~ Chapter 10

"W…what?" Oki cries. "What do you mean? How is that possible? I don't get it!" Oki leaned towards Yuriko and grabbed her arm. "You-have-to-tell-me-why."

Yuriko thought she was in more of a panic than Oki was, but only because she actually knew what was causing it. She mimicked him saying, "If-you-are-patient-then-I-will-tell-you-soon-enough. The island is right over there, now if the big boy takes a deep breath and relaxes a bit, I can take him over there, got it?" Oki breathed in, and out, and replied with an okay. Yuriko turned into a wolf and swung Oki onto her back. She sprinted over to the docks and dived in.

Once on the shore of the island, Yuriko ran into the cover of trees and looked up at the tower. She prayed to Kabegami and told Oki to hang on tight and began to ascend. With every leap, she stuck onto the wall as if her feet were covered in glue. Yuriko gracefully flew up, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and finally, eight floors of a never ending tower. The two of them got to a very random mermaid spring. Yuriko placed Oki's foot in the water and turned back into a human. "Do you really want to know what is going on?" she asked with worried eyes.
"Yes. I am positive." Oki responded.
"Okay. A long time ago, when the ark of yamato came crashing down from the heavens, silently behind it followed an egg shaped object. No one really noticed it at first. It is said that it landed somewhere around the twin mountains Ezofuji. The twin demons lechku and nechku noticed this egg shaped case and cracked it open and revealed an evil power unlike any other; her name is Fuzen. Fuzen was grateful and handed some of her evil powers over, but not for long. She descended to your village of Wep'Keer and fought and killed all of the warriors that stood in her way. Fuzen eventually made her way to Yoshpet and spread her evil there; that is why that forest is so deadly. Anyway, all of the villagers were fed up of being frightened to even look outside of their window. So they prayed to the gods who sent them a warrior whose strength was undeniable; his name was Jinketsu. Jinketsu ventured his way over to Yoshpet and defeated Fuzen and locked her away somewhere unknown and never visited in Kamui. Now, it would seem that somehow, she has escaped from her prison and is seeking for revenge. So she has laid a black deadly mist over all of Nippon and eventually Kamui." She looked around the room and questioned if what she was about to tell him was the right thing to do. Waka kept' popping in her mind. After a few seconds, she physically pushed all of the thoughts away and told Oki. "The reason why you didn't turn to stone the moment you stepped into the mist is because of me. I am special because I am a god." She gulped loudly. "My real name is Megami Yuriakuro."
"Wait a minute." Oki stopped Yuriko before she said anything else that could be even more confusing to him than it was now. "You are a god. Which means that you are immune to her evil, correct?"

"Yes."
"And I was with you so that made me immune?"

"Correct."

"So why isn't it working now?"
"I don't know, it is probably Waka's fault."

"One last question," Oki picked his foot out of the water and outstretched his leg. "Of all name's, why did you pick Yuriko? I mean, isn't it a guy's name?"

"Ha ha, you are hysterical. I picked Yuriko because Yuri is the beginning of Yuriakuro and you name, Oki, backwards is i-k-o. Yuriko. Get it?"

"You did all of that in your head at the second I asked you for your name?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. So, where are we supposed to go to next?"

"The only person who can look at your foot, Waka." Oki widened his eyes and tried to stand up, but failed. "Are you insane? He is going to be hysterical because you disobeyed him!"

"It doesn't matter, that is where we are going. We have to get to Sei-an city, before the rest of you is stone." Yuriko grabbed Oki's arm and yanked him to his feet.

"Now that I know your real name, it feels kind of awkward to call you Yuriko so, would you mind if I called you Megami?"

"It doesn't matter, I will respond to both. Now, how do we get there without hurting you?"

"While you were talking with queen Himiko, I bought some Mermaid coins at the tools dealer and if I remember correctly-,"

"This is a mermaid spring!" Megami snatched a coin out of his pocket and tossed it in. She called out, Sei-an city, and then too, tossed Oki and herself into the water.

Oki landed on the grass with a loud thud. That didn't really help the pain in his solid foot and it didn't help anymore when Yuriko landed on top of him. "I thought you said without hurting me…" Oki gasped as he shook her off of him.

"Sorry, but, no time to complain!" Yuriko grabbed Oki's arm once again, and dragged him off to the spring where Oki had been resting before.

The same pink shirted guard was still there, leaning against the rock. Megami looked up and sighed. Then, as if it was magic, the water acted as a geyser and sprayed up and made a platform to Waka's 'house.' She jumped up and landed on the front walkway. Her grip on Oki loosened as the two of them stared a very angry blonde man in the face. Oki slid his arm up so that Megami was holding his hand. "First you disobey me by not going back to Kamui, and then you tell him all about Fuzen and why you are so 'special.' Ha, you are not a god. You are just a poor little girl whose hopes are being crushed by a mean old moon tribe man well, boo hoo." Waka yelled.

"Waka I had to-" Yuriko cried.

"Megami, we both know who is in control and there is nothing you can do that is going to keep me from cutting this string."

"I have talked to Queen Himiko. She helped me open my eyes and showed me the kind of lying cow you really are. I am really very surprised at that because Okami Amaterasu told me that you were a nice man and is wonderful to have around." Yuriko retorted.

"Amaterasu has nothing to do with you or any of your plans Ma Cherie." Megami smiled; she saw everything now.

"Why are you letting Fuzen control you Waka?" she asked. Oki let go of Megami's hand and stumbled backwards about five feet. "Do you think you can deceive me by controlling him?"

"How can you tell? You are nothing compared to some of the wannabe god's around the celestial plain." Fuzen's voice finally spoke through. "I am a real god! I have powers beyond belief!"

"That doesn't make you anything. Get out of my friend and leave us all alone. When I decide to face you again you will regret it." Megami argued back.

"I don't need this silly prophet anyway. I have Orochi working for me now. He does anything I tell him to do."

"I bet he is just doing that so he can get all of the power he wants, then kills you off or stabs you in the back and retreats back to Yami." Fuzen grimaced at her statement. She then came out of Waka's body with a puff of black mist and flew off towards Shinshu field. "Good riddance." Megami moved back over to Oki. He was trembling in fear.

"Just being in her presence was frightening." He gasped. "I think I am in for more than I bargained for."

"Ya think?" Megami laughed and lightened Oki's spirit. He then joined in to the laughing as Waka sat up from lying on the ground and rubbed his head.

"Ma Cherie, it is not nice to laugh at people…" Waka said.

"Are you back and normal now? Even though you were never normal." Megami inquired.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you remember anything that happened? You were possessed by Fuzen and you sent me on a quest to Kamui. I told Oki everything. Do you remember any of that happening?"

"I don't know why you thought I would be mad at you for all of those things Ma Cherie." Megami ran over to Waka and hugged him tightly and smiled at the return of her friend. "Did Fuzen say that she had Orochi helping her?"

"And that roar," Oki pointed out.

"I think we are running out of time Megami."

"I think we are too. The full moon is closer than we think. This also means, Amaterasu's departure here is also closer than we think which lowers our time for defeating Fuzen."

"I am guessing this is really, really bad." Oki jumped in. "So I would suggest starting with a lead of how we could defeat her."

"Megami and I will go over that. For now though Oki, you should check on all of the villagers."

"But… Megami, my foot?"

"Opps. Forgot about that. Uh, Waka, Oki is uh, kind of turning to stone. Any ideas?"

"I'll tend to him. This means you get to check on all of the villagers. Have fun."

"I'll try." Megami replied sarcastically. She trotted down to the bottom of the city. She made her way over to a house that had a tree as a roof. She chuckled at the way it looked. "Excuse me!" she called to the man who was inside. Megami ran over to the door and knocked really loudly.

"Who is banging at my door?" replied a weary old man. He opened the door and Megami chuckled again; the man had a tree on his head. "Oh, what a lovely young maiden, how can I help you?"

"I think that is what I should be asking you." She replied. "I was sent here from the land of Kamui up north to help all of the civilians in Sei-an city."

"Why all the way from Kamui?"

"I don't know, but, do you need any help?"

"Well actually…" the old man looked at six very dead trees that surrounded his house. "Some of the trees around here died and aren't as beautiful as they used to be. Can you help me bloom them once again?"

"Of course. You wait right here, I will bloom every single one." Megami ran across the city and stood in front of the first dead tree. "How is this going to work?" she asked to nothing. Then it seemed that Sakigami lent her his power. Megami turned into a wolf and painted a circle around the tree with her tail. "I did it!" she cried as the tree burst into a bundle of blossoms. "One down, nine to go!" she barked. Megami jumped from tree to tree, blooming every single one. Once she got to the six trees around the old man's house, she made shure he was inside and couldn't see her in wolf form. She painted the six circles around the trees and they bloomed. Then she quickly turned herself back into a human and hurried the man outside to see what she had done. The man jumped for joy and hugged Megami and thanked her. "If there is anything that I could do for you, just tell me. You can call me Mr. Flower." Megami thanked him and ran off to the next civilian, then the next, helping every single one of them until Oki came down from the sky, screaming.

"Oki?" Megami yelled. "Are you okay?"

"LOOK AT MY FOOT!" he cried. It was better. So why was he sounding so angry?

"It is better. That's amazing so, why do you sound so angry?"

"I always sound like this." he mumbled.

20 days had passed since Oki's foot was healed. Oki, Megami and Waka had decided to make the best of times for as long as they could, because they only had a year, and then a year turned into 4 months. They had so much to do; Megami had to train Oki, they had to come up with a plan, they had to locate Fuzen, and so on. Waka was doing research in his headquarters when he suddenly came down in front of Oki. Megami was talking to the weapons dealer and trying to bargain for an expensive new blade for Oki.

"Oki!" he called as he made his graceful landing. "I have found something, a way to defeat Fuzen!" Oki grabbed his arm and pulled him towards Megami.

"Megami! Megami!" Oki cried as he hauled Waka along behind him. "Waka found a way to defeat Fuzen!"

"You did?! HOW!?" Megami cried back.

"I will tell you later Ma Cherie." Waka reluctantly replied. "First, we must find her. Then we will have to get there, and then we will have to buy the right supplies and by the time we do all of that, plans might have to change so, we should better get a move on."

Megami sighed and looked at her feet. "I can find Fuzen. That is how I knew she was somewhere in Kamui. No one ever knew that and most people don't even know she exists."

Oki obviously didn't realize that she was still hiding something from him, because he appeared overly delighted. "That's great Megami! Now should we take heed to Waka's word and get a move on?"

"I love how we completely skipped over the whole, getting supplies part." Waka retorted.

The three of them retrieved many things such as weapons and mermaid coins, water and food. Finally, they were heading off, on an endless journey to Kamui, and maybe beyond.