Would you all believe me if I told you this chapter is over 7,000 words? 'cuz it is. That makes up for taking a while to get this up, right? *shot* but seriously, I do have a valid reason(or, i think it's a valid reason)for taking so long to get this chapter up. I was on vacation for a week. Had I known that I'd actually have computer access for those six days, I would've brought my notebooks and typed this chapter out. And then right after that, I had to go to my dad's house. He doesn't have a computer. Although I did spend that time writing more chapters out. That's good...right? XD
Okay, anyways. Thanks to Greentabbycat(Tabitha included), Koori Shirayuki, MetaloGuy, Metaniterocks,(Jenna included) and Kooples12 for reviewing! You're all awesome people. Here's a cookie. *hands out cookies* ^^
Disclaimer, please? Someone? Anyone?
*everyone is quiet*
Okay, fine. Be stubborn little characters. I'll do it. I do not own Okami, bombs, dreams, or cookies. Okami belongs to Capcom, bombs belong to whoever the heck invented them, dreams belong to nature, and cookies belong to some random cook i'm too lazy to google and figure out who made them. So, yeah. Although I do own Celia.
Chapter 5-Giant bombs and wierd dreams
"That's one more brush technique in the bag!" Issun announced once we had gotten back to Shinshu field. "Now Ammy, Silver…before you both get all excited and forget what you're supposed to do, I have an important tip. Ready? Okay then…If you ever forget what to do next, just ask me. I've got a really great memory, believe it or not."
"Not." I said. I'm pretty sure Issun was glaring at me.
"Also, remember, first things first! Okay, let's get going!"
"Wait, I wanna talk to Bob!" I ran over to said person. "Hi, Bob!" I barked.
"Freaky…it looks like the river suddenly cleared up." He told me. "I did see Susano whizzing past here a little while ago…but surely it wasn't him who cleared up the river, was it? Nah…that wouldn't make any sense."
"Okay, that was pointless." I said in a defeated tone was I walked up to Ammy and Issun, who were waiting for me by the guardian sapling.
"So, are we gonna bloom this thing, or what?" Issun asked in an impatient tone. Amaterasu used bloom on the tree, and then the magic happened. Like last time, the tree burst into petals. But this time, we were able to see most of the area restored. The cursed zone fell back as the grass turned green in a wave of flowers. The clean water flowed into the muddy goop, somehow clearing it up instantly. It was a really beautiful sight.
"Wow! That nasty cursed zone is completely gone! The plants and animals are back! And just feel that fresh breeze! Now that's what I call a great divine intervention! If you two keep on dispelling the evil curse like this, I bet the gods of nature will lend you their powers!"
I looked over in the direction of Konahana, which was visible from Shinshu Field. It started to grow taller, and leaves started to grow on it. It looked a lot healthier. It didn't have any flowers, granted, but still, green tree is better than dead-lookin' tree.
"Hey, that's…that's Sakuya's tree, isn't it?" Issun asked. No, It's a Guardian Sapling, Issun. "Maybe she perked up 'cause you revived a Guardian Sapling? Well, we can stop by and see her later. I mean, we're kinda on a roll here. How about we take a look around Shinshu Field first? You've been gone 100 years, right?"
"I've never been here in my life." I pointed out.
"Well then, a good run around the place will do you both good!"
"Treasure chest!" I yelled and opened up a chest that was right in front of me, getting a scroll about fleeing battle in the process. Ammy went behind the tree and came back with a traveler's charm. "Okay, where to first?"
"Let's just take a run around the place real quick. We can visit the landmarks afterwards."
"Sounds good to me." Ammy agreed.
So we went along the main path, just helping people out and just doing all the stuff we could to get praise. Like blooming patches of dead grass, feeding some boars, finding a meat feedbag, going through a demon gate,(like a demon scroll, but it gives you praise and rejuvenates the land after the fight is over)feeding bunnies, finding an herb feedbag, meeting a mailman named Ida, giving Ida a traveler's charm so he could get back to work, going through another demon gate, failing at fighting a yellow imp yet again, and lots of other things. Long story short, we did a lotta crap and got 119 praise in the process.
"Okay, now let's go to Tama's house." Issun suggested.
"And that would be…" Oh, right. Ammy didn't know where anything was in Shinshu Field.
"We need to backtrack until we get to the second bridge. Then go down it, and we should see it." Ammy nodded, but looked a bit unsure.
"I'll take the lead, if you want." I offered. Ammy gave me a look of appreciation. So I followed Issun's now useless instructions over to Tama's house. Of course, we had to be stopped 10 feet away from our destination by two green imps and a dead fish. I actually forgot about that one…
"Just powerslash it 'til it dies." Issun told us. I obeyed, since I wasn't in the mood to be exploded, no matter how pretty demon fangs were. Hey, at least we got some from the other two green imps. That's good enough for me.
"Sleeping like a log. Come back at night." Ammy read the paper on the door.
"Y'know, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea." I yawned. I'd forgotten how tired I was, but I'd been awake for at least 24 hours.
"Let's just sleep out here while we're waiting." Ammy laid down near the door, with Issun falling to sleep on her head. I laid next to Ammy and was out in about a minute or two.
I yawned and blinked a few times. There was an annoying light above me. I wanted to sleep more, dangit. A few minutes later it actually registered with me that it was nighttime. There shouldn't have been light. I looked closer and noticed that the lights were actually sparklers. Pretty.
"Hey, Ammy. Issun. Wake up." I said. Ammy woke up almost instantly, whereas Issun took a while. AKA he fell off Ammy's head and still didn't wanna stop sleeping. "Can I eat him?" I asked. Ammy, to my surprise, nodded. But before I had the chance…
"Okay, okay! I'm up!" The poncle jumped up instantly and climbed back onto Ammy's head, his favorite perch.
"Playing possum, I see?" I rolled my eyes.
"No. Normally when I hear the words 'eat him,' I wake up. Especially coming from you."
"That's probably for the best." I replied, then walked into Tama's house.
"Is that a threat?" Issun asked as Ammy followed me inside.
"No. Just a fact."
"I feel so safe now." I imagined Issun was rolling his eyes.
"Am I the only one that feels paranoid when surrounded by twenty bombs?" Ammy interrupted before I could reply to Issun.
"I just feel paranoid when Silver's around."
"And you should, poncle. You should."
"Stop it, you two!" Ammy gave us both disapproving looks. Or she gave one to me, anyways. Issun couldn't really see, as he was still on Ammy's head. My ears were flat against my head again. Stupid dang embarrassment.
"No, no, no!" We all looked over at Tama, who was talking to himself. "That can't be right…it shouldn't be doing that…no, no, no! I checked and double-checked my formula! No, no, no!"
"He sure likes to say the word 'no'."
"Hey!" Issun piped up. "You there, got a minute?"
Tama turned around. "Hm? Whoa! What's this little wisp doing here?"
"Yet he ignores the two wolves standing in front of him."
"Not like it's anything new to me."
"Hey, who are you callin' a wisp? I'm Issun the wandering artist!"
"Well, well, well. You're a little ball of fire, aren't you?" He stood up. "I'm Tama. Tama, the Flaming Pyrotechnist! That's what they call me!" Aaand he sat down again. "Listen up, you three. I'm just about to set off a hum-dinger of a doozy. Take a look at the formula I posted on the wall there. My whole career as a Pyrotechnist has led to that formula, friends." It was a picture of a bomb. A very simple picture of a bomb. A circle with a line through it. Yeah, I know. Not that impressive, huh?
"That's actually pretty sad."
"Let's hope he's only been a pyrotechnist for a day, then."
Tama just continued talking. "It's for a little firework I've dubbed the Midnight Wonder Boy!"
"Heh heh…" Issun chuckled.
"Issun! Get your head out of the gutter!" I yelled. Ammy proceeded to eat him. So by the time Tama was finished talking, Issun was covered in spit and lying on the ground.
"There's only one problem…even though I know the formula is sound, it's not working right yet. I know! Listen, pups. You've got good eyes. Fiery eyes…smoldering eyes…maybe your red-hot glares are just what I need to set this off!"
"And by what logic is that?"
"The logic of a person who has been a pyrotechnist for an entire day."
"Oh, yeah."
"Feast your eyes on the greatest display the world has ever seen!" Tama jumped up again. "Hold onto your hats, kids! Here I go! The brightest constellation in the sky-the Midnight Wonder Boy!" Then he made some weird noises, threw explosives into a bowl, and Ammy instinctively drew the formula over the bowl, creating a giant cherry bomb. We dashed outside to see the fireworks. (Issun jumped on Ammy's head just before we were out the door) Ammy was jumping on her hind legs and pawing at the air, so I thought what the heck? and did the same.
"Holy smokes!" Issun exclaimed. "That Tama may have some screws loose…"
"A lot of screws loose."
"…yeah, but boy, can he deliver!" Starlight started to shine on us. "Hm? That light again…"
"Brush technique time!" I cheered. Sadly, the constellation looked so much like the big dipper that I couldn't figure out where to put the dots. Luckily, Ammy filled them both in for me. This time a boar rolled down to us on a bomb. Bakugami, if my memory was correct. Four boar piglets with torches in their mouths chased after him. One actually managed to light the fuse. Bakugami, however, managed to put the flame out just in time. Then all the boars turned to face us, all rivalries forgotten at the moment.
"Ah…Amaterasu. Origin of all that is good and mother to us all…and Celia, descendant of the sun and moon…too often, it is easy to forget what we cannot see."
"Like Issun?"
"Hey!"
"Hidden away, I had lost track of you. But now my soul is at ease. I, Bakugami," Called it. "god of explosive force, lend my power to your cause. Use the cherry bomb to lay waste to foes and obstacles alike!" And then the piglets attacked again, Bakugami rolled away, the piglets followed, an explosion was heard, and the power of cherry bomb simply rolled into us. I would've laughed if it wasn't so sad.
"Hey, did another brush technique just come back to you?" Issun asked Ammy. "That was Bakugami, god of explosions. His technique is called cherry bomb. Tama's enthusiasm must've awakened the god's power in you! Well, what're ya waitin' for? Let's give that cherry bomb a try! How about that cracked wall over there? Why don't you try a cherry bomb on it? Just be careful…" He gulped. I drew a cherry bomb, and it instantly exploded when it came in contact with the wall. "Whoa, look at that hole! It blasted the cracked wall to smithereens! That cherry bomb is one destructive technique! I mean, just think of what it could do to monsters! It'll be tricky handling something that powerful! But I bet we'll be using it all the time once we master it!"
"What's inside the cave?" I called to Ammy, who had gone inside.
"A treasure chest!" I heard Issun yell excitedly.
"Rat statue." Ammy said, being much more helpful. Then we went over to the dojo, another place Issun wanted to visit.
"What?" Issun gasped as soon as we got close. "That's not right!"
"Calm down, Issun." I said in an unamused tone. "It's just a demon gate."
"But it's in front of a dojo! It's just not right!"
"Maybe the person inside is too busy to handle it now."
Ammy sided with me. "We did just recently get rid of the cursed zone. And if I remember right, the dojo was in it."
"Fine. Let's just get rid of it already." Issun mumbled. Wow, Issun not enthusiastic about kicking imp butt? There was something seriously wrong with that. I guess he just didn't want to be proved wrong. And I've said it before, but I'll say it again-I had no idea how he would survive being with me and Ammy until the end of the adventure.
It was nice to not have to run around to try to kill a yellow imp. We just waited until it came out of the ground, preparing to cherry bomb it…except for the one minor detail that it didn't even spot us. So we just settled for powerslashing it. Meh. Not as fun, but we did get the floral finisher. Three green imps were next. It took me and Ammy 20 seconds at most to finish them all off. All with floral finishers, I might add. But right when we thought it was over, yet another yellow imp appeared.
"Yay!" I cheered. "Another chance to use cherry bomb!" Unfortunately for me, Issun was the first one to use it. Issun. The one who rarely helps. I just sighed and powerslashed the stunned imp, Ammy ran up and hit it with divine retribution twice, and Issun helped out again and did the floral finisher for it. The barrier went down, a pool of water appeared, and 15 more praise was awarded to us. Issun pointed out that we could upgrade another attribute, so we did. Guess which one we choose!
If you guessed solar energy, try again.
If you guessed purse, then you don't know me and Ammy that well. We're not that girly.
If you guessed the astral pouch, then you need to pay attention more, because we only had 234 praise, and 300 is needed to upgrade that.
If you guessed ink, then you are either awesome, or you've caught on that Ammy and I really like ink!
Anyways…back to the actual story…
"Huh?" Issun stared at the building like it just appeared out of thin air. "What a pretentious sign! Ammy, Silver, this here's a dojo!"
"Yes, Issun, we sort of figured it out the last time you called it that." I said sarcastically, most likely earning me a tiny glare.
"This is where people come to learn sword fighting and martial arts." I decided to keep my sarcastic comments to myself for once. "But who knows if they'll train you two here…maybe if you act like good wolfies, they'll teach ya a trick or two!...sorry, Silver, but I don't think you'll be learning any battle moves, though."
"Hey!" I growled.
"Karma!" He said in a sing-song voice. Oh, how I wanted to eat him at that moment. But I doubted Ammy would let me, and it would only help to prove Issun's case.
"Stupid freaking bug." I muttered as I walked into the building. But my mood was lifted a little at the thought of learning some new battle moves. So I just had to act like a cute wolf and the sensei would teach me something…"Hello, old man!" I barked.
"Don't call him that!" Issun hissed quietly. "That's the Onigiri Sensei, and he runs the place! If he can understand wolf, I bet he won't teach you and Ammy anything now!"
"Well, what do we have here?" The sensei asked upon seeing us. "It looks like I have two adorable lupine visitors! My name is Onigiri Sensei and this is my dojo." Hooray for redundancy!...not. "What business could two wolves like yourselves have at a dojo like this? Certainly you haven't come to study the fighting arts with yours truly! A place like this is no place for play, friends. You should go outside where it is far less dangerous."
"It's a lot more dangerous out there than in here." Issun pointed out. But the old man didn't reply and just ignored us.
"Wait, what's this?" Ammy followed me over to the wall, where there was a sign.
"I guess these are all the moves he can teach us." She said.
"Fleetfoot." I read aloud. "Gracefully move out of harm's way. 10,000 yen."
"Can't you already do that? Sounds like a waste of yen to me." Issun was bouncing on the ground in front of me and Ammy. I just went to the next one. "Four winds. Add a fourth hit to your standard reflector attack combo. 5,000 yen." Yep, that didn't sound cheesy and video-game related at all!
"It could be useful…" Ammy trailed, and I nodded.
"Spirit storm. Increase the rate of attack for rosaries. 7,000 yen."
"What're rosaries?" Issun asked. Wait, shouldn't he know that? He's the character that's supposed to know everything!
"I guess we'll find out later on." Ammy saved Issun from a sarcastic comment from me.
"Golden fury. Insult foes and get demon fangs. That sound cool!"
"Yeah, except for the fact that it's 100,000 yen, Silver."
"How much money do we have?"
"You'd need to upgrade your purse to have that much."
"…darn."
"And we've only got 18,000 yen anyways."
"Let's get four winds, then. We'll still have 13,000 left over." Ammy said.
"The lucky number." I muttered sarcastically as I gave the Onigiri Sensei 5,000 yen. He jumped in surprise.
"I'll be a monkey's uncle! You've got the cash, have you?"
"Yup."
"I see…I suppose I have no choice. I'll do as you wish and enroll both of you in my dojo."
"Yay!" We all cheered.
"Aaaaaaah…Ooooh!" The Onigiri sensei…well, that's not exactly something you'd really, say, but…
"Anyone else get the feeling he's gonna do something weird?"
"Yep."
"Well, Tama was making strange noises, too."
"True…"
Onigiri Sensei's head started to spin. Then he was on fire for a few seconds while doing some weird battle poses.
"Someone call an exorcist!
"Someone call the fire department!"
"Somebody call nine-one-one…"
"Seriously?"
"Waaaah…" Onigiri Sensei was back to making weird noises, apparently. But he finally cut it out with the gibberish and talked normally. "Are you mentally prepared to handle the ultimate challenge? Step inside to test your might…" The doors behind him automatically opened.
"Uhhh…" I just stared.
"Does your fear cause you to hesitate? Step inside and let the training begin." He told us.
"Alright, let's go!" I barked, feeling slightly insulted. No way I was backing out of a training session.
The Onigiri Sensei was waiting inside for us. How that was possible, I really have no clue. "Let the lesson begin! We'll practice the four winds reflector technique. Take these tips to heart and remember them as we train." He tossed us a scroll, which Issun grabbed.
"Four winds reflector technique tips." He read. "First, throw your reflector at an enemy to begin the attack…repeat this rapidly in succession. Time it well. Keep this up until you connect four consecutive reflector hits. This combo makes short work of enemies and looks good, too!"
"Well? Did you understand?" Ammy and I both nodded. "Ah…very well, then…I'll grant you this technique scroll. Check it when you forget what it means to be a warrior. Understand it with your body as well as your mind. En garde! A dummy came out of the floor, and Ammy didn't hesitate at all to hit it four times in a row.
"How was that?" She asked me.
"Awesome!" I told her.
"Hm…not bad! Keep it up!" Onigiri Sensei commented. Ammy stepped to the side to let me try. I lunged at the dummy, quickly hitting it four times. I glanced at the Onigiri Sensei. "Not quite…put more energy into it!" He said.
"You want more energy?" I growled, attacking the dummy again. But the sensei just shook his head with a disappointed look on his face. "Is that all the strength you can muster?" My ears were pressed flat against my head. I looked over at Ammy, a probably pathetic-looking expression on my face.
"That's all right. Just keep trying." Her voice was gentle, and it calmed me down a bit. "Here, let me show you again." She repeated exactly what she did before effortlessly. I watched carefully. Maybe that was my problem…I was trying to hard. I came at the dummy once more, this time letting instinct tell me what to do.
"Yes! Let your warrior's spirit burn bright!" I heard Onigiri Sensei say.(try saying that five times fast)I smiled and attacked again, starting to enjoy the training. "That's enough for now!" Ammy and I both turned towards the sensei. "Very impressive. You have both shown me your warrior spirits! You mustn't neglect that spirit. Train it every day to keep it strong. You may go now. Show those foul creatures the true nature of the warrior!" He tossed us a holy bone m, which Issun grabbed for safe keeping.
"All right, let's go!" He said. Ammy and I fed some pigs outside of the dojo and dug up a chest behind it(with a stray bead inside)before leaving.
"Waaaait…" I stopped us just as we crossed the small bridge that went over a pond. "Where are we supposed to go next?"
"Follow the path, take a left at the fork in the road, and take a right down the hill." Going to see the Moon Shrine now? We followed the instructions, but instead of going into the Moon Shrine, we took another left at the bottom of the hill. "Where the heck are you two going?" Issun yelled at us. We just ignored him. When Ammy and I came to an area with a buried stray bead and two un-bloomed trees, he was speechless. "Wha-but…how did you…how could you…"
"I'm just one of those people who are naturally awesome." I used one of Issun's own quotes against him.
"Let's just get to the dang Moon Shrine already." He grumbled and bounced away. (Yup, not on Ammy's head for once. Gasp!)
"I just love to annoy him." I commented.
"Yes, I can see that." Ammy smiled, but then turned towards me. "You do realize that's going to bite you in the butt sometime, right?"
"I'll enjoy it while I can."
Ammy rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. "Let's follow him in case he gets into trouble."
"Oh, great, another Susano is being born." We dashed off after the poncle.
"Took you long enough." Issun was sitting at the door. Or standing. Or lying down. Or doing push-ups. I couldn't tell. He's seriously just too dang tiny.
"We got here a second after you, bug." I growled.
"I thought we've been over the bug thing!"
"Yeah, well, now I'm starting to doubt your poncle story. I mean, you're as annoying as a mosquito, although you don't suck blood. And you can't fly." Issun's glow was red now. My ears were pressed against my head.(this time in anger, not embarrassment)
"Hypocrite. You're pretty annoying yourself, always slowing me and Ammy down. We'd already be halfway done with this adventure if you weren't here. Look at how much you slowed us down in Hana Valley. And now long it took you to learn one move at the dojo. Face it, you're useless." I didn't respond. Issun did have a point. I was always slowing them down. They'd be in the Tsuta Ruins by now if I wasn't there. Maybe I was just a nuisance.
"Issun!" Ammy growled. "That's enough!"
"Sure thing, mom." I heard him mutter.
"Tell her you're sorry."
"No." He was promptly eaten.
Ten minutes later…
"I'm still not sayin' it!" Issun yelled from inside Ammy's mouth. She finally gave up and spit him out and he jumped back onto her head.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Ammy told me.
"Yeah. Sure." I responded in a flat tone.
"Come on. Let's just go inside."
"You guys can go. I'll stay out here."
Ammy looked at me. "Celia, trust me. You're not slowing down anyone."
"No, it's fine. I want to stay out here. I like the fresh air." That was the most pathetic excuse I'd ever come up with in my entire life. And that's saying something. But Ammy knew I wouldn't change my mind, so she went in without me. But right before they were out of my sight, I heard Issun mutter "Ten more wasted minutes."
I sighed. Why did I have to be so useless? I knew Ammy and Issun were capable of finishing out adventure without me. Heck, it wasn't even my adventure. Was there a silver and purple wolf named Celia in Okami? No, there wasn't. I wasn't supposed to be there. What if I slowed Ammy and Issun down so much that, say, we wouldn't be ready to fight Orochi on the night of the full moon? Maybe we wouldn't be able to find all the canine warriors in time. We wouldn't get to the Gale Shrine, we wouldn't get galestorm, and we wouldn't be able to get through the Moon Cave. Kushi would be eaten by Orochi, and it'd be my fault. Then Orochi would take over Nippon. And I'd be the one to blame. I shuddered at the thought. Then I had an idea.
What if I left? If I wasn't traveling with Ammy and Issun? Then everything would be okay. They'd beat Orochi and any other bad guys that happen to want to take over or destroy Nippon, and everyone would live happily ever after. I'd probably be sent back to my world eventually. And even if I wasn't, I was a wolf. I'd be fine living on my own in the wild. But come to think of it, Ammy was a god…it wouldn't take her that long to find me.
Then I was suddenly aware of all the water around me. Maybe…no way. No. Not in a million years. But still…I didn't want to feel responsible if the people in Nippon ended up dead or worse. Ammy and Issun would understand. I had to. But just before I was going to jump, something stopped me.
I saw Ammy and Issun walk out of the shrine. But the weird thing is, I wasn't looking at them through my eyes. It was like a movie or something. And where I was standing before, there was no me.
"Hey, where's Silver?" Issun asked.
"Celia!" Amaterasu called. But there was no reply.
"Oh, jeez. Where did Fluffy go off to this time?" Issun groaned.
"Issun, this is serious." Ammy snapped.
"Okay, okay. Sorry. Sheesh."
"We have to find her." Ammy looked around the surrounding area and kept calling out my name, but I apparently was no where to be found. Finally, Issun spotted something.
"Ammy! Look!" He pointed Denkomaru out towards the water. Ammy looked that way and gasped. There was a silver wolf in the water, not moving.
"Oh Nuregami, no." Ammy jumped into the water and pulled the wolf to shore.
"S-Silver?" Issun bounced off Ammy's head and looked at the wolf. "C'mon, wake up." He poked her, but she didn't move.
"She's not breathing." Ammy put her paws on the wolf's chest and tried to get the water out of her lungs. She gave up after a minute or two. "It's not working."
Issun started to bounce against the wolf's chest. "You stupid wolf! Wake up!" But then he gave up, too.
"She's dead." Ammy said softly. Then the scene changed. Ammy was sitting in Kamiki, watching all the villagers. There were more than usual. I realized that it must be the festival. Despite all the fireworks and the cheerful atmosphere, Ammy was sitting back and silently watching, like she wasn't intending to join in the festivities.
But it's the annual festival. She and Issun should be having fun… Then I realized something, or more specifically, someone was missing. Where's Issun? The setting once again changed, this time to Taka Pass. Ammy and Issun were walking away from the molsters with a teacup in tow. But Issun looked back and spotted something. A konahana blossom over a house. The thing that really interested him though was the treasure chest on the rooftop.
"Hey, Ammy. I'mma go get a treasure over there. I'll catch up."
"Don get yosef kiwd." The teacup in her jaws messed up her speech, but Issun understood what she said.
"Stop being so paranoid." A vine wrapped around the poncle and pulled him off Ammy's head. She didn't walk ten steps before she heard a tiny voice yell out.
"Ammy...help!"
"Issun!" Amaterasu dropped the teacup and ran to the voice of her friend. She skidded to a halt when she saw Mrs. Cutter squeezing Issun in her hand. The sun goddess lunged at the old lady, killing her quickly. Then she went over to Issun, who had been dropped onto the ground.
"A-Ammy…" He coughed. Amaterasu noticed that there was red in the poncle's green glow. Blood.
"Save your strength, Issun." She told him. He just snorted.
"What strength? I'm done, Furball." She let out a pathetic whimper. "Sorry, Ammy." He had a coughing fit. "Kick Orochi's butt for me…and Silver…okay?" Ammy gave a small nod. There were tears in her eyes. "Thanks, Furball." Then he stopped talking. I felt bad. Really bad. Had I been there, I could've stopped him from going to the Cutters' house. There was an overwhelming sadness washing over me. Issun's death was my fault.
Just as I heard Ammy let out a sad howl, the scene changed again. What now? What couldn't possibly be worse than the three events I just saw? Ammy fell to the ground. There were huge, and I mean HUGE blades of grass all around her. But at least there was a pathway for her to follow. Which she did. A loud crunching noise came closer and closer until a giant foot stepped in front of her. A few more steps and she would've been a pancake.
"What the freaking crap?" If I had been there, I would've gasped. Did Ammy seriously just use the words 'freaking' and 'crap'? I mean, they weren't too bad, but this was Ammy. A goddess. It just wasn't right. After the foot left she growled in the direction it went in, but followed the trail. It split off, one way went left, one went right. A lockjaw blocked the left pathway, so she just took the right. She gave the giant spider hanging over the pathway a weary glance, but it didn't look like it wanted to hurt her, so she just kept walking.
But right when Ammy walked under it, the spider attacked. She yelped when one of the spider's fangs hit the wing-shaped thing on her shoulder. It knocked her off balance, and she fell to the ground. While she was still lying on her side, the spider attacked again, this time its fangs piercing her side. She dragged herself away before it could attack again, but there was a pretty big hole in her side, and she was loosing a lot of blood fast. She let out a pain-filled whimper before finally closing her eyes.
"No!" I yelled. Then I realized I was back at the Moon Shrine, alive and in my own body. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I noticed that I was standing right on the edge of the deck. I scooted away from it a little. Better yet, I decided to walk down the steps to actual land. But right when I set foot on the sand, a barrier appeared around me. "Seriously?" I asked. Two green imps and a red imp appeared. Except the red imp had a huge, glowing, confetti generating arrow stuck in its butt. It was actually pretty funny to look at.
"I am Toyo of short temper." The red imp announced. "Speak your last words, wolf!"
"Okay, um…it looks like you're crapping confetti." I barked. Apparently Mr. Confetti Crap didn't like my choice of words.
"You will die for saying that!"
"Yeah, I don't think so." I smirked and used my newly learned skill to quickly take care of Confetti Crapper. I missed the floral finisher this time because I tried to cut off the confetti-making arrow to keep as a souvenir, but it just hit the ground and burst into flower petals. Sad day.
Just then I heard Ammy and Issun come outside. I never thought I'd be happier to see Ammy…or Issun, for that matter. I had to keep myself from glomping them both. And I couldn't say anything about the weirdo things I imagined. After all, my imagination does tend to go mad every once in a while. That must've been one of those times.
"You would not believe what just happened." I said. "A confetti-crapping red imp named Toyo or something like that just tried to kill me." I saw Issun pull out a scroll. "What's he doing?"
Since Issun seemed to be giving me the silent treatment, Ammy answered for him. "The priest of the shrine gave us a wanted list, and that was one of the monsters."
"Oh…cool." I looked at the giant gate in front of us. "So…should we go see the Moon Cave next?"
"Sure." But as we were walking, Issun jumped off Ammy's head. "And what do you think you're doing?" I asked him. He didn't reply.
"Issun," Ammy warned.
"I refuse to go to the Moon Cave if Silver's going."
"Are you freaking serious?"
"Issun, you need to act more mature. Why won't you go?"
"Because. I'll just wait here. You two can go see it, but I'm staying here!"
I gave a wolfish shrug. "Suit yourself." Ammy and I started to walk towards the Moon Cave. Then I started to realize that this wasn't such a great idea. Issun was the helping character. Although annoying, some of the things he said were useful. What if there was something Ammy needed to know, but Issun wasn't here to say it? I guess I had to get as much information to Ammy as possible without making it seem suspicious. Nothing too Issun-sounding, and no mentioning things it'd be impossible for me to know. I hoped I could remember most of what Issun said in the game up to three days ago…
I had a feeling lines would be butchered. Badly.
Ammy and I stopped when we saw the scenery change. What was once just a sandy path turned into a trail leading all the way into a huge mountain. The sky turned dark and was filled with thunder clouds, and there was lightning striking off in the distance.
Time to murder some dialogue.
"Uh…I thought the Moon Cave looked different a second ago…before we passed through that gate, at least." I commented. "Seriously, what the heck's up with the random appearing mountain over there?"
"That definitely wasn't in the middle of the lake a minute ago." Ammy agreed.
"The Moon cave was where Nagi killed Orochi, right?" Ammy nodded. "Well, why was everyone calling that path we saw before the path to the Moon Cave? This looks heck of a lot bigger."
"I don't know."
"Well…let's check it out!" I suggested in a much more enthusiastic manner. We ran down the path and up some stone stairs before reaching the entrance to the Moon Cave. A weird-looking barrier blocked us from going any further. Then I realized that Ammy didn't know if it was dangerous to touch or not. And I still had to make a point of that…well, it was something I did when I played Okami…and, I guess it was something I'd do, proven by the time I'd poked the mud back in Hana Valley. Here goes nothing…
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Ammy warned, seeing my expression. Thank you, Ammy, for saving me from being stung, or zapped, or burned, or disintegrated, or…actually, looking back on it, there were a lot of things that could've happened…okay, my gratefulness went up. By a lot. I gave Ammy an innocent smile. She just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Let's get back to Issun now. I'm sure he'll want to hear about the magical appearing mountain."
"From you, at least."
"Of course, from me."
"Can we go now?" Issun asked in an impatient tone when we finally reached him.
"Sure." I answered, but he acted like he didn't hear me.
Ammy looked at me. "You don't want to tell him?"
"Tell me what?"
"Nah."
"What're you two talking about?"
"It's not important."
"C'mon, Silver! Tell me anyways!"
"No, I don't think I wanna."
"The Moon Cave looks different up close." I shot Ammy a glare. Traitor. "There's a giant mountain with a cave, but a barrier is blocking the entrance."
"Strange…" Issun said. "Well, we can figure out why that is later. We still have one last place in Shinshu Field to visit." As we were walking, I noticed Ammy watching me.
"What?" I asked.
"You're tired." I just noticed that it was nighttime. Right, it had to have been night before Ammy and Issun walked out of the Moon Shrine, since the imps on the wanted list only came out at night. And it was daytime when Ammy and Issun went in. Was I out of it for an entire day? But those two wouldn't take that long to talk to Mica. I tried to remember back to my playthrough of Okami. If I remembered right, it turned to night right after I got the wanted list. Maybe it was like using crescent? But that didn't explain why I was so tired…
Then I realized that Ammy and Issun were staring at me, expecting a response. "No, it's fine. I'm not that tired." I felt my eyelids drooping. I can be such a bad liar at times. "Let's just get going." But I tripped right when I tried to go forward.
"Uh huh. I think you need to sleep again." I didn't protest this time. Ammy and I went to the place with the two trees we bloomed and slept there for the night. But I'm pretty sure that right before I went to sleep, I heard Issun muttering about more time wasted.
"Hey! Fluffy!" I felt something tiny bouncing on my snout and swatted it off with my paw. "C'mon! Wake up! We don't have all day!" I finally registered the voice as Issun's…okay, goin' back to sleep, then…I yelped when I felt something stab my paw. I was sitting up in an instant. I looked down at my paw and saw a few drops of blood on it. The freaking nerve of that poncle… "Hey, Ammy! I finally woke her up!" Issun announced.
"I can see that." Ammy said in a bored tone.
"He stabbed me!" I complained.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Oh, look who's talking."
"Hey, at least I try to be useful!"
"Yeah, by repeating everything everyone says and using the occasional brush technique. That sure helps us out a lot."
"Better than just being here to slow us down!"
"This again? I swear, if you mention that one more time, I will freaking dise-" A growl from Ammy stopped me from finishing the sentence.
"You two need to stop fighting." She gave us both a stern look until we nodded.
"You'll have to wait until heck freezes over for that." I muttered once she was out of earshot. We took a left at the top of the hill and it didn't take us long to get to our last stop. The Agata Forest Port.
"The ferry between Shinshu Field and Agata Forest docks here." Issun informed us. "The ferry used to run frequently, but it's been out of service since the water level dropped. Well…I think we've seen about all there is to see here in Shinshu Field. Maybe it's time we checked in on Sakuya back in Kamiki Village."
"Yeah, we've sorta been putting it off for two days."
"Who asked you?"
"No one. I just stated a fact."
"Well, that's my job."
"If I remember correctly, your job is to be redundant and annoying at all times."
"No, my job is to be informative and to flirt with cute girls. Your job is to be annoying."
"Not really to be annoying, just to annoy you. And whose job is it to be redundant, then?"
"No ones. But you forgot, your other job is to slow us down."
"A)You were the one who stated my jobs first, and B)I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Issun was saved only by Ammy returning before I took Issun's insides out.
"She's trying to kill me!" Issun yelled as he jumped onto Ammy's head. "She's murderous! Let's just ditch her now before she does us both in!"
"Issun, stop being ridiculous."
"But…she…she seriously said…"
"You'd really expect me to kill you, Issun? I feel hurt."
"I wouldn't put it past you…"
"Issun!"
"I'm joking!"
"Didn't sound like it."
"You stay out of this, Fluffy!"
"I was in it from the beginning, you idiot!"
"Oh, yeah…"
"Oh my gosh…" I was trying not to bash my head on the nearest rock. Another one of Issun's jobs: being stupid. And boy, is he good at it.
We made one more trip around Shinshu Field, getting(hopefully)all the treasure we missed. A vengeance slip from destroying a demon gate, an exorcism slip s from a crack in the cliff side, a buried stray bead across the river from the origin mirror and up a small cliff, a vase next to the dock near Tama's house, and a scroll titled legend of Orochi…right in front of Tama's house. How we didn't spot that before, I will never know.
Then we ran off to Kamiki to see Sakuya. After blooming six trees near the entrance of Shinshu Field, of course. Guess which divine attribute we upgraded this time!
If you guessed solar energy, you are correct! Pass go, collect $200, and here's a cookie for ya.
MY JOB IS TO WRITE ALL THIS! *cherry bombed*
Celia and Issun: s/he did it! *pointing to eachother*
I dunno why, but I really didn't like that ending...*shrug* oh well. And, yes, Issun did pull off a time paradox by singing 'somebody call nine-one-one' XD
Celia: Are you done with your comments?
No! Not yet! I'd also like to say sorry if anyone was confused by the dream thingy Celia had.(i know at least one person who reads this hasn't gotten past the Tsuta Ruins yet...)I wrote this chapter a long time ago and never really considered that a person who hasn't gotten that far might be reading this. If there's anyone who has not played that far yet, again, sorry. Just nod your head and go along with it for now, you can re-read it once you've played that far in the game or read that far in my fanfic. XD
Celia: *staying quiet*
Yes, I am done.
Celia: Thank you. R-
Issun: Read and review, please!
Celia: It was my turn!
Issun: Well, too bad!
*giant fight that I'd rather not describe due to too much violence*
*shaking head* They just won't ever quit.
