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“A long, long, long, long time ago, in ancient times, according to the legend, each elemental god was sealed into an elemental shrine. Out of the 9 Bijuu, 5 of them were elemental gods, those being Shukaku, of the Wind; Kyuubi, of Fire; Isonade, of Water; Raijuu, of Lightning, and Kaku of Earth.
“In the Legend of the Tailed Beasts, the 5 elemental gods were sealed with instruments called “The Tools of Power”. Not all of them are known, and their translation may be not accurate, but all resemble a type of varied container (kettle, prison, altar, etc.”
“After researching for a while, it has been discovered that the “Tools of Power” descend from the “Eight Immortals”. They’re deities who transfer their individual energy to each “Tool of Power”, that is able to give life or destroy evil. Together, the eight tools are called "Covert Eight Immortals”. The Immortals were: Immortal Woman He, Royal Uncle Cao, Iron-crutch Li, Lan Caihe, Lü Dongbin, Philosopher Han Xiang, Elder Zhang Guo and Zhongli Quan.
“There were respective shrines dedicated to these elemental Bijuu scattered through the country’s territory, being the Fire shrine the strongest. Though, the shines keep releasing spiritual energy even while the Bijuu are sealed within sleeping, they send the energy to the Sacred Shiny Jewel, that feeds that power back to the land to make it green and fertile…what a weird story huh?” said Ino, who was reading the tale to a bunch of little children.
Ino was a young woman of fifteen, with long flowing black hair. She was reading the story to a group of children, who were listening intently to the story; they had always enjoyed hearing this tale. When Ino had stopped reading, they had quickly protested, wanting to hear more of the tale. Ino simply sighed as she began to finish the tale.
“The Jewel was placed in the center of the country, so the spiritual energy could flow throughout the land undisturbed. It was said that if the nine Bijuu were ever to be reawakened, the Jewel would lose all energy. Then with the sudden loss, the Jewel would be torn into nine different pieces and dragged to the Bijuus’ lairs, awaiting a Heroin of legend to retrieve them and restore the balance of the spiritual energy… The End!”
Ino closed the book as the children scattered, mumbling different things about the story that they had heard a thousand times. Ino herself was sitting on the edge of the Great Fountain, which illustrated the story that she had just told and was the rumored home of the Sacred Shiny Jewel. She had just begun to splash around in the water, when she heard a high pitched voice.
“Oh no!! It’s the end of the world as we know it!”
Whizzing through the sky was the fairy Isaac, who was screaming bloody murder, followed by his sister, Isabella, who looked like she died, came back to life, died, and came back to life again. While they were both flying for their lives, Ino noticed that the streets were cleared out of almost everything. Isaac had crashed onto the side of the fountain, as Isabella stopped right in front of Ino’s face.
“What’s going on?” asked Ino.
“Its coming, its coming! We have to get you inside, quick!” replied Isabella.
“What’s coming?”
“It’s the thing fr-”
Isabella was cut off by the sounds of buildings falling and people screaming. Isaac, whom has fluttered next to Ino, grabbed her sleeve and tried to pull her away from the fountain. He dropped Ino’s sleeve as his jaw dropped at the sight of the approaching creature. Isabella clutched to Isaac for dear life as Isaac flew into Ino’s hair as shelter. After mere moments, the beast revealed himself from behind a close by building. It looked like eight snakes that here all connected at the waist, but it was the size of ten houses. It took Ino a few moments to recognize the creature as Yamata No Orochi, the eight-tailed snake of death. It was supposed to be legendary, but seeing him in front of her made Ino a believer.
“Oh, cra-”, Ino cut herself off as she dove to her left and slid into a thin alleyway. Yamata almost ignored Ino’s presence as he approached the fountain One of Yamata’s heads buckled back as a lump appeared in his throat. The lump moved up his throat and into his mouth. Yamata’s head then spit the lump at the top of the fountain. The lump looked like a large, glossy, melting ball. The ball fully melted to reveal a sword that was stabbed into the fountain. Yamata’s head that hacked up the sword was still in the same position that it was when the ball flew out.
Suddenly, the fountain ran dry as the color and life began to be zapped from it. Ino looked onwards as everything started to turn grey and lifeless.
“What did he do?” she thought, “How could he have done that?!”
As Ino further observed, shiny objects shot from the fountain’s top and flew in every which way. One piece flew into Yamata’s mouth while the others flew out of sight. From what Ino could see, it looked like there was nine pieces in total.
Yamata picked up the sword in one of his mouths as he slithered away in triumph. Ino slid out of her hiding spot as she surveyed the land. Every plant was dead and it looked like every source of water was dry. Villagers emerged from their homes as they stared across the life-less land that they called their home. And who was in the middle of it all? It was Ino. She was quickly surrounded by angry villagers whom claim that the current state of their village was partially her fault.
“Why didn’t you stop that thing?!” shouted a shopkeeper.
“He could have gotten the children!” blabbed an old woman.
“He broke our source of life!” screamed a very elderly woman.
“You have to go retrieve our source of life!” shouted various villagers in their own variations.
“Ok, Fine! I’ll go” said Ino quickly, “Just give me some stupid weapons and a map of where to go. And I’m taking Isaac and Isabella with me!”
“What?!” shouted Isaac and Isabella in unison. They were still hiding in Ino’s hair from seeing that weird beast. They were trying to figure out what the rest of the conversation was that they missed.
“You two are coming with me”, said Ino as she plucked the two fairy’s out of her hair and turning towards the monstrous horde of villagers that stood before her.
“I’m going home”, Ino said sternly, “and when I get back, there better be supplies waiting here for me!”
********************
As Ino began to walk back to the fountain, Isaac and Isabella struggled to free themselves from Ino’s grasp. Having no luck, they tried to do the “diplomatic” approach.
“Let us go now or we’ll… we’ll”, said the stumped Isaac.
“… you into a toad!”, blurted out Isabella.
“Or make you bald!”
“Or turn your feet into cupcakes!”
Ino ignored the fairies’ threats and arrived at the dead fountain. There was no one in sight, but laying on the fountain’s edge was a backpack filled with needed goods, a pair of soft shoes, a wooden staff that Ino presumed that was her weapon, and bribe money for Isaac and Isabella so they will go with Ino
Ino let go of the two fairies as they zoomed to collect their bribe money and Ino herself put everything else onto her back. But then Ino realized something: she had no map.
“Um guys? Did you see any map lying around?” Ino asked.
“You don’t need a map”, Isabella said.
“Remember that story?” asked Isaac.
“That’s your map! Just think of where that story first takes place!” chirped Isabella.
Ino thought to herself to remember that story that she had read dozens upon hundreds of times. Then she remembered how the heroin f the past first went to the great desert to face the one-tailed beast.
“To the desert!” shouted Ino as she took off in a nice run in its direction with the fairies following.
After Hiking for fourteen days and outrunning several packs of wolves, Ino was standing on top of a large hill, looking over the vast desert that was rumored to hide the beast that she was looking for.
“You know what?” said Isaac to the entranced Ino, “We did not see a single person on our way here, but it looks like we finally will!”
Isaac was pointing to a small village on the far side of the desert. As Ino squinted her eyes to get a closer look, she could see a sand storm rolling into the village. But there was something “off” about the stand storm. But before she could put her finger on it, Isabella let out a scream of bloody murder.
Suddenly, the sand below them started to kick up as a large figure arose out of the sand. It was of sand color and very big. It had one hug tail with red markings. At first glace, it just looked like an over grown raccoon, but it was more then that. It was Shukaku, the Demon of the Wind.
“Well howdy ya’ll!” shouted the large Shukaku, “Looks like you stumbled by my food place! Oh well, food is food!”
The wind around Shukaku was howling like mad, and the fairies had to grab hold of Ino’s hair in order to prevent themselves from being blown away. Ino was shaking in her shoes, but calmed down a little after she saw a blue gem sticking out of Shukaku’s arm. Thinking that that was what she needed to get, she had to find away to get it from him.
“Hey look!” shouted Ino as she pointed in the opposite direction that Shukaku was facing, “It’s a …. a…. tree standing up in your desert!”
“Where?!” blurted out Shukaku as he turned around and looked around franticly.
Ino saw her chance as she Grabbed Isaac from her hair and threw him with all her might. Thankfully, the wind around Shukaku carried Isaac farther then Ino had thrown him. When Shukaku turned around, he couldn’t have done it at a better time. Isaac flew right at the shard and knocked it loose, which caused Shukaku’s body to wither in pain. Knowing this, Isaac pulled the shard out as the raging winds stopped.
When Isaac flew back over to Ino, Shukaku was ready to smash them all like pancakes. But he stopped in his tracks as the lower half of his body appeared to be spiraling. At a closer glace, there was a teakettle where Shukaku was standing. Shukaku’s body was being sucked into the kettle, while Isabella flew over and spit in his face.
“I’ll see you both in h-”, Said Shukaku who was cut off by being fully sucked into the teakettle. The kettle was the size of a normal one, and how it could have held a huge beast like that, Ino will never know.
“That was weird…. But where to next?” said Ino as she pulled sand out of her hair.
“Well duh!” said Isaac, “We’re going to the one place around the country that you said that you would never go to…”
“…The Forest of Death!” chimed in Isabella
“Oh great… Nothing says ‘fun’ like going to a forest that is cursed with the forever dead souls”, thought Ino who was looking around to see if she could see the rumored dark cloud of souls that is supposed to float over the forest. But Isaac had pulled on her sleeve and pointed to the northern sky. Sure enough, there was a black cloud spiraling towards the ground.
“Alright you two”, Ino Began, “The first one who gets to that spiral and back then tells me what’s there, they get to hold the shard!”
Without hesitation, Isaac dropped the shard and flew off in the direction of the cloud. Ino laughed as she picked up the shard and walked after them. She knew that sibling rivalry always got eh best of those two.
Almost a day later, Isaac and Isabella were seen racing across the horizon. When they got close to Ino, they couldn’t stop and ended up running into a nearby tree. When they both came to, they started to talk as fast as they had flew.
“One at a time!” Shouted Ino, “But first tell me what took you so long!”
“We got lost in the forest!” said Isaac.
“You mean that one?” Said Ino as she pointed ahead.
“Ya, but we were being chased by a beast!” squeaked Isabella.
Ino grinned as she walked into the forest. She figured that she might as well make her last moment happy. She was being followed by Isabella and Isaac who where clinging to each other for dear life. Then out of the thicket, there was a rustle. Then a roar what shook the trees and froze the trio in place.
Out of the bushes shot a floating black orb. The orb was a spirit that had been fully corrupted, but it had not made the roar. The trio screamed as a best jumped out of the bushes and ate the orb, but the beast was not terrifying. It was a small house cat with two tails and strange black markings, holding the shard in its mouth, and appeared to be female. It sat down and wagged its tails as it cocked its head to the side.
“That’s it?!” said Isabella. “I nearly wet myself over a stupid little kitty that supposedly the Two-tailed beast!?”
“Who are you calling stupid?” said the cat. With the cat talking, it made the trio scream again.
“I’m sorry”, said the cat, allow me to introduce myself. I am Nekomata, the Two-tailed beast”
“Hello Nekomata”, Ino began, “We are looking for that little shard that you’re holding in your mouth. May we please have it?”
While Nekomata thought the request over, Isaac and Isabella were inspecting her all over. Isaac was interested in the multiple tails, while Isabella was busy looking in her ears.
“I guess that you can ha-”, Nekomata began, but she was cut off by a squawking bird landing on her head.
“SQUAWK… New-arrival…Intruders-in-the-forest…your-date-canceled-on-you…Isonade’s-sending-more mermaid-souls-your-way… That-is-all…SQUAWK!” bellowed the bird before it flew off into the tree, leaving the trio stumped and Nekomata sighing.
“I can’t believe it…” said Nekomata
“You mean that Isonade, the legendary three-tailed beast is killing off mermaids whose souls get sent here? Or are you talking about the crazy bird?” asked Ino while Isaac nodded in agreement.
“No not that…” Nekomata began, “I can’t believe my date cancelled on me! He will pay!”
“Even I could have told you that”, said Isabella to Isaac and Ino in sing-song.
“Well besides that, that Isonade has been filling my forest with premature deaths. Do you know how many Mermaid souls have filled up my hot spring and drinking hole? A lot! Now If I give you this shiny rock, will you allow me to come with you and take down that jerk?” asked Nekomata.
Ino ran the scenario through her mind. There were many different things that could happen. One was that Nekomata would kill her after they take down Isonade. Another was that Nekomata might team up with Isonade and kill her and her friends. But the one she liked the most was Nekomata lending help through out their quest. Maybe because that a beast that can raise zombies and spirits might not be so bad if it’s in a furry package.
“Alright…deal”, Ino began, “but you have to help us put together all the shards and take down the other beasts, and in return, we’ll dig you out a new hot spring and watering hole!”
“Deal…” Exclaimed Nekomata as she stood up with Isaac and Isabella on her back, “Oh, and Rico? Hold all my calls till I get back! And if that jerk calls again, tell him to start writing his will! Now let us being going now”
“But how do we get to Isonade’s rumored island?” asked Ino.
“Oh! How about we carry you both across the water?” asked Isaac and Isabella in unison.
“Um no…I have a better idea…” said Nekomata
Nekomata opened her mouth and howled as a group of spirits surrounded the trio and the cat and lifted them off the ground. Nekomata was using the spirits as a way of mass transportation. The spirits raised the group so high, that they could see across the sea, past the large island, and could see the faint reflective light in the horizon, which probably the shard was reflecting off the sun.
“Go towards the light!” shouted Ino as the spirits shuddered, and obeyed.
********************
After seven days, and landing on land twice a day, Ino had made it to the Crescent Island. The Spirit transport landed on the ground as the spirits fled. Ino had expected to see Isonade, but she didn’t see him off hand, so the group decided to split up with Nekomata and Ino going around the beach and Isaac and Isabella did air patrol.
As Ino got close to the water’s edge, she could have sworn she had saw bubbles. After she had turned around, she heard the water move and turned around just in time. There she saw it: Isonade the Three-tailed beast of water. It looked like a very large black shark, and its breath smelled nastier then it looked.
“Well, well, well”, Isonade began, “I see I have some new flavored food to try out!”
Isonade made a bite at Ino, but she jumped backwards just in the nick of time. Just then, Isaac came zooming towards the beast at full speed. Thinking quickly, Ino pulled out some this rope out of her backpack and made a lasso. She threw it so it wrapped around Isaac’s foot, but before she could give it a tug, Isonade at him in one bite.
“Mmmm… fairly decent fairy! I should have those more often!” bellowed Isonade who laughed loudly.
But then Isonade’s laughter stopped abruptly as his body started to ripple like water. He opened his mouth to scream, and Ino quickly pulled the rope. Out of Isonade’s mouth flew Isaac, hugging the shard for dear life. As Isonade screamed in pain, his body started to pull itself in on itself through his mouth. After minutes of agonizing screams, Isonade had been pulled into his stomach, which was a pot.
The pot sank into the water as a horde of bubbles arose. Out of the bubbles raised a group of mermaids. Around that time, Nekomata and Isabella had caught up with Ino and Isaac. The mermaids bowed as one stepped forward.
“Thank you for ridding us of that terrible beast”, said the mermaid. “We will return his prison back to the water shrine after we show you a sign of gratitude.”
“Well”, Nekomata began, “We need a ride to Mount Fuji… As long as you can get us close, I won’t turn you into cat n**”
“After that little trip I took, I’m going to hide in the kitty’s hair until we get to Mount Fuji”, said Isaac who had wiped the stomach sludge off of himself and dove for Nekomata’s coat.
“…wimp…” Mumbled Isabella
“Well we do owe you a great deal of gratitude”, said the mermaid, “So I guess taking you as far as the shore near Mount Fuji will be acceptable… Fish! Attention!”
In front of the Trio and Nekomata arose a large sheet of sheet of fish. Ino was the first to steep on the sheet of fish, then Nekomata while Isabella landed on Ino’s shoulder. The fish started to move slowly, but quickly picked up speed. The mermaids waved good bye as they dove back into their undersea world, leaving the fish to do their duty.
After nine days, the fish came to a sudden stop. The stop sent the sleeping group onto the shore, but woke them up in the process. As the fish disappeared, the group looked upon the mountain. Unfortunately, it was still active. They could see the clouds of poisonous gas flowing off the top, and emptying out into the town nearby. The group swallowed their fear and moved onwards.
“Anyone know how to get to the base of the mountain without being poisoned?” asked Ino as she ate a berry.
“I say that we tie a rope to Isabella and throw her into it!” yelled Isaac from the safety of Nekomata’s coat.
Then Nekomata said, “Why not just try…oh what do you call it… ‘Yo-yoing’? Oh yes, that’s it! We could tie one of the annoying fairies onto a rope, and use them as a yo-yo…Or we could just let me get it…”
Everyone but Nekomata looked around nervously as they progressed. Nekomata had opened her mouth to let some black sprites float out. The spirits then dove into the ground and reemerged as skeletons, leading the way.
It took another few hours before they got to the edge of the poisonous gas. The skeletons moved forward as everyone waited. But the gas began to move closer, so everyone jumped back and ran one hundred feet or so, and then stopped. Out of the gas stood the four-tailed beast: Sokou of the poison.
Sokou was a very large beast that somewhat resembled a reptile, but something was odd about him. He had the body of a rooster and the head of a snake, but still had four feet. Out of his mouth was flowing the same toxic gas, meaning that he was the cause for the gas around the mountain. As the grouped looked upon him, they trembled in fear, but Nekomata stood unaffected.
“Who dares intrude on my sacred land?!” yelled Sokou at the top of his lungs.
“…Talk about having a head full of hot air…” said Nekomata under her breath.
“Well you see”, started Ino, “we have to get a little, unimportant, worthless shiny shard, then we’ll be on our way!”
“No one intrudes on my land!” bellowed Sokou. “The poisons around my land will kill a mortal within a matter of minutes… well between three and nine minutes… maybe like six… more towards three..?”
While Sokou was talking to himself, Ino saw he chance. She reached into Nekomata’s fur and pulled out Isaac as she grabbed Isabella at the same time. She shook the fairies at the same time to get some of their magic fairy dust off them. Ino hated their fairy dust, because it always made her sneeze.
“Ah choo!” spatted Ino as her sneeze sent Sokou flying through his poisonous gas and pushed the gas itself out of the way. By shear luck, Sokou had hit the shard that was embedded in the mountaion. When he hit it, he knocked it loose and sent it sailing way up high. Isaac took off from Ino’s grip as he pulled out a basball mit. He flew around in a cicle, then fell down. He had caught the shard as Isabella made a cheering noise.
Suddenly, the poisonous gas started to sswirl at the top of the mountain as Sokou started to charge at the group. But he only got inches away from them when he started to be pulled backwards. He was being pulled towards the base of the mountain at an increasing speed while his poisonous gass was being sucked into the top of the mountain.
“No!” screeched Sokou. “I was not supposed to end this way! When UI get out, I will tear you apart limb by li-”
Before Sokou could finish his rant, he was puilled inhto the base of the mountain, directly where the shard was. He was surrounded by a magical cage that held him in place, and did not allow his voice escape the magical bars.
“Yes!” yelled the excited Ino. “Four down, and Five to go!”
“Five more?!” asked Isaac and Isabella in unison.
“Yes,” Said Nekomata, “five more. But on the plus side, most of the last five tailed beasts are around the same area, either fighting for territory, or rulling territory together!”
“Alright! Now its time to go north…I think that the five-tailed beast should be up there…” said Ino.
So the group took off north bound. After a few days, Ino passed though her home town, and it still looked desolate, grey, and lifeless. She just figured it was like that because it was chili night at the local pub.
So after three weeks of traveling, and stopping numerous times so Nekomata could do her business and so Isaac and Isabella could gather up some fruit and berries. Then they eventually came to a large dead volcano.
On top of the Volcano stood a large dog that seemed to have five different colored tails. It was Houkou, the five tailed beast of Illusions! Everyone was creped out by the large dog. Well, everyone except Nekomata, who had ran off ahead to meet Houkou. Apparently, Houkou and Nekomata were very good “Gal-pals” and they started on a loud, long rant about girl junk.
“…So he said…then I said…But they said…” Said Nekomata nonchalantly.
“…I know…No way…he said what?...The nerve of some people…” replied Houkou.
Ino, Isabella, and Isaac were all standing almost half a mile away, and could all hear the conversation very clearly.
“You’re kidding… right?” said Isaac.
“I am embarrassed enough for the both of us…” replied Isabella.
“Just look away… maybe she won’t look in our direction…” said Ino as she covered her face.
The fact that a terrible “beast” would get along with another terrible beast was very startling and unusual. But to the group’s bad luck, Houkou had spotted them while listening to Nekomata.
“Hey look! A human and a couple of pixies! I smell dinner!” Said the drooling Houkou.
Isabella, Ino, and Isaac heard Houkou and took off running. Houkou had already lit up her five tails as the ground started to shake. She was creating a large earthquake, and trying to turn the group into pancakes.
“By the way,” yelled Isabella, “We’re not Pixies! We’re fairies you stu- Eek!”
Isabella flew out of the way as the ground shifted dramatically. Houkou was laughing as Nekomata started to think of a plan. Nekomata’s eyes shifted as she was surrounded by black sprites. Ina matter of seconds, the sprites changed to a red color and took on the faint shape of a large fox. Houkou had turned to see the fox and she nearly wet herself.
“AH! Kyuubi I didn’t mean to! I mean, they are your humans! I mean…” stuttered the frightened Houkou as she took off.
The sprites vanished as Nekomata laughed and dug at the ground. As Houkou ran, the earthquakes stopped. Houkou looked around franticly for a hiding place. She dove into a large tree as she breathed heavily.
Suddenly, as Nekomata pulled out a shard from the Volcano top, the tree started to seal up. The tree closed up as Houkou screamed out for help. But her screams went unheard as she was completely saeld within the tree.
Nekomata ran down the mountain and stopped infront of Ino and spit out a shard.
“Why did you do that to your best friend ?” Asked the surprised Ino.
“She stole my last boyfriend and still owes me threehundred yen!” Said the laughing Nekomata.
After everyone calmed down, the grop took off towards Kyoto and Osaka. Ino had read that the Six and Eight tailed beasts were said to live near there. After three weeks of constant travel and with as few stops as possible, the group had made it all the was to Kyoto, where the god of lightning was said to have a shrine.
After waling through the bustling city, a loud alarm rang as people scattered.
”Figures,” thought Ino, “They scatter at the sound of an alarm, but they don’t scatter at the sight of the two-tailed beast of death…maybe they thought she was my cat…”
As the streets emptied, lightning struck from the sky as dark energy shot at buildings. Within minutes, the two things responsible for the destruction appeared. The one destroying the buildings was Yamata, whom Ino had encountered before she set off on her journey. And the other was Raijuu, the six-tailed beast of lightning.
“Holy sh-” Ino began.
“-ining apples of love!” Isabella finished, butting Ino off.
“Well what do we have here?” said Yamata who had started to approach the group.
“Well it looks like the little pest that I should have killed a good while ago! Oh and she brought some appetizers! I just love to eat them pixies! But the surprises don’t end there! Looks like Nekomata decided to come by and be desert!”
“What is it with everyone thinking that we’re pixies?!” thought Isaac and Isabella at the same time.
Ino stood frozen in her tracks as Isaac and Isabella flew in the opposite direction of the beasts. But they back tracked and grabbed Ino’s wrists and began to drag her. Nekomata, on the other hand, let out some white sprites as they flew in the beasts’ faces, making it hard to see.
“Kitty big stupid!” bellowed Raijuu.
“Raijuu, stay! Wait… on second thought… Get the Kitty!” yelled Yamata as he gave chase to the fairies and Ino.
Raijuu didn’t even give it a second thought as he charged at Nekomata through the thin clouds of sprites. But as he was running, Nekomata’s little secretary bird landed on Raijuu’s shoulder, next to his ear. The bird thought that it was a good place to sit and give the latest announcement. But as Raijuu got closer to Nekomata, the sky burst to life with lightning.
“SQUAWK… You-got-mail…tax-collector-stopped-by…SQUAWK… Your-mother-left-a-message-to-call-her…Your-tax-refund-arrived…I-need-my-vacation-pay… That-is-all…SQUAWK!” bellowed the bird right into Raijuu’s ear.
Raijuu was stunned by the sudden noises that close to his ear. As Nekomata sighed and the bird flew away, Raijuu’s ears started to bleed and he started to topple over. And as Raijuu fell, Nekomata had already dug underground.
Nekomata had dug below the city and arrived at the thunder shrine. She looked at the shrine and saw the shard floating there. So, Nekomata trotted over to the shrine and removed the shard. As the shard was removed, there was a flash of light that send Nekomata backwards. When she looked at the shrine, it was glowing dimly, meaning that Raijuu was sealed with in his shrine.
“And that’s what you get for calling me stupid!” said Nekomata as she trotted away.
********************
Meanwhile, Ino and the Fairies were running for their lives while being chased by Yamata. As Yamata drew closer, the trio moved faster.
“I’m too young to die!” screamed Ino.
“I’m too pretty to die!” yelled Isabella.
“Thanks to you guys, I’m now not too deaf to die,” Said Isaac
“Shut up you lazy pile of-” said Isabella and Ino at the same time, but they were cut off.
Yamata grabbed each member of the trio with one of his mouths while they were arguing, thus cutting off their last statement. Yamata danced around with glee as the trio slid down his throats, only to land themselves in his acidy stomach.
“Yes! I win! Let chaos rule! I am invincib-” Said Yamata, but a pain in his stomach made him stop in his tracks.
Yamata’s stomach began to expand as the pain increased. He didn’t know what was going on. He had eaten pixies and humans before, but he never at a fairy. Since he thought he had eaten pixies, he didn’t expect a surge of magical energy to surge within his stomach. As his stomach continued to expand, Yamata yelled out in pain as he exploded.
There were no guts or debris from the explosion. Yamata had managed to seal himself in a newborn child, but did not know how to get out of his new prison. As Ino opened her eyes, she was holding the shard that was in Yamata’s stomach in her palms, and Isaac and Isabella where latched together like they were fused together at the chest.
“What just happened?” asked Ino.
“You tell us!” replied Isabella and Isaac in unison.
Nekomata had just then trotted by with the shard that he got from Raijuu. As she looked around, she could not see Yamata, but did see a shard in Ino’s hands, so she thought that Ino had gotten rid of the thing.
“Alright, now we go east, then we have to cross the sea,” Said Ino commandingly.
After a few days of traveling, the group arrived at Nagoya. The city was bustling with life, with no sign of the beast that they were looking for. As the group explored the town, Ino suddenly fell in a hole. She had a thirty foot drop and landed on a soft pile of straw. She had landed in the chamber of the sacrificial alter of Kaku, the seven-tailed beast.
Isabella, Isaac, and Nekomata joined Ino down in the chamber. As they walked towards the alter, it started to glow. Within minutes, there was a flash of light, but the exact opposite had happened then expected. The group looked down to see a small badger sitting in front of them, whom they thought was Kaku…And they were right
“Beware!” said Kaku in a high pitched voice, “For I am Kaku! The manipulator of clay and all the earth you see before you! Now tremble! Tremble at my power!”
Kaku raised his little arms as he sent a wave of mud at the group. But what seemed like a huge wave to Kaku, only covered up the Ino’s legs, and drenched Nekomata, like a splash of water. Kaku tried this repetitively until he was exhausted and Nekomata was furious.
“You little idiot! My fur is my prized possession!” yelled Nekomata as everyone else stepped backwards
Isaac and Isabella flew forward for only a minute to compare their size to Kaku. Kaku was almost twice their size, and about the size of a small dog. The fairies then flew backwards again as Nekomata uttered a very, very, very low growl.
“This is they guy who cancelled our date!” Yelled Nekomata as sprites started to fly around her.
“Yikes! I but Kaku is in for a world of pain…” though Ino as she backed up.
Kaku started to back up as he tried to get away from Nekomata.
“Listen…Nekomata…Baby…? Wait, I don’t need this! I Kaku shall rid the world of all of you, then use your jewel shards to defeat Kyuubi! Then, Nekomata, you can come crawling back to me.” Said Kaku in his high pitched voice.
“You inconsiderate jerk!” yelled Nekomata as her fur stood up on end.
“Take cover!” yelled Ino, Isaac, and Isabella all at once.
As Ino and the fairies took cover, Nekomata attacked Kaku. When Nekomata attacked, Kaku tried to defend himself by making a clay barrier, but Nekomata just ran right through it with ease. She got close to him, then laughed a bombardment of sprites from her mouth, aimed for Kaku’s head. When Kaku was hit, he want sailing back towards his alter. When he hit his alter, the eighth shard flew out of his fur and landed in front of Nekomata.
“And that’s what you get for making me angry!” yelled the enraged, but quickly cooling, Nekomata.
And soon Kaku was left to himself, way down in his dark hole, with only but an annoying sprite to keep him company as the group made their way to the east sea. Nekomata said that they would have to get to the northern part of the country by water and not by land. Because if they went by land, then the Nine-tailed beast would make his volcanoes erupt around his vast border.
After a week of traveling, they made it to the east sea, but did not see any boats. There were harbors, but no boats. But while Ino was pondering how to find a boat, Nekomata, Isaac and Isabella were whispering to each other in a small little circle. When Ino turned around, they had vanished, which left her even more puzzled.
“Come on guys…No time for fun…Get out here!” yelled Ino as she looked under rocks and up trees.
“Hey Ino! We got a surprise for you!” Said Isaac and Isabella in unison as they poked their heads out of Ino’s hair.
Ino followed Isaac and Isabella as they lead her back to the harbors. Sitting in the water as a large boat that seemed to have appeared out of no where with Nekomata sitting on the edge, pawing for fish. The boat looked as if it were bowered by slaves, because it had ores poking out both sides. As Ino ran down towards the boat, Isaac and Isabella lifted her off the ground and carried her to the boat. When they set her down, Ino was speechless.
“What? How? When?” asked Ino.
“Well,” began Nekomata, “With the use of my sprites, and your little friends’ magic, we made a boat that can get us north bound in a matter of weeks!”
The excited Ino told everyone to start the boat up, so Nekomata just stomped on the floor as the ores moved, with the help of numerous sprites. Isaac and Isabella were floating around, using their fairy dust to keep the boat together and moving swiftly.
After two months of sailing through the East Sea, the boat made it to the most northern part of the country. As the boat slid along the beach and partly on to shore, a ball of fire pierced the middle of the boat, sending thousands and thousands of sprites scattering. The mass movement of sprites carried Ino, Isaac, Isabella, and Nekomata onto the shore and towards a large red mountain with a figure on top.
Nekomata sucked up the sprites as the figure moved and the mountain shot up a pillar of fire. The pillar landed just feet away from the group. And surge of heat threw everyone backwards as the pillar started to disperse.
When the pillar dispersed, stood in its spot stood a large, red fox with nine tails. He was known as Kyuubi, the Nine-tailed beast of Fire. Legend said that Kyuubi’s power was so great, that his physical and spiritual strength were unmatched by any. Thus giving him the Title of “King Bijuu”. Even his own flames were said to, including his ability to summon molten flames from the Earth’s core, react with out him knowing.
Kyuubi grinned as he looked at his intruders. He had not sensed them before, because they had entered his land by water, and not by land which he is accustomed to. His territory was bleak and burned; it was as if he had “purified” the land to his own taste. Looked over each of the four intruders, he could tell that two of them were magical, one was stronger then the rest, and the fourth one was merely human.
“Who dares to intrude on my land?!” bellowed Kyuubi as the ground around the intruders started to heat up.
“AH! It’s Kyuubi! We’re all going to die! … Why didn’t you tell us this was the last guy on the list, Nekomata?!” screamed Isaac and Isabella in unison.
“Well hi, Kyuubi…Remember me?” said Nekomata as she stood up.
“Enough! I asked who you all are!” Yelled Kyuubi as a stream of fire shot across Isaac’s head.
“We have come for the shard that h-has entered y-your land…” Ino stuttered out.
Kyuubi merely laughed as he opened his mouth wide. There was a bright light in the back of his throat. And then the heat came. Kyuubi buckled his head back and threw it forward as he let loose a stream of flames at the intruders, burning them to a crisp on contact, or so he thought.
Nekomata had used some sprites to make doppelgangers of the group, while everyone else headed for Kyuubi’s throne on top of the huge mountain. When Kyuubi’s flames stopped, he saw that he was just firing at some sprites. As he looked around, he saw his targets moving at a fast pace, right for his “throne”.
“He saw us…RUN FOR YOUR EVER LOVING LIVES!” Yelled Isaac as he kicked his wings into high gear while everyone else kicked their speed up a notch.
Kyuubi shot fireball after fireball at the group, but Nekomata always had a sprite ready to black his attack. After twenty minutes of constant fire, the group made it to the top of the mountain, where Kyuubi’s “Throne” was. But Kyuubi was no where to be seen…
Suddenly from the opposite side of the mountain, arose Kyuubi, bursting with anger fueled fire. He did not like the fact that he had been out smarted by a human, mutated cat, and two pixies! Kyuubi bucked back his head with his tired targets in sight and let loose another flow of fire.
“AAAHHHHHHHHH!” yelled Ino.
But when the flames stopped, all that stood there was Nekomata. Isaac, Isabella, Ino, and the Shard the Kyuubi was guarding were no where to be found. Kyuubi was confused and befuddled. He knew that he heard a scream of terror, but there were no bones or even a scorch mark where the body was. Kyuubi growled at Nekomata who darted away quickly, and Kyuubi soon chased afterwards.
When Ino stopped screaming, she opened hr eyes to look around. She saw that she was back in her village, holding the sacred Stone in her hands, with Isaac and Isabella giving each other high-fives.
“What just happened?” asked Ino as Isaac took the stone from her.
“We’ve saved up all of our fairy dust from the trip, and used it to give some of Nekomata’s sprites a super, super charge in magic so we could get home easier” Said Isabella as Isaac put the stone back in it’s place.
With the stone back, the fountain emitted the waterfalls of water again as the color returned to the colorless village. People actually exited their homes to congratulate and lift Ino up off the ground. As Ino looked around, she could see that animals getting better or returning, the field becoming green with fruits, and the sun shining. So in the end, wit the exception of Kyuubi who is said to still be chasing Nekomata to this very day, everybody lived happily ever after.
- Title: The Ultimate Journey
- Artist: Maskawin
- Description: An original story, rotating very loosely on western Fairy tales and the eastern "Bijuu" myths
- Date: 03/21/2009
- Tags: bijuu maskawin long
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Comments (3 Comments)
- x-ChibiSpirit-x - 12/06/2009
- The point when she is being sent to save the lifesource is nonsense. They might blame her for reading the story to the children in such a place and calling the demon out, but saving them would generally be left to someone who was known for hunting or a warrior or a hero. Not a village girl. You need to look into character building and motive building. I'm a feminist, but a girl's fantasy isn't a story.
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- Saii hime - 03/27/2009
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finally,im done reading it..
nice ending..but i'll give u 4 stars... - Report As Spam
- dragonoy16 - 03/21/2009
- a very satisfying read
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