenty, or something?[3] Kaze wondered.
Ikiyou,
still bopping to the music, practically skipped through the doorway. Ka-thunk! A steel arrow wedged itself into the rock to
the left of Iki, just shy of her head.
Eyes widened, she promptly proceeded to bop in reverse out the door. She pointed into the doorway. “You go first!”
Kaze
stalked forward until she towered over Ikiyou.
Ripping the headphones off her head she growled, “Stow it.” She shoved them into Iki’s hands and headed
for the rusted door. Edging her head
around the side, Kaze peered into the darkness.
Thook-snap! ...Ah,
there’s the trap.
Ears
twitched at sudden chatter in the background.
Then… “Kaze!” Kaze pulled her
head out of the gap and turned to look at Ikiyouyou, who had the cell phone
glued to her ear.
“Oh, just a
sec.” Iki returned her attention to the
phone. “Oh yeah, were fine…yeah, we’re
totally cool…No really! We’re fine. I-”
She did a double take on Kaze, jaw dropping. Turing the phone around, she positioned it in
front of her. Kaze caught the distinct
voice of their Sensei, on the other side of the line: “Iki…Iki!…Answer the
phone! Iki!” Ikiyou snapped the photo and sent it. “See?
We’re cool!”
Kaze rolled
her eyes and snapped the arrow held in her jaws in half, spitting out the
pieces. “I want a copy of that.” Kaze turned back to the door. “Wait here.”
Slipping back inside, she put on a burst of speed and shot towards the
arrow trap, nimbly dodging the bolts until she leapt up right next to it. A swift strike with her claws, and Kaze
landed on the ground, pieces of the machine tumbling down around her. “All clear!”
Snapping
the phone shut with a flourish, Ikiyouyou moved – more carefully this time –
through the door. She found Kaze on the
other side of a room carved out of the mountain itself, giving everything a
once-over, before kneeling and examining the debris at her feet. “So you got it, I see,” Ikiyou commented.
“Ya. Piece o’ cake. I think we’re getting close, so I’m going to
leave my packs here.” Kaze stood
up. “I think…this may have been some old
smuggler’s hideout, from the trap. There
were others, but they don’t work anymore, apparently. Although it’s beyond me how any smuggler
could have gotten way up here… Maybe there’s another entrance, or something. Anyway, this creature most likely took the
place as a matter of convenience. No one
else has been here in ages.”
Ikiyou
nodded in agreement. Looking at a second
door leading out of the room, she considered.
The demonic aura clearly stemmed from the other side of that door. In fact…not only was the aura awfully strong,
the youkai’s presence reeked, foul and just…Gah, that is soo nasty. Ugh.
It’s huge…and not friendly. Ikiyou
shivered and turned to Kaze.
“Because of
my greater experience with youkai in Japan, I’ll go first to see what we’re
dealing with and figure out the best course of action. Stay behind me.”
Kaze
regarded Ikiyou for a moment, amused at the little speech. “Very well.
You know though, that staying behind you isn’t much different than
standing beside you. Since I’m so much
bigger, anyway.”
“Yeah, but
if it attacks me, I’ll have my sword out, which can deflect the attack.” Ikiyou grinned. “Besides, if I have to attack I don’t want
someone right next to me.” And with that
she stepped confidently forward, hand stretched outward, to shove the door wide
for another dramatic entrance.
It didn’t
budge.
“What
the--!” After a few more useless shoves,
the dog “demon” flung her full weight against the cold iron and heaved with all
her might. “Grrrr…” Suddenly, the door gave and swung abruptly
open to clang loudly against the opposing wall.
Ikiyou stumbled forward as she lost her balance, but managed to recover
before she hit the ground. She threw a
glare back at her werewolf partner, who stood with one hand on the door,
inspecting the interior. Kaze glanced
downward at Ikiyou.
“What?”
Grumbling
about the injustice of allowing werewolves to flaunt their super-human
abilities, Ikiyou straightened, brushing down her kimono, and peered into the
gloom. A soft whisper of sound caught
her attention and she reached down to unsheathe her sword. Her ears flicked backwards momentarily as she
heard Kaze step lightly back to melt into the darkness. She always did prefer the stealthy
approach. Attacking from the least
expected direction. Of course, her dark
coloring and attire certainly helped her to use darkness as the perfect
camouflage. Fading in and out of the
shadows like a freaking ghost…not that she needed it.
Ikiyouyou,
on the other hand, liked to do things much more directly. Armed with a sword that practically glowed
with unrealized potential, the promise of nearly infinite power, she made no
secret of the fact that she wouldn’t hesitate to use it, bold and direct. Shifting easily into a basic guard stance,
Ikiyou waited for the youkai to reveal itself.
Something
stirred in the gloom, the barest hint of movement as a form took shape. Black upon black, a head reared up, followed
by a long neck. What could have been
wings stretched upward, before snapping back with an odd, grinding clatter. A creaking noise followed as the thing
appeared to take a breath. Ikiyou
tensed, expecting an attack, but what followed was only a deep, gurgling
chuckle. Pale, white orbs flashed into
existence, lighting empty sockets.
Now Iki
could finally see the thing clearly. The
corpse of a dragon, almost nothing remaining but blackened bone and patches of
dried, withered skin, stretched taut in some places and hanging loose in
others. Bones, lacking anything
resembling cartilage, ground and clattered together, joined only by shriveled
tendons or muscle. It stood about fifty
feet away on four sets of chipped claws, splayed out wide on the stone
floor. A long array of tail vertebrae
lashed in the darkness behind it.
So. Kaze was right about suspecting a dragon,
although it wasn’t nearly as large as some she’d seen, but that wasn’t the half
of it. Not a mere undead creature, this
was a youkai-possessed corpse, and Iki wondered where the thing had met its
untimely end in order to have such a fate befall it. Now wasn’t the time for idle chit-chat,
however; her nose wrinkled at its evil stench.
Better to attack first than be drawn into demon-possessed conversation. Things were infinitely safer that way.
Without
warning, both Ikiyou and the dragon moved forward in attack. The dragon launched itself forward on frail,
but unnaturally strong legs, covering the ground in one leap. As its head struck forward, Iki, already in
the air, brought her sword down onto its bony neck. The sword ground to a halt in the neck’s
tough ligaments, and Iki was forced to yank it back out. Irked, the dragon let out a long, raspy,
howling wail. Iki completed her leap,
somersaulting to land behind the creature.
As the two
continued the battle, Kaze dashed forward into the cavern. Leaping nimbly with practiced ease, she
dodged though the battle and began scouring the room with experienced eyes,
looking for treasure. Her first glance
at the twisted carcass had brought a feeling of dismay. Dragon, yes, but dead dragons didn’t hoard
treasure, and she doubted this was its original sanctuary. Longing to join in the thrill of the fight,
she almost doubled back. But she figured
that the demon might still have some type of magical item lying around, so it
was always worth a look.
Vaulting
silently upwards to a better vantage point, Kaze quickly scanned the room with
her enhanced eyesight. Finding nothing,
she suppressed a snarl of frustration.
On the way down, however, she spied a small item tangled around one of
the dragon’s neck vertebrae. Faint light
cast by the sparks of Ikiyouyou’s sword colliding with black claws revealed a
tiny oval amulet, deep purple in color.
Half concealed by melted flesh, it gave off an unearthly darkened glow
of evil.
Victory! Kaze often used a (mostly) fictitious desire
for treasure to disguise her true goal:
those unique and often magical objects frequently found nearby. After all, she could steal mere gold and
jewels just about any time, but these objects were what made the hunt
worthwhile. And there was
something very interesting right now, almost within reach. Kaze touched down and sprinted towards the
demon carcass.
A split
second before she made the final leap, she spied something else glowing weakly
within the dragon, through a gap in its side.
Its steady beat identified it as the once-dragon’s heart. Changing direction, Kaze sprung onto the
dragon’s back, plunged a wickedly clawed hand through tendon, muscle, and
splintering bone, and ripped out the heart, removing any last remnants of
lingering dragon soul. She leapt off as
the dragon violently thrashed and let out a bone-chilling scream.
“Iki! Think you can grab that amulet?”
“Where? Where!”
“You
dork. It’s right above you!”
Both the
dragon and Ikiyouyou reacted at the same instant. Kaze watched as the dragon reared upward and
Ikiyou jumped for the amulet. Now’s
the perfect chance. Kaze whipped out
a small, green origami Chinese dragon.
She smiled as it seemed to glimmer in anticipation. This was one of her prized attacks, learned
after visiting Japan and being roped into serving under Sensei.
Many of the
demon-hunters in this area used divine paper seals to combat demons and other
evil forces. Never content to do things
the same as everyone else, Kaze invented a new twist to the skill. She almost laughed as she remembered her
first prank. Exploding origami never got
old. But the elaborate paper-folding
served more than just a decorative purpose.
Kaze had quickly learned that some of her more arcane spells learned in
the depths of mainland Asia could be combined with the origami art to seal the
holy enchantment within the folds of the paper.
Otherwise, the natural degeneration of the ink and paper, combined with
the limited energy-bonding capacity of such an ordinary object, would cause the
enchantment to weaken and dissipate over time.
Now, unlike other demon-hunters, Kaze’s divine paper would last
virtually forever. Adding in the water-
and fire-proofing charms inscribed around the border of the paper, and you had
a nearly indestructible, innocent-looking, mini-spirit-bomb.
Holding the
little dragon up high, Kaze roared, “Divine Bindings!” The little paper creature jolted to
life. Singing with enthusiasm, it shot
forward in a spiral of dazzling emerald light.
As it reached the youkai, it burst into cords of intense energy,
instantly wrapping around the entire length of the monster and pulling tight.
The corpse
gave a mighty bellow as the demon inside was literally fried by the holy
power. Seeking escape, the demon
exploded upward out of the dragon’s jaws, pulsing in rage and agony as a
twisting column of black smoke.
Ikiyouyou,
still in the process of ascending, pushed off of the dragon’s skull, boosting
her jump. Rising to the top of the demon
smoke, sword raised over her head, she gave a mighty yell, “This is it! Lightning Strike!” A line of blinding white light flashed
through the smoke, following the path of Iki’s sword as she bisected the
writhing blackness on her way down. Pale
blue electricity ripped through the cloud, causing a shriek of pain.
At the same
time, the wild song of a phoenix heralded the unleashing of another of Kaze’s
little friends. Iki glanced up at the
cloud in time to see a sun-gold spear of light lance into the heart of the
demon’s form.
A deafening
explosion followed the violent clash of magics.
The shockwave slammed Ikiyou downward, straight through the collapsing
pile of spiritless dragon carcass. The
snapping of bone and ripping of muscles filled her ears. Finally Iki hit the ground, blackened dragon
remains raining down around her.
Having
crushed the dragon’s heart, Kaze stood regarding the settling pile of debris
and pulverized bone. One ear twitched in
gross fascination. That has got to
be…Oh ewww! I don’t think I can take it
anymore! Keen hearing picked out
raspy squelching noises from somewhere deep inside. The pile shifted, which dislodged a wide
swath of melting muscle and skin, causing it to sort of slither down the
side, flopping in a semi-liquidated glop on the floor. That was the last straw. Kaze collapsed into a fit of laughter. “I’m so glad I’m not… That is the most disgusting…!”
Ikiyou
suddenly burst out of the decomposing mess, proudly straightening and brushing
off ebony bone dust, and flinging melting ligaments everywhere. Then she brandished the amulet, swinging it
in a circle around one finger. With a
flourish, Iki tossed the amulet up and caught it in her fist. “Got it!”
“Joy,” Kaze
gasped, managing to bring her hilarity under control.
Ikiyouyou
clambered out of the disarray, kicking bones to the side as she went. After she cleared the pile, Kaze moved closer
to get a better look at the amulet.
“Let’s see.”
“See? Isn’t it cool?”
The deep
purple object was a flattened oval in shape, attached to a dark brown, leather
cord. The stone sparkled faintly in the
golden light from Kaze’s glowing eyes.
Kaze reached out to take the amulet.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the feel of the smooth stone
between her fingers. It held a slight
warmth, briefly heated from Ikiyou’s touch.
And…there! That faint
spark of dwindling evil was the only indication of the aura she had witnessed
before.
“Hmmm.” Opening her eyes and rolling the stone
thoughtfully between her fingers, Kaze pondered the possibilities. “I think…the stone may resonate with the
energy of whoever wears it. It might
even help to amplify whatever powers that being employs. Such an all-purpose object probably isn’t too
powerful, though; just enough to give a small edge.”
“I
wonder…” Ikiyouyou crossed her arms.
The two
demon-hunters turned to exit the cavern, leaving the old carcass to
disintegrate. The only thing holding it
together in the first place had been the strong demonic will. Now, with the demon destroyed, the enormous
stress of the possession was finally taking its toll. In a few short hours, there’d be nothing left
but ashes.
After
reaching the first cavern, Kaze headed for the packs she left behind. Opening one, she pulled out a deep blue
amulet, nearly identical to the one they found.
Holding them side-by-side, Kaze said, “Well, now we know what that rock
was that Sensei gave us. Here.” Kaze tossed the blue one over to Ikiyou.
“Thanks. You know…I know exactly what these
are. These are the legendary Amulets
of the Void!” Ikiyou paused for the
appropriate expression of awe from her companion.
Kaze
blinked. “Oookay.” She turned back to the pack and rustled
around for a moment. “What do you
want? Ham or turkey? I’m starved.”
“What! After all that work I did to slay the dragon,
and rescue the amulet, all you can think about is food? You glutton!
Don’t you even want to hear about them?”
“Sure.” Kaze left Ikiyou to decide to which question
that referred, and dug out a sandwich, preparing to chow down.
Ikiyou
glared daggers at her insolent friend and proceeded to regale her with the
legend of the Void Amulets. “The void is
one of the five elements in Shinto mythology, and it’s the most powerful. Supposedly, these amulets together represent
each of those elements, with the fifth representing the Void. And when brought together, the amulets form a
really powerful energy source.”
Between
bites, Kaze replied, “Cool. So which
ones do we have?”
“I have no
freakin’ clue without studying them a bit more.”
Kaze
finished her sandwich, balled up the wrapper and tossed it backwards. Standing up and stretching, she picked up all
three of the packs and turned to Ikiyou.
Then, pointing a thumb back over her shoulder, “Let’s make like a banana
and split.”
Ikiyou
grinned.
* * * * *
Kaze and
Ikiyouyou plummeted through the clouds, Kaze with her arms wrapped securely
around Ikiyou’s neck, making an effort not to hold on too tightly. How did I get myself talked into this? Oh yeah…it was more like a trip and
push. Ikiyou’s Water Walking ability
sure came in handy sometimes, allowing her to walk on anything from water to
leaves, to vertical surfaces, to clouds.
So here they were, a controlled fall at a steady speed through the thick
clouds surrounding the mountain.
This is
so cool! Ikiyou grinned, her
heightened senses and ability allowing her to feel the individual drops of
water as they brushed past her outstretched fingers. She could feel her ki connecting her to the
beads of moisture, could feel the currents of air movement through the clouds,
could discern the shape of the cloud. Ah,
there is nothing like this in the world!
Ikiyou closed her eyes and delighted in the sensation of wind rushing
through her hair.
A nagging
thought suddenly struck Kaze full force.
“Iki!” She yelled over the wind.
“Huh?”
“What
happens when we run out of clouds?”
“Oh. You’re right.” Quick maneuvering on Iki’s part unexpectedly
placed her on Kaze’s back. “You go first.”
* * * * *
End
[1]
Masamune’s Double Secret – a pair of unique double-edged katanas hand-forged by
the legendary Masamune himself
[2] Demon
[3] D&D
in-joke, referring to rolling the maximum amount possible on the dice, allowing
the player to accomplish anything (a near miracle). Here, Kaze had doubted that Ikiyou would have
had the strength to open the door, hence, a miracle must have occurred.
