The next morning, Katie felt something sitting on top of her legs, and she slowly opened her eyes to see Jibanyan curled up on her bed, fast asleep.
"…really, Jibanyan?" Katie grumbled, pulling herself up into a sitting position. Whisper appeared before her, smiling brightly as usual.
"Good morning, Ms. Forester! I…see Jibanyan has taking a liking to your bed," he noted, looking down at Jibanyan.
"I thought he went home after we got Dismarelda out of the house! What is he doing here?" Katie wondered, rubbing at her eyes.
"Well, it did start raining last night, perhaps he sought shelter and your home was the closest place there was," Whisper guessed.
"Raining?" Katie repeated, looking outside. The sky was cloudy and gray, rain drizzling from the sky. "…huh. Didn't know it was going to rain today…"
Jibanyan slowly opened his eyes and yawned, stretching. "Morning, Katie!" he greeted.
"…Jibanyan, was there no other shelter for you to go to? I mean, I'm not complaining about having you here, but…" Katie asked.
"Nyope! There's really not a lot of places for cat yokai like me to go if it starts raining!" Jibanyan answered, getting off Katie's legs to let her get out of bed. She sighed as she watched it rain outside.
"It's probably going to rain all day, too…" Katie mumbled before getting dressed and ready for the day. Once she was dressed, she walked over to her desk. The Yokai Medallium sat there, along with the medals she had obtained yesterday.
"Whisper, you can carry the Medallium, right? I'd carry it myself, but I don't think I have any bags for it…" Katie asked.
"Of course! I'm more than happy to carry it! Have you tried putting in any of the medals you've gotten yet?" Whisper said in return.
"Oh, I haven't yet, I'll do that now…" Katie responded. She opened the book to its first page, noticing the indentations in the page. Katie placed the medals in the indentations in the order she obtained the medals: Cadin, Buhu, Jibanyan, Dismarelda, Happierre…
As she put the medals into the page, another page started glowing in the Medallium, and she hurriedly flipped the pages until she was met with a large circle on one page, a faded-looking mark that reminded her of an upturned crescent in the center of it. Surrounding it were eight small circles, three of them lit up with different marks. One was a pink heart, another was a green flower, and the third mark was what seemed to be a purple eye.
"Whisper, is this related to the whole Legendary Yokai thing?" Katie asked, gesturing to the mark before her.
"Indeed it is! It seems three of the yokai you have collected are for breaking one of the seals!" Whisper confirmed, nodding.
Jibanyan clambered onto the desk to look at the Medallium, ears twitching. "Whoa. Wonder who this guy might be!"
"You mean you don't even know who the Legendary Yokai are, Jibanyan?! How old are you?" Whisper questioned.
"Hey, I'm only like a year old in cat years!" Jibanyan protested. "I became a yokai just a few months ago, nyo one's told me about all this legend stuff!"
"Still, someone should have taught you about the Legendary Tribe! They're some of the most important yokai to exist! They've safeguarded the Yokai World and the Human World from countless threats! Like the incident with that emperor becoming a frog yokai while still alive, or that horse that held the souls of those who died in a battle…" Whisper went on.
Jibanyan yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what're we gonnya do today, Katie?" he asked, turning to look at Katie.
"I'm not sure…Nate, Bear, Eddie, and I didn't make any plans for today in particular…I might just walk around town today, maybe look for more yokai?" Katie answered, grabbing a pink raincoat and a pair of boots from her closet and pulling them on. "I'm not going to stay out for too long in the rain, though, I don't want to catch a cold or anything!"
"Understandable!" Whisper responded with a nod.
"Are you going to be okay, Jibanyan? Don't cats hate water?" Katie asked.
"I'll be okay! I'll probably nyeed a warm towel after walking around in the rain, but water doesn't bother me that much!" Jibanyan replied. The three walked downstairs, Katie quick grabbing a breakfast of toast. Her mom was at the table, papers covering nearly half of the surface. She was hurriedly writing something down on one piece of paper.
"Morning, mom!" Katie greeted. "What's going on?"
"Oh, hi honey!" her mom responded, looking up from her work. "I went around town earlier today and grabbed a few applications. A few stores are hiring after all, thank goodness, I just hope one of the stores accepts my application!"
"Good luck, mom! I'm gonna walk around town for a bit!" Katie responded.
"Be careful, dear!" Katie's mom responded as Katie headed out of the house. Hardly anyone was out walking like Katie was, and those who were carried umbrellas of varying colors with them or wore raincoats like Katie herself.
"Alright, so where do yokai normally hang out aside from alleyways?" Katie asked Whisper.
"Wherever humans tend to gather, yokai inevitably show up as well! Let's take a look around!" Whisper encouraged.
Katie began to walk around, boots splashing in puddles as she walked. Jibanyan kept close to Katie, starting to realize how bad of an idea it was to walk in the rain without cover of some sort.
"Will the flames on the ends of your tails go out if you're in the rain for too long?" Katie couldn't help but ask.
"Nyope! I'm nyot like some weak fire-breathing lizard!" Jibanyan boasted. "I can handle an hour or so of rain!"
Katie came to a halt when she heard voices nearby, looking around to spot Nate and Eddie arguing nearby, Bear looking worried as they bickered. The three were all wearing raincoats and rain boots as well.
"I told you, I beat you at Super Bash Sisters fair and square!" Nate protested. "It's not my fault you mis-timed your air special and missed the edge of the platform! You're just awful at the game!"
"Awful!? Who's the one who showed you how to play in the first place?!" Eddie retorted, raising his voice. "You couldn't even beat a level one computer before I taught you how to play!"
"Guys, guys, calm down!" Katie quickly intervened, dashing over. "What's going on?"
Eddie turned to look at Katie, gritting his teeth. "Nate started trash-talking about my skills in Super Bash Sisters Rumble out of nowhere! I don't know what the heck's going on with him!"
"Maybe it's because I'm better at the game than you!" Nate boasted. "You're just jealous at how I beat you without losing a single life!"
"Ohh, that's it!" Eddie yelled, pushing up his sleeves. "I swear, I'm gonna–"
"Hold on a sec, Eddie!" Bear interrupted, standing in front of him. "Maybe this could be the work of a yokai?"
"Crud, I didn't think of that…!" Katie realized, pulling out her watch and scanning the area. The scanner picked up on a small, old lady-looking yokai hanging from Nate's neck, letting go the moment it realized it had been spotted.
"Whisper?!" Katie prompted, looking back at him and the yokai, Jibanyan immediately giving pursuit.
"Ah! That is Tattletell from the Mysterious Tribe! She inspirits people to essentially say to others what they would never normally say otherwise!" Whisper explained as Nate blinked, looking at his friends.
"…what just happened?" he asked, scratching his head.
"You were saying Eddie was awful at Super Bash Sisters Rumble," Bear explained, Eddie watching as Jibanyan chased Tattletell. "And Eddie was about to fight you over it."
"Wait, what?! Oh man, Eddie I'm so sorry!" Nate apologized, eyes widening. "I didn't even realize what I was saying!"
"It's, uh…It's alright, dude?" Eddie responded, still watching Jibanyan chasing Tattletell. "Don't know if insults really count when yokai make you say them."
"Get back here!" Jibanyan meowed as he chased Tattletell. "You won't outrun me!"
"Tell tell tattle-tell!" Tattletell responded, prompting Katie to tilt her head.
"…what did she say?" she asked Whisper.
"She said 'You won't ever catch me, stupid cat', I believe," Whisper answered.
Jibanyan and Tattletell wound up running down the street, prompting the kids to hurry after them. The group eventually wound up in front of the post office, an odd mass of purple energy leaking out of a hole in the ground. Tattletell was practically dancing in front of the energy, eyes wide. Jibanyan's fur stood on end, and he looked at Whisper.
"There's something weird here!" he realized, stepping warily near Katie and the others.
"It's all purple-y…" Nate realized. "This is something yokai related, isn't it?"
"Indeed! To spare you all the boring details, before I was sealed it was discovered energy from the Yokai World leaked into the human world. In an attempt to remedy this, several spots in the human world had to be sealed. It…seems we've found one of these spots," Whisper realized.
"It seems your memory has held up well, Whisper," a slimy-sounding voice commented before a gray snake appeared before them, a fan of some sort on its tail. Whisper reacted in alarm at seeing the snake.
"You…! You're Slitheref! You were a judge under Lord Enma's command! Your colors…what has happened to you?" he asked, raising his voice.
"Enma is dead, and has been for 11 years now," Slitheref responded, grinning. "What a shame you had to get yourself sealed away and miss him by barely over a decade."
"He's dead!?" Whisper gasped. "But…how?! He…He would have only had the throne for barely 300 years! That was nothing compared to his predecessors!"
"Indeed. And what is this, then? Have you actually befriended humans again?" Slitheref asked, slithering around the humans. "And they are rather young, at that…much younger compared to the last human you befriended."
"My past has nothing to do with this!" Whisper argued. "Answer me, who is in charge of the Yokai World now that Lord Enma is gone?"
"Lord McKraken. He has improved the Yokai World since Enma's death…but I am not here to talk politics with a washed-up tactician like you," Slitheref responded.
The ground started to shake beneath Katie's feet, and she gave a frightened yelp as she fell backwards.
"What the…?!" Bear shouted.
"Slitheref, what is McKraken planning?!" Whisper questioned.
"Like I said, I am not here to talk politics with you," Slitheref repeated. "I have much bigger goals in mind, after all."
With that, he disappeared, leaving what looked like a bird dressed in human clothes and his beak buried in a book. Splotches of gray covered him all over.
"Whisper?!" Katie asked, already getting out Happierre and Dismarelda's medals as Jibanyan stood protectively in front of her.
"Th-That is Tengloom! Rank C, Shady Tribe!" Whisper responded. "But he's covered in gray spots…what has happened to him?"
"Rank C, huh? Well, I won't let him win! Let's go, Happierre and Dismarelda!" Katie declared, summoning the two.
"Ah! Mon dieu, the energy from that broken seal…!" Happiere noted.
"What is going on?" Dismarelda questioned Katie and Whisper, turning to look at them. "This is one of those seals…and that Tengloom's not exactly looking like himself."
"Long story, will explain later!" Katie quickly said before Tengloom tossed the book he had at Jibanyan. Jibanyan hissed in pain, glaring at Tengloom.
"I'm gonna rearrange your face! Paws of Fury!" he declared, delivering a flurry of punches to Tengloom. Tengloom simply shielded his face with his book, grunting lightly as Jibanyan's attacks hit the rest of him.
"Whisper, should I get out Cadin and Buhu as well?" Katie asked, grabbing the two medals.
"Unfortunately, you can't summon more than three yokai to fight at a time! Cadin and Buhu will have to be in reserve for later!" Whisper explained.
"What?! Come on, we're facing a C-Rank yokai!" Katie complained, pouting as she gestured to Tengloom.
"I understand, but sadly, the Yokai Watch can only have three yokai out on the field at once. There is not much we can do about it," Whisper added. "Focus on fighting Tengloom for now!"
"Right! Jibanyan, Dismarelda, Happierre, do your best!" Katie cheered, pumping her fist in the air.
"Got it!" Jibanyan meowed. "Let's try knocking that book out of his hands!"
"Right. Pebble…!" Dismarelda declared before summoning a rock the size of Katie's hand and tossing it at Tengloom's book. He gave a surprised grunt when it was knocked clean out of his hands…only for him to pull another book out of nowhere and start reading it.
"…well, that didn't work," Nate noted, wincing.
"Try attacking him at once! We need to wrap this up!" Katie encouraged.
"Then it's time for an All-Out Attack!" Jibanyan declared. "I've been waiting for this! Dismarelda, Happierre, are you guys ready?"
When Dismarelda and Happiere nodded, the three rushed Tengloom, delivering a flurry of attacks.
"Paws of Fury!"
"Body Bash!"
"Squish!"
When the All-Out Attack ended, Tengloom was lying on the ground, knocked out. Slowly, the gray patches on him disappeared, and when they were gone he stood up, looking confused.
"…what was I just doing? I could've sworn I was at the Yokai World…" Tengloom wondered.
"You're in the human world!" Whisper informed. "Do you remember anything?"
Tengloom shook his head. "Not really, aside from Slitheref telling me that Lord McKraken needed me. Anyways…I'm out of here, I don't want my book to get wet."
Tengloom vanished in an instant, and Katie sighed. "Now we just need to take care of this seal! Whisper, how are we going to…"
"Just leave it to me!" Whisper assured before approaching the geyser of energy. He held out his arms and murmured some incantation before the geyser vanished, leaving no trace of it behind.
"That seems too easy to take care of!" Jibanyan meowed in shock.
"It was a lot worse back in the day, but that's a story for another day!" Whisper quickly responded. Tattletell finally calmed down, and looked at the humans in confusion.
"…tell! Tattle tattle tell tell tell!" Tattletell squeaked.
"…translation?" Eddie asked Whisper.
"She said, 'Thank you for getting that energy sealed up! I think it was making me act more mischievous than normal!'" Whisper answered.
Tattletell nodded before handing Katie her medal. "Tell tell! Tattle!" she said before vanishing as well.
"She gave me her medal…huh! Glad I have another yokai on my side, at least!" Katie commented.
The ground shook beneath Katie's feet, and she yelped as she fell again. "Another earthquake?!"
"I-It's coming from the school!" Nate realized. "I see something shining near it, we have to hurry!"
Katie and the others started running toward the school, her yokai following close behind. Everyone skidded to a halt when they saw Slitheref standing in the center of the school grounds.
"It is time for you to be freed from your shackles of the Infinite Inferno, Slimamander of the Shady Tribe!" Slitheref declared. "Break free from your prison, and lay waste to this city!"
A large crest that looked like a laughing face appeared before Slitheref, shortly before it shattered and the ground opened up. Katie's breath caught in her throat as a large creature with what seemed to be three heads climbed out of the gaping hole in the earth, back turned toward her. It was covered in reddish-pink scales, blue slime dripping from it, and when it turned around…there was no face, only three mouths. One mouth licked its lips, while another opened up to reveal a red eye within it.
"Who has freed me from the Infinite Inferno?" it questioned in a deep, thundering voice.
"I, Slitheref of Lord McKraken's aides, did," Slitheref responded. "Slimamander, you were once charged with nearly razing the human world to the ground and sentenced to eternity in the Infinite Inferno…now, it is time for you to resume your purge of the humans! Leave no trace of them behind!"
Slimamander gave a loud laugh. "With pleasure!"
"N-No! We won't let you do that!" Katie shouted.
Slimamander lowered its eye to look at Katie. "Oh? And what is a pathetic little human child like you going to do about it?"
Katie raised the Yokai Watch up. "I'm…I'm going to fight you!" she declared, voice shaking.
Slimamander cackled loudly. "Please, you stupid little girl! You and your pets don't stand a chance!" it sneered.
"We…We need the Legendary Yokai for this!" Whisper pointed out. "Slimamander was one of several yokai that needed the Legendary Yokai to arrest them! Ms. Forester, y-you honestly can't be considering…"
"We've gotta try!" Katie interrupted. "I don't know what things are like in the Yokai World, but I'm guessing they're not going well! We can do this, we can take on Slimamander!"
"But…!" Whisper started before sighing. "…very well, then! I shall support you from the sidelines as always!"
"Right! Jibanyan, Happierre, Dismarelda, let's go!" Katie shouted. The three yokai stood in front of Katie, determined looks on their faces.
"You're gonnya go back to the Infinyate Infernyo where you belong, Slimamander!" Jibanyan declared.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, petit chat!" Happierre reminded. "My Soultimate can only heal you so much!"
"Right, right!" Jibanyan responded, nodding.
"Let's get this over with, I don't want to fight this guy for too long," Dismarelda prompted.
"Aim for the eye!" Whisper shouted as Slimamander closed its mouths. "You're unfortunately going to have to beat up each, ah…mouth to find out which one has the eye, but it's Slimamander's only weak point!"
"Got it!" Jibanyan meowed. "I'll take the one in the middle!"
"Happierre, go for the right! Dismarelda, the left!" Katie ordered. The three yokai split up and started attacking the mouths. Jibanyan yelped when the center mouth opened and breathed a jet of fire at him.
"Wrong mouth, it's nyot the center!" he yowled.
"It's the left!" Dismarelda called as the left mouth open to reveal the eye. Happierre and Jibanyan instantly charged the left mouth, lashing out at it as much as they could.
"Slimamander's not doing much…what's it planning?" Eddie wondered, frowning.
"He's right, Slimamander just seems to be taking the attacks, unless…" Whisper began before gasping. "JIBANYAN! HAPPIERRE! DISMARELDA! GET OUT OF THERE!"
"What?! Why?" Jibanyan shouted.
The three were too slow to react as suddenly, the left mouth closed before opening again, along with the right mouth. Two large jets of fire were spewed at the three, and they were all sent falling to the ground in pain.
"I-I can't move anymore…" Jibanyan gasped.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no…!" Katie gasped. "Jibanyan! You've gotta get up!"
Slimamander laughed. "You have guts, I'll give you that much, but you really shouldn't take on a criminal like this, kiddies!" it boasted. "Especially one like me!"
It started stomping toward Katie and the others, two of its mouths licking hungrily. Katie, Nate, Eddie, and Bear backed away, eyes wide.
"N…No! There has to be something we can do!" Nate cried out. "I don't want to die!"
"That's as far as you go, Slimamander," a voice cut through the air, shortly before what seemed to be a boy dressed in ninja attire and a blue scarf appeared before Katie and the others. He looked up at Slimamander, who recoiled in shock.
"No…you?! You're one of Enma's…" Slimamander snarled.
"You're under arrest for escaping from the Infinite Inferno. Now, are you going to come along quietly, or do I have to drag you back kicking and screaming?" the boy questioned.
Slimamander seemed to bare what little fangs it had before charging at Venoct. Katie shut her eyes and looked away, expecting to hear some awful noise.
"So that's how it is," the boy commented before he shouted, "Eight-Forked Serpent!"
The sound of Slimamander screeching in pain could be heard, and Katie dared to open one eye. To her shock, the scarf had come alive, and was repeatedly striking at Slimamander's center mouth, the eye exposed.
"No! NO! Stop, stop, I'll come along quietly!" Slimamander pleaded.
"Good," the boy responded, roughly. He snapped his fingers, and the ground opened up beneath Slimamander. Several iron chains stretched out of the abyss and grabbed onto it before dragging him back into the ground just as it closed up.
"You…You…!" Slitheref snarled, glaring daggers at the boy yokai. He coolly glanced at Slitheref.
"Slitheref. Living up to quite the opposite of your name, I see," the boy noted. Katie realized then that his scarf was seemingly alive, the ends looking like dragons' heads.
"Venoct! You keep standing in my way!" Slitheref growled before shaking his head and seemingly calming down. "Lord McKraken still desires your…cooperation, you realize."
Venoct snorted. "Tell him I'm still not interested. I suggest you get going before Lord McKraken finds out you failed your mission before you could tell him yourself."
Slitheref hissed at him one last time before vanishing. The rain seemed to go away, and Katie pulled the hood on her raincoat back. "You…You saved us."
Venoct turned to look at the humans. "…you were trying to fight Slimamander, weren't you?" he questioned.
"W-We wanted to stop him! I couldn't just let him burn everything to the ground!" Katie answered.
"And you didn't think for a moment what would happen to your allies if they got hurt?" Venoct asked, glancing at Jibanyan, Happierre, and Dismarelda. "…if I were you, I'd tend to there wounds as soon as possible. Your heart was in the right place, but Slimamander was sealed away for a reason."
"I…I'll tend to their wounds," Katie responded, weakly nodding. "I'm…I'm sorry."
"…don't apologize. Like I said, your heart was in the right place," Venoct repeated. "In any case…I'm Venoct. S-Rank, Slippery tribe."
"It's…It's nice to meet you," Katie greeted. "I'm Katie Foreseter. Er…human."
Venoct looked over the group before nodding. "…in any case, I'm off. Don't do something stupid like that again," he advised before teleporting away.
"He's…not exactly pleasant to be around," Nate noted. "W-We should look after Jibanyan and the others, though…!"
Katie nodded, and she hurried to aid her fallen yokai, gently picking up Jibanyan. "…you did your best, Jibanyan, I'm sorry…"
"I-It's okay, Katie!" Jibanyan responded, raising his head. "Just…let me take a quick catnyap…"
Katie just nodded as soon, Jibanyan was out like a light. Dismarelda and Happierre vanished as well, leaving Katie to carry Jibanyan back home.
–
McKraken glared down at Slitheref, who was cowering before him. "So Venoct supposedly felled Slimamander in one blow? After I told you to make sure he wasn't in the area?!"
"L-Lord McKraken, I'm sorry, it was a mistake!" Slitheref apologized. "It won't happen again, I promise you!"
"Bah! You'll get your second shot soon enough," McKraken responded, bitterly. "For now, however…Sir Berus!"
A grayed-out dog with two human heads appeared before McKraken, kneeling. "What is it, my lord?" one head asked.
"Are preparations in place for you to unleash Sproink?" McKraken asked.
"They are, my lord. Do you wish for us to summon him soon?" the first head asked.
"Yes! Show the human world the power of Sproink!" McKraken shouted. The second head started barking loudly in response, and McKraken sighed. "…okay, that one was on me. Now, go and prepare to unleash Sproink on the world!"
"With pleasure, sir," Sir Berus responded before teleporting away.