Another self-imposed deadline I just BARELY made on time. Phew. Hope you guys didn't think I'd abandoned the project! Enjoy the longest chapter I've ever written.
The void.
That is what the strange world Meramelion was in felt like. It certainly wasn't the world he knew. There was no sound. The rain had come to a dead stop. Not even the slightest breeze glanced his cheeks. The stillness made his chest seize.
Mera uneasily plodded towards the lake, which could be reached by walking around the short cliff on which he had found his adversary standing while the forest was still teeming with life. Upon his arrival, he gently moved his hand along the foliage springing up from the ground. It was unusually dry, wilted, and withered. The river connected to the pond was barely flowing. The dark silhouettes of fish hovered in place, making not so much as a small ripple on the surface of the water.
The feline turned to the pond. It was full from the rain, but murky and eerily still. He leaned over and looked at his reflection, which was almost like a shadow given the color of the water. He was slightly shocked by the bruised, bloodied, weary-looking face staring back at him. He could barely believe it was him. But ultimately, it would not matter—being a Yo-kai, minor injuries often healed at a faster rate than those of a human. That fact, however, did little to comfort him, as it did nothing about the problem at hand. He was alone in a strangely warped world, plagued with regret and pain.
...But was he truly alone?
As fast as he could manage, he darted back to where he came from. Jinmenken was still there lying face first on the grass. Mera knelt down over his rival. The poodle's figure rose and fell steadily with each breath. So he wasn't dead—just a few minutes ago, Mera deducted, that would've been a good thing to him. But suddenly, it was different.
Mera nudged Jinmenken's torso. No response. He tried again. Nothing. He let out a frustrated grunt as he placed his hand on the other's back and shook him. Mera heard a pained grunt, muffled by the ground yet still sharp. Mera, perhaps a bit too relieved at the prospect of another conscious soul, rolled him over onto his back, not quite gently enough. Mera winced at the brief cry let out by Jinmenken. The canine blinked rapidly. His world was still spinning. The pain hadn't dulled at all, and it wouldn't for a while due to his body being half-organic. Yet still, almost on instinct, he bared his teeth and growled when his enemy's face came into focus. But Mera remained unprovoked by the threatening gesture, and Jinmenken, noticing an oddly somber look in Mera's eyes, reluctantly stopped growling and muttered through gritted teeth:
"...What?"
Mera stared into Jinmenken's pupils. "Get up."
The canine blinked.
Mera sighed. "Didn't you hear me? You've gotta get up."
Jinmenken's eyes narrowed. "Weren't we just tryin' to kill each other or something?"
"...Maybe." Mera shrugged stood up, then extended his arm.
"You can't be serious." Jinmenken said flatly.
"Come on," Mera whined, clearly not in the mood for more debating.
Jinmenken mumbled something under his breath and reluctantly reached up, letting Mera grip his uninjured paw. He yelped when the lion Yo-kai jerked.
"Shit! Will you relax? I can barely move..."
"Sorry," Mera mumbled, deciding to bend down and help the canine sit up instead. After a few painful minutes of struggling to get Jinmenken in a standing position, he finally got him on two legs, albeit barely. Mera still supported him by the abdomen.
"So," Jinmenken started, his voice still shaky, "what's with the attitude change?"
"...You're welcome."
"I'm supposed to thank you?" Jinmenken raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you the one that did this to me in the first place? God, I feel like my insides are screaming at me."
Mera's expression was stern. "Look around."
Jinmenken did so, even though it hurt slightly just to turn his head. He did take note of the strangely quiet atmosphere, but wasn't quite sure why Mera seemed so worried about it.
"...So?"
"So? Are you so utterly dead inside that you can't notice when the rest of the world is devoid of life?"
Jinmenken clicked his tongue. "Yeah, probably," he deadpanned.
Mera groaned. "Listen, I know this is sudden and all, but I took a look around and I think something really bad happened when we were fighting. That weird blast..."
"Were fighting?" Jinmenken interrupted "You mean we're not still fighting? Because if I wasn't in immense pain, I'd be down to keep going..."
"Well, that's not what's important right now!" Mera snapped. "We've got to make sure everything is alright! Here you go with the selfishness again..."
"Didn't we just get done establishing that you're the self-righteous brat around here?"
"I am not—" Mera paused mid-sentence and shook his head rapidly. "No. I'm not feeding into this." He took a deep breath and jerked his head towards the south.
"I think we should go back to the city and check up on everyone."
Jinmenken rolled his eyes. "In case I haven't said it enough, I can't move."
Mera was not in the mood for this. He began to let Jinmenken back down.
"Then you can stay here," the feline said.
"Hey, wait a m—!" Jinmenken gently hit the ground again, this time flat on his belly, compressing his already aching lungs. "Ow," he muttered.
Mera had already started stomping off towards town. Jinmenken lifted his head up to the best of his ability.
"I still think you're overreacting. Why should we drop everything we're doing for something we know nothing about?"
Mera stopped. He didn't even turn around before he spoke:
"Wasn't Otonabull running around by himself just now?"
"Yeah? And—" Jinmenken's rebuttal evaporated as he realized what Mera meant. Jinmenken was feeling guilty about his treatment of the little one, but he was so absorbed in his anger and thirst for vengeance that he had repressed those feelings. But now, if something happened to him...Jinmenken's stomach churned. Mera knew just how to get to him. Clever little shit, he is...
"So you're coming now, right?" Mera asked urgently, turning to face him.
"I never said—" Jinmenken began, but there was that look again, that determined stare of Mera's that shone with the light of a thousand suns, imploring—no, demanding—for one to listen to him. Jinmenken had ignored it many times before, but this time...
The human-faced dog sighed defeatedly. His knees buckled as he painfully forced himself onto all fours, practically dragging himself along the ground as he approached Mera.
"Fine. Let's get this over with," he grunted, looking up at Mera from on the ground, swaying a bit as he tried to stay upwards.
The lion raised an eyebrow.
"...What? You want me to get on my feet again after it took us ten years the last time?" Jinmenken pointed out.
Mera shrugged one shoulder, accepting this response, and kept on moving forward. Jinmenken soon trudged behind him.
This, the two would soon find out, was the beginning of a very long night.
Uptown Sakura wasn't very far from Oomori Yama, but Jinmenken's condition made the distance seem at least four times longer. Mera's soreness was already subsiding, but his rival's still was not, and he made sure to complain about it every five seconds. It slowed them down significantly, and Mera wasn't sure how he made it the whole way without running ahead and making Jinmenken eat his dust. Finally, the two made it to the north end of uptown, with the nearest Yoroz Mart and the Sakura community center within eyesight.
The scene in front of them was chilling. The streets were bare to the bone; not even a small creature roamed them, and just like on the mountaintop, the wind had stopped, leaving the duo surrounded in utter emptiness. Mera was petrified, immobilized by the creepiness of it all, but Jinmenken took an uneasy step forward and squinted. He lifted a paw off the ground pointed towards a lamppost in the distance.
"There's a person there, I think…" he noted. Mera followed his gesture and saw the distant figure of a human, seemingly leaning their back against the lamppost. Mera was relieved to see another living thing. He cupped his hands around his mouth.
"Hello?" he called out, to no avail. Jinmenken snorted.
"He can't hear you, dumbass," he spat.
"...Right. I knew that," Mera retaliated. "Let's just head over."
And so they plodded forward towards the lamppost. Once there, they stood in front of the person and took a good look at them. They appeared to be a young man, perhaps in his late teens, with scraggly black hair and a pointed chin. He was also wearing a dark black tee with a faded design, presumably some sort of emblem. His head was tilted up, looking towards the sky aimlessly, his eyes dull and inexpressive. It was then that Mera noticed something about this man. He looked strangely familiar.
"Wait…" Mera pondered, "isn't this the guy from that day?"
"What?" Jinmenken quizzed.
"A few weeks ago, when you bumped into that girl right around here...this is the guy that came and saved her, right?"
Jinmenken was wordless for a second. "...Hell if I remember."
"You don't remember?" Mera gibed, "No wonder you keep getting arrested, if you can't remember your own mistakes…"
"That's not what I meant! I mean I don't remember the guy!" Jinmenken snapped. "Look, this whole 'teaming up to solve the mystery' thing isn't gonna work if you take every available opportunity to shame me, so quit it, alright?"
"Fine, fine, sorry. I won't do it anymore."
"Promise?"
"Promise," Mera affirmed.
"Cross your heart."
"We don't have time for this, dang it!" Mera groaned. He turned back towards the human and noticed the purple aura surrounding him. Possession aura...yet, for some reason, the tint was much deeper than that of a normal possession. Mera frowned and waved his hand in front of the boy's face. He didn't budge.
"Do you just forget you're invisible sometimes?" Jinmenken said. He looked up at the human from the ground.
"Hey! Earth to kid!" he barked. No response. He growled frustratedly. And tugged on the person's pants leg with his teeth.
"Respond when your elders speak to you!" he grunted through his teeth. Finally, the human tilted his head downwards slowly, like an old machine starting up for the first time in years. His dead expression did not change, but it was a start. Jinmenken let go of his pants.
"Finally! Okay, so, what's going on in that head of yours?"
For a few alarming seconds, the human was silent, and the two feared he would stay unresponsive. At last, his lips parted ever so slightly.
"Nothing," the human whispered, his tenor voice sounding monotone. It gave Mera goosebumps, but Jinmenken was not fazed.
"Could you maybe say that again?" the canine requested, lifting up a floppy ear.
"Nothing," the human repeated, tone unchanging.
"Okay, say something else."
"Something else." Jinmenken narrowed his eyes and put on a comically perplexed frown. "Is this some sort of game to you? Do I look like I want to deal with this shit?"
The boy didn't so much as blink at him. He simply tilted his head to the side ever so slightly, looking away from his interrogator.
"You know what? Screw this," Jinmenken sighed and began to turn around. Mera reached out and grabbed him by the fluff of his neck.
"What?" Jinmenken grunted.
"Ask him to lay in the road."
Jinmenken raised both eyebrows. "Uh, did I hit you too hard in the head before or something?"
"I have a theory about what might be going on. Just do it," Mera instructed.
"You're serious about this?"
"Yes!" Mera shouted.
Jinmenken muttered something under his breath about "kids these days" and did what he was told. Shockingly, the boy complied. He trudged over to the middle of the road and languidly lied down on his back, splaying his limbs out. Once he was on the ground, he remained still.
"...Okay." Jinmenken said flatly.
Mera clenched his fists at his side. "Just what I thought."
"And that is?"
"If this person had any sense of judgement, he wouldn't have done that, right? This...possession, I guess...is making him unable to make his own decisions. Or showcase any emotion at all besides apathy."
"And what made you arrive at that conclusion?"
"The way he responded to you...he did literally whatever you told him."
"So like some sort of robot?"
"Exactly! Well, not exactly. I know multiple robots that would probably take offense to that."
"Yeah, whatever. So what you're saying is that this is some weird ass stuff."
"If you want to put it that way." Mera looked southward into the distance.
"I think we should start heading downtown. That's where the others should be…"
"You think this affected Yo-kai too?"
"Well, why wouldn't it?"
Jinmenken rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Maybe because we're Yo-kai and we're standing here talking right now?"
"Good point…" Mera's heart lifted ever so slightly. Maybe there was hope that his friends and family were okay—and if Yo-kai were unaffected, it would be much easier to get to the bottom of things.
"We'd better go make sure, then," Mera declared, a hint of eagerness in his voice. Before even checking with his partner, he started off.
"Wait, we're walking all that way?" Jinmenken groaned.
"Suck it up, already!" Mera called, already a good couple of dozen feet away from him.
"Hey, slow it down!" Jinmenken began to limp after him, but abruptly turned back towards the boy, still on the ground.
"You can get up now. And by the way, I guess you're not listening, but...sorry. About that one time, I mean."
The human apparently only registered the first part, as he slowly sat himself up and almost mechanically rose and stood motionless in the middle of the road.
"...Okay. Yeah, see ya." Jinmenken muttered, then turned back around, screaming after Mera to wait for him.
The trek downtown was arduous and painful—literally for Jinmenken, figuratively for Mera. Along the way they noticed multiple people standing around motionless, similarly to the boy from before. Mera winced and had to look away each time. This was still so unnatural to him, and if it weren't for his concern over his loved ones, it might have been enough to scare him from going further. But Mera knew people were counting on him, and so he pressed onwards as he always had. He wasn't sure what Jinmenken was feeling, but every time he turned around to check on him, he was staring at the ground as he walked. Was he just as worried as Mera was? If he was, he surely wouldn't admit it.
After their uncomfortably silent walk, the two finally passed over a green crosswalk and noticed the central station standing tall in the distance. They were finally downtown. Usually, the area was much busier than uptown, but now it was just as empty. Not even a single car rolled down the street.
"So where to now?" Jinmenken asked, breaking the silence for the first time since they left the young man.
"My house, I suppose. Gula shouldn't have left." His expression suddenly became solemn. "...Unless he went out looking for me."
"Well, it's not like we know that for sure. And maybe if we're lucky…" There was a pause.
"What?" Mera urged.
"...Forget it. I don't ever get lucky." Jinmenken shook his head and started onwards. Mera followed, perplexed—until he finally got it a few seconds later.
"Oh, I see. You're hoping Otonabull went home, right?"
"No comment," Jinmenken murmured.
A smile danced on Mera's lips. "I knew you were still thinking about it. I guess I did the right thing by reminding you. And here I thought you were completely uncari—"
"Ah!" Jinmenken interrupted, whipping his head around. "What did we agree on?"
Mera sighed. "I was gonna compliment him. Jerk," he muttered under his breath.
The duo continued noiselessly, passing by the station as they headed for Mera's house. Not far from the station was Mogmog Burger, downtown's most popular fast food joint. As they were passing the restaurant by, Jinmenken paused.
"What's the matter?" Mera asked.
"Shush," Jinmenken ordered, left ear raised. Mera did so and picked up the delicate sound of squeaking from somewhere nearby.
"What is that…?" Jinmenken whispered. Mera took a look around and gasped when his eyes fell on the Mogmog parking lot. A pudgy, white figure was waddling in circles around the lot. Two unmistakable blue eyebrows shone like guiding beacons of light, cluing Mera in instantly.
"Komasan!" Mera yelled, immediately dashing off towards Mogmog. Both of Jinmenken's ears flew up in shock.
"What?" The canine exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and dread. After what had happened the other day, he was not exactly looking forward to seeing the komainu again. However, he was rather curious about whether or not he had been affected by the strange occurrences, so he prayed things wouldn't be awkward and followed Mera.
Mera's heart sank when he caught the shrine guardian's eye. His pupils, normally wide and filled to the brim with curiosity, were contracted and his mouth was curved down in a perpetual frown. Mera stepped in front of him, but Komasan didn't even register his presence and walked straight into him before rebounding and finally stopping a couple of inches away from his face. He stared for a minute, then turned around to walk the other way, but Mera put both hands on his shoulders and turned him around again.
"Komasan! Come on, say something, please!"
Komasan cocked his head slightly. "Something, please."
Mera stomped his foot in anger. "Dang it! Not you, too!"
Jinmenken arrived at that moment and let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He wasn't sure whether to be relieved that he wouldn't need to talk to Komasan or feel defeated due to the fact that Yo-kai had been affected after all.
"No, no, no…" Mera shook his head, still clutching to the komainu's shoulders. "This can't be happening."
"Why do you think he was out here to begin with?" Jinmenken asked, eager to change the subject.
"I don't know…" Mera replied, looking deep into Komasan's eyes. "Komasan...do you remember…?"
Komasan simply blinked a couple of times, then continued to stand there doing nothing.
"Ugh!" Mera cried, so irritated that he pushed Komasan away without thinking. The white one stumbled a bit, but regained his balance and remained rooted in place, staring at Mera lifelessly. He didn't even turn around as the blazing Yo-kai headed back towards the road, his head down, fighting back tears.
"Let's go, poophead," Mera mumbled, "I don't wanna look at him anymore."
Jinmenken glowered at the lion, but followed after him anyway. "So is that it?"
"I mean, I guess we should still go to the house since we don't have any other plans. But Gula is probably…" Mera stopped. It would ache too much to say it out loud.
Jinmenken didn't respond. He felt like he should say something, but being comforting was definitely not his strong suit—especially when the person he was supposed to be comforting had tried to kill him on multiple occasions. He decided it wasn't worth the effort and turned his head to take one last look at Komasan, who had resumed pacing around the parking lot. He sighed sadly. It sort of reminded him of how he would occasionally roam around aimlessly as well during his depressive periods, moving towards nothing and away from nothing, his mind consumed by numbness and thoughts of worthlessness. He wondered if people looked at him the way he was looking at Komasan now.
He wondered if people would ever be able to care again.
As soon as Mera and Jinmenken had for sure left Mogmog behind, a shadowy mass emerged from a nearby tree. The figure of a certain ninja-like Yo-kai formed out of the blackness, eyes narrowed. They made a low whistle as the figures of their adversaries faded into the distance as they walked along.
"Boy, oh boy," Kaimu muttered in a tone sharper than the shuriken they carried, "the boss is gonna love hearing about this."
It wasn't much longer until the feline and canine duo were standing on the sidewalk parallel to Mera's—and formerly Jinmenken's—home. Though the house itself hadn't changed at all in the last couple of hours, the dread clouding Mera's mind made it feel like a different place to him. He and his companion both took tentative steps forward, but Mera stopped suddenly as Jinmenken kept going. Jinmenken halted and turned around with a puzzled look when he noticed the other's footsteps could no longer be heard.
"Well? What's the hold-up now?"
"I...I can't do it."
"Say what?"
Mera balled his fists and bit down on his cheek. "I don't wanna risk having to look at my brother while he's a...a zombie. It wouldn't feel—"
"Oh no you don't," Jinmenken butted in, sounding rather miffed, "we came all this way. I'm hurtin'. You can't tell me it was for nothing."
"It wasn't for nothing. I only just now changed my mind. Besides, we discovered something pretty important on the way, didn't we?"
Mera let out a sigh. "It's just...it would hurt too much to see Gula...like that." He gulped down tears, determined to not break down in front of his rival. "I'm sorry. There's gotta be another place we can go."
Jinmenken huffed frustratedly. "Well, you'd better start thinking, then, because I've got nothing."
Upon noticing that a sharp-tongued remark about his inconsiderate nature wasn't spat back at him, Jinmenken raised an eyebrow.
"You know, it sure is weird seeing you be the pessimist..."
Mera was about to retort, but before he could, a throaty, very quiet voice came from behind him:
"Did somebody say 'pessimist'...?"
Mera whipped around and jumped back instinctively, Jinmenken shrinking a bit behind him. Before them floated a mosquito-like creature with a black and purple striped hoodie draped over it, covering most of its face except for its downtrodden-looking eyes and long, needle-like nose.
"Who are you?" Mera asked, slightly defensive.
"They call me Negativoon...not that it matters," the creature buzzed flatly.
"Negativoon..." Mera mused. "Oh, wait! I remember you! I was summoned to fight you off once, right?"
Negativoon gave what appeared to be a shrug. "Can't say I remember you. But most things that happen in my life elude my memory after a while...so no hard feelings. I guess."
"Okay. Uh, thanks," Mera replied with half a smile.
"Wait a second!" Jinmenken blurted out, coming out from behind Mera, "You're talking normally. Are you...not possessed?"
Negativoon nodded. "I suppose so. And in seeing the two of you here, I reached the same conclusion regarding you."
Mera's mouth hung open. "So...so some Yo-kai really are free?"
"Seems that way," the insect Yo-kai replied. "Not that I'm sure what it is we're free from to begin with."
Jinmenken grimaced. "Well, great. That helps."
The mosquito's eyelids drooped a bit. "Well, my apologies for not being of much assistance to you. To be honest, I'm not sure what you were expecting from someone like me." He let out a sad chuckle. "In fact, I'm so worthless, I probably wouldn't have changed much at all had I been inflicted..."
"Don't say that about yourself," Mera said emphatically. Suddenly, the young lion's eyes lit up.
"Wait. This made me think of something." He gestured towards Jinmenken.
"This guy here is a lot like you, right? With the extreme negativity and stuff."
"I guess he forgot about what just went down two minutes ago," Jinmenken grumbled quietly.
Negativoon hummed. "I don't know him, but I'll take your word for it."
"Well, this might sound a bit crazy...maybe a lot crazy," Mera explained, "but hear me out. What if you two weren't affected because you're already...well, dead inside, for lack of a better word."
The other two Yo-kai exchanged glances. Jinmenken opened his mouth first.
"That could be, but that doesn't really explain how you avoided it."
"Do you mean he is not part of our little 'dead inside' club?" Negativoon asked.
"Heck no," Jinmenken answered. "I mean, not normally."
Mera rubbed his chin. "I guess you've got a point...well, it was worth a shot."
"Well," Negativoon offered, "even though I'm useless, I suppose that since we're in a similar boat, I'd be willing to hel—"
Suddenly, the insect's pupils shrank. Mera cocked his head.
"What's the matter?"
"U-uh...on second thought, I'll catch up with you later." Negativoon frantically turned around and flew away before Mera could even hold out a hand to stop him.
"What the...?"
A sudden shrill came out from next to Mera, and he jumped. The next thing he knew, Jinmenken was scuttling around to the other side of him, where Negativoon was before.
"What?!" Mera exclaimed. Jinmenken simply raised a shaky arm and pointed in front of him. Mera turned around slowly.
Before the two of them, standing only two yards or so away, menaced a scroll-shaped creature with piercing yellow eyes, shuriken drawn and back hunched, ready to strike. Mera gasped and instinctively put his fists up. The figure cackled eerily.
"At long last...we finally meet face to face. Too bad it had to be under these circumstances..."
"What does that mean?" Mera exasperated, voice cracking a bit. "Who are you?!"
"Wouldn't you like to know..." The figure began to inch closer, gliding along the floor.
Jinmenken tugged on Mera's red belt. "What are you doing?! Run, damn it!"
Mera paid the canine no mind and stood rooted to his spot, fists aflame. Jinmenken groaned loudly.
"Fine! Get yourself killed!" Jinmenken faced the other direction. "I'm ou—"
Jinmenken was silenced when he noticed the darkish avian, neck craned and wings spread threateningly, standing just a few feet away from him. He shrieked, almost knocking Mera over with the force with which he backed up into him. The lion tried to get a look at what Jinmenken was reacting to through his peripheral vision, but wouldn't dare face away from the ninja.
"Y-you!" Jinmenken sputtered. The avian clucked mockingly.
"Oh, so you remember me, hoo~! How nice to see you-hoo again…"
Jinmenken, teeth chattering, couldn't respond. Mera clenched his jaw and let out a low growl. The ninja simply laughed it off.
"Check it out. The lion cub thinks he can threaten us, Shini."
"Yes, Kaimu...it's adorable, hoo~" the bird jeered.
Mera refused to look intimidated. He tilted his head slightly towards his ally.
"Jinmenken, we've got to fight," he whispered sharply.
The poodle shook his head. "No way. No way in hell. The bird guy is strong enough to be ranked A, minimum."
"But we can't do nothing!"
"We're not gonna do nothing. We're gonna find an opening and make a break for it."
"What are you, a coward?!"
"Yes."
"Are you two done yet?" Kaimu interrupted. "Yeesh, if I didn't know you guys, I'd think you were an old married couple. Oh, well…that's just made it easier for us."
Kaimu suddenly vanished, and Mera let out a yelp. He began to look about frantically
"Where—"
He was stopped by the sound of a crow-like caw from behind him. Shinigamidori leapt high into the air and hovered directly above Mera and Jinmenken. It then clapped its wings together, sending a crescent-shaped, cutter-like blast at the two of them, forcing them to dodge by diving in opposite directions. With the two now separated, Shinigamidori swooped towards Jinmenken.
Mera had only just picked himself up when he heard a yell. He quickly changed direction only to witness that Jinmenken had already been snatched by the bird's talons. The clawed toes were tightly gripping both of his arms, and he couldn't do much about it besides kick his legs helplessly. Mera reared his flaming fist and charged, aiming to strike the bird in its exposed stomach, but screeched to a stop when Kaimu materialized in front of him. Before he could so much as yell, a sudden pain emerged in his head and stars eclipsed his vision. Kaimu had delivered a swift, practiced chop to his forehead, sending Mera to the ground, and the back of his head hit concrete. The lion was knocked out instantly. Kaimu pulled out a conveniently-sized body bag and stuffed Mera inside.
"I'd kill him now, but I really think the boss should have the satisfaction," Kaimu said. "Don't you think so, Shini?"
Their companion nodded in agreement. "And doggy here might get to watch it live before we do it to him! How nice, hoo~"
Jinmenken gulped. "Yeah. Can't wait."
"Shut it, ugly," Kaimu sneered. They and Shinigamidori then started to dash away from Mera's house, both lion and dog in tow.
Between the lingering headache from his fight with Mera and the overwhelming fear, it took Jinmenken strength he wasn't even sure he had to not faint.
When Mera finally came to, he briefly thought he had died again and had been rebirthed as a fetus in the womb. He was in an awkward position, everything was dark, and he could hear muffled voices coming from the outside. It wasn't until he recognized the voice of that ninja-like Yo-kai that everything came back to him. The fight with Jinmenken. The turning point. Then another fight. He figured he must have been defeated by one of those shady Yo-kai, though he didn't remember how. It didn't matter now, however—he had to get out of whatever he was in. He had to figure out what was going on.
Meanwhile, Jinmenken was still being held in Shinigamidori's talons. He had been suspended for so long that he had lost feeling in his arms, but that barely even crossed his mind. His mind was racing with thoughts of fear and confusion as he stared at the two new figures in front of him—a black pegasus with eyes the color of a cloudless, midday sky and an ivory demon with arms crossed and a crazed look on his face. Their glares were so powerful that the canine just couldn't look away, and he wouldn't dare fidget. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was so paralyzed that his jaw was just hanging there agape. The demon and the pegasus cackled simultaneously.
"Boy," laughed the pegasus, "if we didn't have to keep this a secret, this face would definitely be going on Snapchat."
The demon nodded. "I expected him to be pathetic, but this is just ridiculous."
The jeering was interrupted by the sound of something thrashing around inside the body bag, which was now on the floor to the far left of Jinmenken. Muffled growling could also be heard. The demon rolled his eyes so hard that they almost disappeared into his eye sockets.
"Release him, Kaimu."
The ninja, who was standing next to the body bag, saluted. They then picked up the bag, swiftly untied it, and turned it over, dumping Mera out onto the floor. He let out a grunt of surprise and pain as he hit the hard floor face first. He forced himself off the ground quickly, clutching his nose with his hand but still trying to menace the figures in front of him as effectively as possible.
"Who...who are you?" Mera hissed. "Where have you taken us?"
The demon sighed. "Should I bother?"
The pegasus snorted. "Go ahead. Humor them. It's unfortunate we don't have popcorn."
The demon smirked. "Then I shall start from the beginning. You can call me Yamimaro."
Yamimaro waved a hand towards the pegasus. "This is Uma. He's an ass."
Uma whinnied and flashed a toothy grin. "Quite literally, might I add."
"And," Yamimaro continued, "I suppose you're already familiar with Kaimu and Shinigamidori."
The two Yo-kai in question nodded curtly. Mera grit his teeth. Jinmenken shuddered.
"Together," Yamimaro explained, "the four of us had a mutual goal—to collect an incredibly large supply of negative energy hidden inside Yo-kai from as many different Yo-kai as possible. Yo-kai have an innate ability to sense and manipulate the emotional energy within every living thing—which I'm sure you knew, of course, since you're Yo-kai yourselves. However, only particularly clever and/or powerful ones can take advantage of this—as we did, using technology, intricate planning, and behind-the-scenes work over the course of a very long time. By causing someone to become angered or deeply saddened, we could extract a particularly powerful sort of negative energy. Yo-kai have even stronger emotional energy than humans, and said energy is strengthened when exposed to the energy of others—all emotions are stronger when influenced by others, after all. This is why we needed energy from multiple Yo-kai instead of just milking one target."
Mera opened his mouth, but Yamimaro held out a hand to silence him. "I know what your next question is. What did we need all that negative energy for? It's quite simple, really. Kaimu told me that you've already witnessed the effect of what unleashing all of our gathered energy into the world—it overwhelms the system of anything it hits, causing their minds to become so enveloped in negativity that their minds and emotions become totally numb. With everything that has a life force under our complete control, Sakura New Town is ours. They'll do anything we tell them to since they have no sense of their own. And with the help of our new army of humans, Yo-kai, and everything in between, we'll conquer the world!" Yamimaro guffawed maniacally, Uma soon joining in. Mera could feel the blood boiling in his veins.
"You're sick!" the lion spat, but the cackling of his adversaries did not cease, drowning out his voice.
"And this isn't even the good part!" Uma exclaimed, his laughter finally calming down.
"That's right," Yamimaro said, catching his breath. "You see, I ought to thank you two buffoons. If it weren't for your rather explosive attitudes, we wouldn't have made it this far.
"You see, I had spent a long time researching Yo-kai with the strongest emotions—ones I knew I had to extract energy from. As it turns out, the single Yo-kai with more passion flowing through his veins than any other…" Yamimaro pointed towards Mera— "is you, Meramelion.
"But I knew from the time I heard about you that I would have to save you for last, when we had extracted from almost every other Yo-kai in Sakura New Town. Because, much to my chagrin, you seem to have a history of not succumbing to negative possessions. Even natural emotional upsets are incredibly rare for you, as far as I could tell. But I needed your energy. It would strengthen the effect of our plan by at least five times. What I needed, then, was another particularly powerful Yo-kai, but a different sort of powerful. A Yo-kai infamous for being notoriously downcast, totally unappealing, infuriatingly self-centered and not at all afraid to break the law to get what he wants...basically, your polar opposite."
Jinmenken's face went ashen, and Yamimaro noticed. The demon chuckled.
"That's right. You, dear Jinmenken, are what we've been calling our catalyst. Your purpose in all of this has been to aggravate Meramelion and push him beyond his emotional limits—so much so that he would finally produce that sweet, sweet negative energy."
"Wait a minute," Mera blurted, "what you're saying is...this was all set up. Him coming to live in my house. Us fighting. Everyone that was hurt in the process. Everything…" the lion clenched his fist. Every muscle in his body trembled.
"...it was all because of you."
"Dramatic, are we?" Uma sniggered. Yamimaro grinned.
"You're absolutely correct. We—or rather, good ol' Shini—forced Jinmenken to leave his home, then directed him with a gust of wind towards your brother, whom we did quite a bit of research about as well. And then, well, the rest unfolded by itself. We've been watching you this entire time, and ushered things along when we needed to—Shini attacked that street stand, for example—but for the most part, all we really did was set the scene. The rest? That was all you, boys. I must commend both of you for your annoying stubbornness."
Jinmenken was silent. There was nothing he could say—his brain was so discombobulated after all of the information he was just given that all that would come out would likely be incoherent babbling. But Mera did the talking for him.
"There's no way." the lion stammered, "All of those exact details...you couldn't have made them all work."
"Oh, but we did," Yamimaro replied confidently. "It took us months and a bit of external help, but we did."
Jinmenken raised an eyebrow. External help? For some reason, he could recall thinking that someone he was talking to recently was suspicious, but he couldn't remember who. He brushed the thought aside—perhaps he had taken a few too many blows to the head.
"So, now that we've finally got that out of the way…" Yamimaro started, this time in more of a threatening tone—like he was about to unleash news that Mera and Jinmenken definitely didn't want to hear.
"I'm assuming you have figured out by now that the two of you are, for some reason, immune to the effects of the energy wave. This certainly wasn't a part of the plan, and we would have loved to have you on our side...but alas, I suppose something had to go wrong with our perfect setup. Oh, well. We'll make do…"
Yamimaro and Uma, who hadn't moved from the same spot since Mera and Jinmenken were brought in, began slowly hovering forward.
"It sure is a good thing Kaimu happened to notice you while they were making sure everything went smoothly," Uma said, "because we can't afford to have 'unaffecteds' running around. Oh, no."
Mera, knowing where this was going, instinctively backed up. Kaimu quickly sunk into the ground and popped back up behind Mera, putting their shuriken so close to his neck that he could feel the blade brush his fur. Uma and Yamimaro continued their approach; Yamimaro brandished his staff as it began to glow and a magenta-colored aura formed around Uma. Mera's heart drummed against his chest as he realized that he was experiencing the one emotion he hadn't yet felt that day—terror.
"Since Jinmenken has been such a good pawn for us," Yamimaro said, "he gets to watch us drain the life and soul out of his rival before we do it to him. Good times will be had by all!" Yamimaro's pitch rose on the last sentence.
Jinmenken broke out into a cold sweat. The rock in the pit of his stomach had grown so large, he thought it would crush his insides. He felt pathetic. He had been toyed with, horribly depressed, and beaten up multiple times over the course of the last few weeks of his life. Now he was going to die. Part of him wished it was him that was first to go—after all, the thought that he would've liked to see Mera die just a few short hours ago made him even sicker now that he knew what was really going on. As he watched Yamimaro thrust his staff into the air, ready to strike at any moment, the words were already hitched in his throat, ready to emerge at any moment—he would ask to be killed first. He would beg to be killed first.
By some miracle, something did emerge from his mouth—but it wasn't a desperate plea. It was fire, a bowling ball-sized glob of bright red flame, and it miraculously found its way towards Kaimu.
The ninja Yo-kai yelped at the burning sensation, dropping their weapon and grip on Mera as they instinctively faded into the floor in an attempt to snuff out the flame—being thin and paper-like, fire was devastating for them. Mera was shocked, but didn't hesitate—he lifted the shuriken, which despite being the size of his whole head wasn't too difficult, and with a grunt of effort flung it towards Yamimaro and Uma, forcing them to fly backwards and out of the way.
Mera wasted no time in leaping towards Shinigamidori, who was staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of it. It just barely avoided a flaming fist to the face by propelling itself upwards. Unfortunately, it reacted too late to move fully out of the way, and instead the fist slammed straight into its groin. It squawked in pain and was not only sent back, but also lost its grip on Jinmenken, who dropped to the floor. The human-faced dog shakily stood up, with some difficulty due to the lack of feeling in his arms. He realized it didn't hurt as much as it did before to stand on his hind legs.
Mera and Jinmenken locked eyes. Mera hurriedly gestured towards the opposite wall to the north of them, and Jinmenken understood instantly. They both dashed for it, glad to be a good distance away from their attackers. They pressed themselves up against the wall.
"You can control fire, too?" Mera asked Jinmenken with slight wonderment.
"I honestly had no idea I could until just now," Jinmenken panted, still in utter disbelief that he had somehow just saved both of their lives.
"Well, it's a good thing tha—"
"YOU!" Yamimaro shouted angrily from the other side of the room, pointing his staff at the two of them. "Don't think you're going to get out of here alive, bastards! Everyone, get them!"
The duo stiffened. Perhaps their lives hadn't been saved just yet.
It was Shinigamidori who attacked first with a screech, charging forward and aiming to stab one of them with its beak. The two split, expecting Shinigamidori to hit the wall, but the avian quickly made a u-turn and swooped towards Jinmenken. The canine yelled and threw himself to the floor, narrowly avoiding impalement. Shinigamidori looped back around, and Mera wound up his fist and ran towards it. Suddenly, he felt something ram into his side, and he was thrown halfway across the room. It was Uma, who had tackled him in the air. Mera rolled off the ground as the horse pursued him again, leaving Shinigamidori to take care of Jinmenken.
The bird and the dog chased each other around in circles, Jinmenken desperately flinging himself around to avoid being attacked. Eventually, Shinigamidori decided it had had enough and blasted Jinmenken with wind at close range, sending the poodle hurtling backwards through the air. He slammed right into Mera, who was still tangling with Uma, and they both screamed as they collided with each other. Mera was knocked to the floor with Jinmenken on top of him. It was then that Kaimu popped out of the ground with only minor burns, shuriken back in hand. The three of them all dashed towards Mera and Jinmenken at once.
At that moment, something came over Jinmenken. His body shook with primal terror as he rolled himself off of Mera and got back up on all fours.
"I can't take this anymore!" Jinmenken cried, exposing his fangs. The corners of his mouth steamed with purple energy. He bolted forward towards his three attackers with speeds he had rarely ever reached in his life, his legs practically moving on their own.
"Ossan...kami...maaaaax!" Jinmenken bellowed; now he could feel the energy of his finishing blow attack coursing through him as he chomped down on Shinigamidori's neck. The bird squealed as it dropped out of the air, and its companions gawked at the newly formed, bleeding gash on its neck, shocked that Jinmenken actually did damage. And the canine didn't stop there; he began to dart around in a frenzy, tears flowing from his eyes, biting the air repeatedly as he chased the other two. He constantly switched targets from Kaimu to Uma. The two swiftly dodged his attacks, but he showed no signs of stopping, and was somehow only getting faster. Kaimu finally swung their shuriken at him, but Jinmenken, with timing that could only be attributed to luck, bit down on the projectile as though he were catching a frisbee and the metal bent. He then released his grip, and the weapon clattered to the floor. He then turned back towards Uma to pursue him, but the horse had flown high in the air to where Jinmenken couldn't reach him. The dog jumped around and nipped at the air, his body still in control of his brain. Kaimu bent down to pick up their weapon, now bent so much that it was rendered useless as a projectile until they could repair it; Shinigamidori was trying to quell the pain in its neck and get up off the floor. Yamimaro shook his head, not sure what he was watching as he secretly gathered energy into his staff.
And unbeknownst to all of them, Mera stood in a horse stance, ready to unleash his own attack, which he had charged while everyone else was distracted by the chaos. A bright red aura surrounded him as he gathered energy in his gusts
"Now it's my turn!" he shouted courageously. Everyone stopped in their tracks just as he shouted:
"Seiken...burning!"
And the lion thrusted both of his fists forward. A wall of flame, at least three feet high, was sent forth towards both Kaimu and Shinigamidori. The two yelped as they were enveloped in the flame, which had narrowly missed Jinmenken, who was to their left below Uma. The jaws of everyone else in the room sans Mera fell to the floor.
When the flames eventually dissipated, both Kaimu and Shinigamidori were on the floor, conscious but unable to move from the pain. They were both covered in burns and Shinigamidori's bite injury felt even worse. Kaimu let out shaky breath.
"U-un...believable…" they sputtered. Shinigamidori coughed.
"This is bullshit. Someone's godmodding," Uma balked. Despite nobody else present even knowing what that last word meant, they seemed to at least understand the first part, as everyone immediately turned their heads towards Jinmenken. The poodle looked triumphant for a split second, but then his knees began to buckle under him and he collapsed onto his stomach.
"My everything...so...weak…" Jinmenken muttered, barely able to lift his head off the floor to speak. Now that the adrenaline had worn off once again, the exhaustion returned, this time worse than before.
"At least you admit it," Yamimaro sniggered. "If only your own attack didn't put you out of commission, I'd almost be impressed!"
"He's not 'out of commission'!'" Mera blurted out, dashing over to the canine and lifting him up by his neck fur and showing him off like a trophy. "He's totally fine!"
"No, he's really not," Uma said matter-of-factly. Mera took a closer look at the canine's face himself. He looked as though he has aged an additional twenty years. The skin beneath his eyes sagged and he seemed to be struggling to keep his eyeballs from rolling back into his head.
"...Okay. So maybe he's been better." Mera abruptly dropped Jinmenken and puffed out his chest.
"It doesn't matter, though!" the lion bellowed, "You've seen what we can do, so tell us how to reverse this mess, or else!"
Yamimaro raised an eyebrow. "Or else?"
Mera narrowed his eyes. "Or else," he hissed.
Yamimaro and Uma glanced at each other briefly before bursting into laughter.
"You foolish child!" Yamimaro cackled, "You really think I'm feeling threatened right now? It seems you haven't noticed…" the demon lifted his staff into the air. Purple lightning crackled around it and a humongous purple ball of energy almost immediately formulated at its tip. Mera's heart skipped a beat. How did he conjure up an attack of that size so quickly? A devilish grin spread across Yamimaro's face.
"Your silly games only distracted you while I was charging! Now…taste the wrath of the great Yamimaro!"
Yamimaro began the motion of pointing his staff to unleash the attack. Mera closed his eyes and put his arms in front of his face. Suddenly, Uma sneezed loudly, causing his master to flinch. This threw off his aim and the attack, instead of being sent straight down, was sent forward towards the wall.
"Gah!" Yamimaro gasped. Mera uncovered his face and Jinmenken lifted his head up slightly. Everyone in the room jumped when the orb collided with tha wall with a crash. A large cloud of dust formed as a gaping hole formed in the concrete wall. When the dust cleared, there was an entryway to rest of the waterworks. The stench of waste came pouring in, and Mera had to pinch his nose. We're in the sewers?! The lion thought. Meanwhile, Uma's face blanched.
"...Ah...sorry," the horse apologized, "it's rather dusty down he—"
Yamimaro threw his staff to the floor and began to throttle Uma, whose wings beat rapidly in an attempt to escape his boss's grasp.
"You imbecile!" Yamimaro roared, "You couldn't hold it for half a second?! I ought to bash your sorry skull in!"
"It's not really that easy!" Uma retorted, "When you have to sneeze, you have to sneeze!"
"Do I look like I care, you damn mule?!"
The two continued to banter. Mera found Yamimaro's need to argue a bit ironic considering how he criticized him and Jinmenken's issues before, but there was no time to think too deeply about that. Mera bent down and scooped up Jinmenken, hoisting him over his shoulder with a grunt.
"Wait, what's happening?" the canine murmured groggily.
"We're getting the heck out of here," Mera replied, not giving Jinmenken a chance to protest as he dashed for the hole. He nearly stumbled over it as he leapt through, not used to Jinmenken's weight. He landed on the other side with a thud, but lifted himself up with his free arm and took off. He briefly considered asking Jinmenken about his diet, but decided to focus on running.
Back in the room, Yamimaro's voice got louder with each passing moment as he lectured his teammate about the importance of their mission. Every time Uma tried to open his mouth, he'd get cut off by Yamimaro. The horse kept eyeing the busted wall, not bothering to look back at Yamimaro.
"Why won't you look at me when I'm berating you?!" Yamimaro yelled. He took a gander around the room "What could possibly be so int—"
There was a pause. Yamimaro's pupils contracted when the realization dawned on him.
"Where are the prisoners?"
If Uma had long enough legs, he would've slapped a hoof to his forehead.
"They're gone, m'lord."
"They escaped?!"
"I've been trying to tell you for the last…" Uma feigned looking at a wristwatch— "...three minutes, I'd say."
"Damn it all!" Yamimaro exclaimed.
"Great job, hoo..." piped up the voice of Shinigamidori, still on the floor.
"You be quiet!" Yamimaro commanded. He released his grip on Uma, then swooped down to pick up his staff. He hovered back to his place and then pointed it towards the hole in the wall.
"We must pursue them! Now!"
Uma jerked his head towards Kaimu and Shinigamidori.
"And just leave them?"
"Do I look like I have time to carry a couple of deadbeats around?" Yamimaro asked flatly.
"No, m'lord." Uma sighed.
"Then let's go!" Yamimaro flew off without another word. Uma quickly flew over to his fallen teammates.
"Sorry, fellows," he muttered. "We'll be back."
"It's fine, don't worry about us…" Kaimu said as Uma flew away.
"Don't say that," Shinigamidori whispered, "I never liked that cousin of yours, hoo."
"'Twas unintended," Kaimu replied, "I don't really like him, either. He's a loser."
Confident that they had come a safe enough distance from the room, Mera stopped running and leaned his side up against the nearest wall. He had plodded through sewage water in the dark with a fourty-pound canine on his shoulder, and he was not happy. He normally enjoyed a challenge, but now was definitely not the time for things to be difficult.
"You have to move on your own now," Mera panted, slowly sliding Jinmenken onto the floor.
"Wait, what? I can't feel my legs."
"Okay, well, you have to try. I'll possess you if I have to."
"I guess you didn't learn anything from the last couple of times, huh," Jinmenken deadpanned.
"...Well, what else do we do? You're slowing me down too much. Maybe I should leave you and go look for where they're keeping all that energy…"
"You can't leave me here!"
"Why not? They won't find you. I took as many diverging paths as possible to make sure we're hard to find."
"They'll find us eventually. They know this place much better than we do," Jinmenken reasoned.
"I guess so. But still…" Mera surveyed the area. Perhaps they could find somewhere to hide, at least. That was when he noticed the door a few feet away from them.
"There!" Mera pointed. "I don't know how I didn't notice that before. We'll have to hide in there."
"Worth a shot." Jinmenken agreed. Mera rushed over and Jinmenken followed by pathetically army-crawling across the floor.
The door seemed to be dark and color. On it was a small window that offered a look into a room that was dimly lit, but still brighter than the rest of the waterworks. Mera tugged on the doorknob, but the door wouldn't open.
"It's locked," he grumbled.
"Well, guess we're screwed," Jinmenken said.
"Wait…" Mera peered through the window and squinted. There seemed to be a machine, buttons glowing, on the side of the room, though some of it couldn't be seen as the window offered a limited view. He did notice the blaster-like peripheral attached to it, and underneath it were what appeared to be two bodies. They were slumped over against what Mera guessed was a wall adjacent to the machine, and that purple aura that Mera dreaded so much was surrounding them.
"There's Yo-kai in there, I think!" Mera exclaimed. "They're possessed, though…"
"If it's that sort of possession," Jinmenken theorized, "then perhaps we can get them to let us in…"
Mera nodded and started banging on the door rapidly with both fists.
"Hello? Hello?!" He shouted.
"Not so loud!" Jinmenken hissed. "Are you trying to get us killed?"
Mera ignored him and kept pounding away. Eventually, one of the Yo-kai raised its head. Mera noticed the pair of flaming eyebrows and chubby cheeks. He audibly gasped.
"Is that...Komajiro?"
"You've gotta be kidding me." Jinmenken was so surprised that he sprang up, emitting a sharp cry of pain as he did so. His legs shook underneath him, but he pressed up against the window next to Mera anyway.
"Oh, my God," he moaned, "Why can't Lady Karma leave me alone for once…"
"Komajiro!" Mera shouted, "I know you probably can't recognize us, but please, open the door!"
The butterscotch lion-dog obliged, standing up and plodding towards the door almost robotically. His movements were agonizingly slow, at least to Mera. The blazing Yo-kai finally heard a click and Komajiro pulled open the door. Mera and Jinmenken practically tumbled inside, immediately shutting the door behind them. Jinmenken fell forward and didn't even bother to get back up, instead choosing to stay on all fours. Mera noticed the golden key in Komajiro's paw.
"Wait, the door was key-locked? And they just left the key in here?"
Jinmenken groaned. "You'd think a group who could almost perfectly pull off a convoluted world domination plan would think to not leave behind their damn key."
Mera took a good look at the room. The machine caught his eye first. It seemed to be smaller than he had imagined it to be—it took up about half the size of the room, but the room was already quite tiny, probably not much bigger than his living room. The machine had to have been built inside the room itself—there was no way one could fit it through the door. There were a variety of buttons and dials on it, but Mera was fixated on the giant, transparent metal container that made up the bulk of the structure—and more importantly, what was inside it.
"Hey," Jinmenken piped up from somewhere close to him, "I think we found the sandman." Though Mera didn't notice, Jinmenken was talking about the mystery Yo-kai in the room—a small, human-shaped figure seemingly made of sand. Grains of the stuff pooled underneath it. Jinmenken could've sworn he'd seen this Yo-kai before—he could recall them usually wearing a placid smile, which was now replaced with a neutral expression given their possessed state—but he couldn't for the life of him remember a name.
"And I think we found our energy source," Mera said with amazement.
"Wait, for real?" Jinmenken instantly turned his head. Sure enough, in front of him was a container full of the purple energy. The energy swirled around in the container, as though it was some sort of giant cloud, even though it wasn't actually made of matter.
"Just look at it all…" Mera marveled. He hopped up onto the console to get a closer look. He wiped sweat off his forehead.
"If we could figure out how this thing works, then maybe...we could reverse it."
"Uh, you do realize we're in plain sight right now, yeah?" Jinmenken said nervously. "If they pass by the door…"
"Then we'll just have to figure it out before they get here!" Mera exclaimed determinedly. Jinmenken didn't believe in the slightest that this would work and thought they should just get out of the damn sewer, but he said no more—he was too tired to argue. Mera closely observed what was in front of him. He wasn't especially skilled with machines, but he could at least deduct that the buttons on the console probably either opened the hatch in the container or controlled the blaster. He took a look at the blaster. It was angled upwards. It was then, he realized, that there was a hole in the ceiling that appeared to be an opening to the sewer pipes.
"So they shot the energy out into the open through the pipes…" Mera mused, "But there's something I'm not getting here. If they possessed people with all that energy, how is it still here in this container? Shouldn't it be used up?"
Jinmenken hummed. "Well, I'm no expert when it comes to these things, but I'm assuming emotional energy isn't really matter, like energy waves of any sort. The power is absorbed from the source, but the source itself isn't depleted. I guess it's like…reflecting light off of an angled mirror. The original light source still emanates light, but the mirror projects it off elsewhere."
Mera nodded. "Yeah, I kinda get it...how the heck did you come up with that?"
"I went to college," Jinmenken chuffed.
"Did you finish?"
"Well, I…" Jinmenken clicked his tongue. "...No."
"Didn't think so. Anyway, glad we figured that out, but…" Mera frustratedly pressed a hand against the container. "We still don't know how to reverse this."
Suddenly, a spot inside the container—one close to the opening that connected to the mechanical arm holding the blaster—began to glow. Mera was so lost in thought that he didn't notice, but Jinmenken certainly did, and his eyes widened.
"Uh...what?"
"Huh?" Mera snapped out of it and glanced at Jinmenken, who lifted a paw and pointed at the glowing spot. Mera gasped once he took notice and lifted his hand from the glass. The light began to fade away, and once it was gone, what was once purple energy in that small area, not more than half an inch in diameter, was now yellow.
"Woah!" Mera exclaimed, "It's yellow! And yellow means..."
"...positive," Jinmenken finished.
Mera couldn't believe it. It was too good to be true. He tentatively pressed his hand against the glass again, this time holding it there for a couple of extra seconds. The yellow energy extended its reach, covering another short distance.
"How on Earth is this possible?" Mera said, "This didn't work on the people and Yo-kai out there…"
"Could be easier to channel your energy through the container than through a body," Jinmenken suggested. "I mean, I'm just guessing, but…"
"Well, let's test one more time," said Mera. He hopped off the machine and skipped over to Komajiro, still standing aimlessly by the door. He pressed his palm against the other's chest and held it there. Komajiro's expression did not change.
"...So you were right," Mera admitted. "I guess the only way to stop possession is from the source, like with Yo-kai…"
"Well, aren't I on fire today," Jinmenken said. He winced a bit. "Literally, too. I'm so sore."
"Anyway, I know what I should do first," Mera announced. He dragged Komajiro to a spot underneath the blaster and got in his tiptoes to physically angle it downwards. He was fairly certain after the fact that there had to be a button to angle it, as it was a bit hard to move, but he didn't think to check for it.
"Okay...now how do I fire this thing?"
Jinmenken stretched his neck to eye the console for a few seconds before delivering an answer.
"Well, you could try the glowing red button that says 'fire'," he said flatly, pointing to it.
"I knew that," Mera lied. His finger hovered over the button.
"Well, here goes—"
"Wait a second!" Jinmenken interrupted. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"
"Do you have any ideas?"
Jinmenken didn't respond.
"Exactly. In that case…" Mera pressed down on the button with a sense of gusto. Energy gathered at the blaster's tip—and luckily, it seemed to be bright in hue. It only took a few moments to charge since it was a small amount, then a small pulse of energy was shot out at Komajiro. Mera and Jinmenken watched with bated breath as yellow energy enveloped Komajiro. The purple aura dispelled and Komajiro blinked, the light returning to his eyes.
"Zura…?"
"Yes!" Mera exclaimed triumphantly, jumping up and down. "I did it!"
"Oh, so I did nothing," Jinmenken said.
"Pretty much!" Mera replied, still beaming. Jinmenken only shook his head.
"W-wait…" Komajiro squeaked, "Mera? Jinmenken? What's going on here, zura?!"
"Ah, sorry," Mera said, "you must be confused. But I'm glad you're back!"
"Back, zura? I…" Komajiro's memories suddenly came flooding back to him as he looked around the room. He was somewhere in the sewers. His boss—well, former boss—had used him as a test subject. And that strange feeling overcame him…
"How long was I possessed, zura?!" Komajiro gasped.
"Uh...we don't know," Mera replied, "we only just got here."
"What are you doing down here, anyway?" Jinmenken asked, avoiding making eye contact—he still felt awkward around the lion-dog. "Shouldn't you be out there with your brother?"
"Nii-chan...you saw him, zura?" Komajiro asked with a mixture of hopefulness and wistfulness.
"We did," Mera responded. "He's…" he couldn't bring himself to finish his sentence. Komajiro sighed.
"He's possessed, zura. Which means…they did it, zura. The plan…"
"You know about it?" Mera questioned.
Komajiro looked down at his feet. So they knew what plan he was talking about. he figured Yamimaro must have captured them and told them everything—he did like to gloat about his plans. "Yes. The truth is...well, I..." He shook his head.
"Forget that for now, zura. How are you two not possessed, zura?"
"We never quite figured it out," said Jinmenken, "but we figure it's got to do with us being too polar in one direction or the other."
Komajiro hummed. "That's interesting, zura...the only way I know of to protect oneself is by using some kind of protective spell—I'm pretty sure only Yamimaro and the others know it, zura."
"Actually…" Jinmenken gestured towards Mera.
"...Mr. Sunshine over here seems to be able to undo it." And quickly, I hope, Jinmenken said silently. His head still felt like it had been crushed under a hydraulic press.
Mera nodded proudly. "It seems I can convert the negative energy in the tank to positive energy," he said. "Even though I was feeling down before...I guess there's always a part of me that never gets defeated," he added with a smile. Jinmenken wanted to make a remark about how cheesy that was, but bit his tongue.
"M-mongee…" Komajiro awed, "That's miraculous, zura. If you can convert that entire container…"
"That's the plan!" said Mera. "But it might take a while. This thing is pretty huge, and the rate at which it changes is really slow."
"I see, zura," Komajiro nodded. "Anyway, I think I know what's going on, zura. But if I want to explain what we should to do you, I have to come clean…"
Komajiro sighed. The other two Yo-kai listened intently.
"I...I've been working for Yamimaro, zura."
"What?" Mera and Jinmenken balked in unison. The looks of shock and horror on their faces almost brought Komajiro to tears.
"I–I'm sorry, zura!" Komajiro sputtered. "It was a foolish decision on my part, zura! He used me...just like he used you two...and…" Komajiro stared at the floor again.
"Now look what happened, zura."
"Hey." Mera's soft voice made Komajiro look up. The lion put a hand on his shoulder.
"I didn't mean to come off as mad at you. All of us here have something to regret about this. I know we can't change the past, but helping everyone will make up for it, don't you think?"
Komajiro took in a deep breath. "You're right, zura...I'll do my best to help..." he clenched a fist.
"...For nii-chan, zura! And for everyone, zura!"
"That's the spirit, buddy!" Mera flashed Komajiro a grin. "Now, what were you gonna say?"
"Well…" Komajiro quickly took out his phone. He tapped in a few different places, then frowned.
"Oh no."
"What now?" Jinmenken grumbled from behind him.
"Uma installed tracking apps onto everyone's phones so we could keep track of each other," said Komajiro, "and it looks like Yamimaro and Uma are headed this way, zura…wait, why aren't Kaimu and Shini with them, zura?"
"We beat them," Mera answered proudly. Komajiro's eyes widened. "That's monge impressive...those two aren't pushovers, zura."
"Tell me about it," Jinmenken mumbled.
"Wait…" Komajiro raised an eyebrow. "It looks like...they're coming by the door, zura…"
Mera and Jinmenken held their breath, preparing for the two of them to burst in. Nothing happened.
"They passed it, zura?"
Mera and Jinmenken both breathed a sigh of relief.
"I don't know why they're suddenly so dumb," Jinmenken commented, "but boy, is it a good thing."
"They're not dumb, zura. Mean, cruel, perhaps a bit out of their minds, but not dumb...there's a reason for this, zura."
"Still, we should take advantage of this while we can," Mera suggested. "Should I start on that tank?"
"Not yet, zura. There's one more thing you should do, zura…"
Komajiro gestured over to the sandy Yo-kai near the wall, whom the other two had nearly forgotten about. Mera examined them closely. Was that...Sunao? He hadn't seen the friendly Yo-kai in quite a while. He hoped that whatever Yamimaro had done to him didn't ruin his affable demeanor—he hated seeing the guy without a smile.
"I don't know why he's here, but we should help, zura," Komajiro said.
Mera nodded. "There should be just enough positive energy left in there for me to bring him back. Let's do it!"
And with that, Mera repositioned the blaster (manually, again) and repeated the process on the sand being.
"Thanks a bunch~!" the Yo-kai chimed once he had been restored, "Though I don't quite know how all of you got here, I'm guessing it's not good…"
"Don't mention it, Sunao!" Mera replied happily. "And we can explain later—it's a long story. Komajiro, how much time do we have?"
Komajiro took a peek at his phone. "They're still headed back towards the main meeting room...what could they be doing, zura…?" Truthfully, Komajiro had a bit of an idea, but he didn't want to start a panic—besides, he himself wanted to believe his assumptions were wrong.
"Wait a minute," Jinmenken said suddenly, "Sunao, right? Why are you here?"
"Ah…" Sunao frowned slightly, "I hate to break it to you, but Yamimaro recruited me before he started his big plan thing…" he rubbed the back of his head. "He told me what they were doing was for the greater good—that they were gonna do something responsible with that energy. I guess that's not really the case...I just didn't know how to say no to him. I hope you can forgive me."
"Of course, zura," Komajiro responded with an understanding smile, "the same thing kind of happened to me, too, zura." Secretly, although Komajiro wasn't aware that Sunao had been involved this entire time, he was certain what he did was much less terrible than what he had done—he wouldn't say that out loud, of course. He didn't want to ruin the positive attitude in the room.
"What did he have you do, anyway?" Mera inquired. Komajiro supposed he'd get his answer to his musing after all.
"Well…" Sunao started, "He only needed me for one thing at the very beginning, then he kept me down here for a long time."
"The nerve of him…" Mera growled.
"I—it's okay, really," Sunao comforted. Mera knew it absolutely wasn't okay—but this was Sunao he was talking to. The sandy Yo-kai continued.
"Anyway, what he had me do was—"
"Monge!" Komajiro cried suddenly, and everyone turned towards him. He was looking at his device again.
"What happened?" Mera said.
"They left the sewers through that Ungaikyo, zura…"
"Wait, why didn't we just leave through the Ungai—" Jinmenken butted in, but was quickly muffled by Mera's hand. The canine mumbled something else to himself through Mera's hand as Komajiro continued:
"Oh no, zura. This is bad, zura…"
"Is it really?" Sunao asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
Komajiro gulped. "I've known about this last resort for a long time, but I never thought they had to use it, zura…"
Jinmenken propped himself up on his knees and forcefully pushed Mera's arm away. "What? What is it?!" he urged.
"I don't know how to explain it, zura. You'll have to see for yourselves...but I do have a plan, zura."
The group nodded attentively. Komajiro elaborated:
"Mera, you're going to have to start converting the energy as soon as possible, zura. The connection down here is too bad to see where those guys are when they're not inside the sewer, so I don't know where they're standing, but they couldn't have gone far—they'll be back soon, zura. Once they pop back up on the radar, we—Jinmenken, Sunao, and I, that is—are gonna meet them before they can get to this room, zura. It's better to confront them as far away from the machine as possible so—"
"Wait." Jinmenken interrupted once again, "You're saying...we're gonna have to fight."
Komajiro nodded grimly. "I know you've probably been through a lot today, zura. But we don't have a choice, zura."
"N-no, really, I…" panic was bubbling up in Jinmenken's throat. "I can't do anymore. I'll die again. It even hurts just to sit like this, actually—"
"But you're doing it, right?" Mera chimed in, his preposition less of a question and more of a statement. He wasn't going to stand for a defeatist attitude—not here. Not now.
"Well, yeah, but—"
"No 'buts'. You have to listen to me. For once in your life, you have to listen to me." He was really serious now—the last time he had used this time of voice, Jinmenken recalled, was just before the two of them began brawling up on the mountain. Things were so different just a few hours ago.
"Jinmenken." Mera continued on, staring the poodle straight in the eyes, locking him in. "I know that back in the city, you told me not to debate with you. And I respected that. But there's something I've noticed this whole time…
"...You've been holding back. I can tell. Immediately after you realized it wasn't just about us anymore, you wanted to give up and leave, right? Let everyone else down again—like you always do."
Komajiro and Sunao exchanged glances. This did not sound like it was going to end well.
"Hey—" Jinmenken started, but Mera quickly shut him down.
"Let me finish. I know you didn't necessarily want to bear another failure. But you didn't believe in yourself to overcome this, did you? You were so hesitant to even make an effort to look for Otonabull, even though you were clearly worried...because you had given up already."
Jinmenken's heart sank. Not because he felt attacked, but because he knew it was true—he had felt lost. Dissociated. Tired. He wondered why he was bothering. He wondered how he had gone from being so determined to defeat Mera to being so defeated himself. In retrospect, he wondered if his reasons for fighting Mera were even anything beyond petty; if those feelings were just exaggerated at the time. And Mera was right...he was going to give up on Otonabull. He had been in the back of his mind the entire time, as though the pup was calling out to him, but Jinmenken couldn't answer back. He didn't know what to say.
Mera kept speaking. "I'll admit it. When I first figured out that we had no leads...and that something definitely happened to my brother, I...I felt the same way. For a while. You saw that. But I was never going to give up searching. And now here we are—we know a lot more now than we did just a short while ago. It was a lot to take in—the fact that we've just been puppets, that is—and we still don't have all the answers...but it feels like victory is that much closer, doesn't it?"
Jinmenken sighed. "Look, I know what you're trying to do. But it's not gonna change the fact that I physically can't—"
"You keep talking about how much you're hurting, and yet...you fought back there with powers I've never seen you utilize, even when we were fighting. So that's not an excuse anymore. And it reminded me of the one thing that, over the last few weeks, I've figured out you've got going for you—you've got a fighting spirit in there. It's just buried really, really deep. And when it does come out, you've used it for some…" Mera's eyes narrows suddenly— "...bad things."
Jinmenken knew what he was referring to. All of his crimes—they had been fueled by ambition. Ambition to get what he wanted for himself. It never turned out well. And during the war, it had happened again.
"But," Mera said, "now...now you can use that spirit for good. To change everything. You just have to bring it out one more time…"
"It won't change everything," Jinmenken sputtered. "All the mistakes. All the fighting. The fact that the last few weeks of both of our lives have been a giant lie. That won't change."
"You're right. But we can change the future. Not just ours, but the future of everyone around us."
"And what if the future is just as bad as the past, huh?" Jinmenken's voice was frustrated, helpless. Words were just tumbling out of his mouth now, released from the darkest depths of his mind. "What if I want to live in a world where nobody can feel? Then nobody can judge—"
"Don't you dare say that!" Mera roared. A stone-cold silence fell over the room. Mera inhaled deeply.
"...I...I know you don't really think that. You're a pretty awful person all things considered, but you're not that evil." A look of desperation crossed Mera's face.
"...Right?"
Jinmenken didn't think of himself as evil, despite being a lawbreaker. But thinking about what he just said...he kicked himself mentally. Damn it.
"I don't know. Am I?"
Mera suddenly got down on both knees to match Jinmenken's height. He gripped both of his shoulders tightly, so hard that he could crush the bones. Tears were in his eyes.
"That's up to you to decide. Right now. If you'll fight with us…"
He trailed off. He didn't have to finish—Jinmenken knew what he meant. And something inside of him finally cracked. That's up for you to decide. Maybe he couldn't change all the things he said and did in the past. To Otonabull, to the Koma brothers, to Mera and Gula. Maybe he couldn't change all of the terrible things that had happened to him, his pathetic life up to that point. But to believe that everything was a waste...that was just as naïve as being blithely optimistic, wasn't it? He was being just as stubborn as Mera had been all this time in his own way, hadn't he? Perhaps he really could fight—he just didn't want to. But the idea of being able to make things better for himself, the fact that it was in his control...
"So, then...if I fight...I'll become respectable," he stated, more to assure himself than anyone else.
Mera gave a small smile. "Well, just don't forget that this is for the good of everyone else, too. But yeah, you're on the right track."
"Jinmenken!" Komajiro piped up, breaking the silence that Jinmenken hadn't even realized had fallen upon them. "Don't forget, I'm going to fight too, zura! I want to change too, zura!" The lion-dog placed his fist over his heart.
"This has been really hard for me, too...but I'm learning from it, zura! And having watched you and Mera this whole time, I really want to help you do the same, zura!"
Sunao stepped forward. "I'll do my best as well! Even if I can't make that big of a difference, every little bit helps~!"
Jinmenken was stunned. He'd never really been part of a team until now. It was an interesting feeling...but an enjoyable one.
Jinmenken sighed submissively. "Well...alright." He bundled his paws into fists.
"I'll do the best I can. And I won't give up—no matter how much I want to. Promise."
"That's what I like to hear!" Mera whooped. He felt an insane amount of satisfaction—after all these weeks of trying, he had finally motivated Jinmenken. He didn't know if it would last after the fight was won, but he didn't care. He did it, even when he was certain he never could. He beamed at the canine.
"I seriously can't believe I'm saying this, but...I'm counting on you. We all have to count on each other!"
Komajiro and Sunao cheered in unison. Even Jinmenken cracked a grin—but just then, a thought crossed his mind.
"You weren't gonna possess me before the fight, were you?"
Mera's smile faded. "Uh...did you want me to?"
"No," Jinmenken said indignantly. "I was just checking. Because, you know, I guess I need to be in control of myself to get the, uh…" he waved a paw in the air. "Moral benefits."
Mera nodded. "Looks like we're getting somewhere already."
Jinmenken chuckled melancholically. "This is a little too surreal, isn't it?"
"Yeah, kinda," Mera replied, then said slightly facetiously, "don't make me change my mind, 'k?"
Suddenly Komajiro's phone buzzed. He whipped it out from the top of his pack and gasped.
"Guys. They're here, zura."
The group all huddled around Komajiro (even Jinmenken stood up with a bit of effort—he found the pain was a bit more bearable now). Two red dots blinked on a simple, mostly colorless map of the waterworks. They seemed to change position slightly every couple of seconds.
"They're approaching pretty fast…" Sunao observed.
"Okay, team!" Komajiro exclaimed, "It's time to get to work, zura! Mera, you know what to do, zura!"
"Got it! Good luck, everyone!" Mera hopped back onto the machine and pressed his palm to the container as the others exited the room. The pep talk he had just successfully given was still fresh in his mind—it gave him more power. He figured this must be like what Todoki felt like after giving a speech. Todoki...their last conversation had made him feel so dejected, but he still loved him more than anything. He had so many things to love. His brothers. His friends. His world. He would not lose them. He felt the positivity flow through his veins. He could do this. He would do this. He had dealt with so much in the last few weeks—if he could find a silver lining in all that, he could do anything.
Nothing could put out the blazing Yo-kai's flame.
Komajiro lead the others down the sewer pathways, looking down at his phone every few seconds to make sure he was going the right way. Jinmenken was keeping up at a reasonable pace; he could move briskly on all fours, even though the aching of his muscles nagged at his mind. He wouldn't stop now. He envisioned himself back at Alcatraz—that was the last time he had really, truly felt motivated. As horrible as his stay at Alcatraz ended up being, he enjoyed that initial feeling, that determination.
After a short while, the group could hear what sounded like...buzzing? Jinmenken and Sunao were confounded, but Komajiro knew what was coming. He didn't say a word. He pictured Komasan rooting him on, and his steps hastened.
The buzzing got louder and louder. The tension got higher and higher. The anticipation was too much.
And finally, in a wide corridor with water surrounding them on the left and right, the two groups met. Jinmenken, Komajiro, and Sunao stood directly across from Yamimaro and Uma, peering into each other's eyes.
And behind Yamimaro and Uma, like a giant twister, wings creating an ominous hum, hovered a whole horde of Negativoon.
Today's index:
Negativoon = Negatibuzz
Sunao = Sandmeh
Well, that was the big one, guys. It took me a month and a half to put this one together, so I hope I answered most of the big questions. I'm saving a couple more secrets for the next (and likely final! Unless I split it up into two so the epilogue is separate, we'll see) chapter, though.
No specific deadline for the next chapter, though I do hope to get it out in November. School is picking up a bit and eating up a lot of my time, but I'm pretty excited for the ending, so perhaps that'll motivate me to get it done. Or maybe Mera will possess me...
See you all next time for the true final battle...!
