A/N: Sorry about the delay of this chapter. I needed it to be a little longer, and I got sick all last week, so I started off behind schedule. Didn't help that this chapter is mostly a filler one and I have a hard time getting through them. Well, on with the chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters from the show.
Chapter 21 Competition
Gasping with perplexity and distaste, I watched Vlad vanish before my eyes. Don't disappoint me. What had that meant? Had he predicted this from me, or was he making this up just as spontaneously as I? He-this was getting ridiculous! I was suddenly furious over the frustration those three words caused me.
"Danny, are you alright?" Sam asked me the general question. She gently settled me onto the toilet seat so I could catch my breath. When I didn't answer her at first, she decided I was okay by her standards and asked, "What was that all about?"
"Hell if I knew," I snapped up at her. "The man's off his rocker."
Sam stood up, looking offended by my tactless tone. Her eyes glared down at me before she muttered with angry sarcasm, "Well, you're a big help."
"I'm not the one who just got themselves caught the two seconds they were here after flying halfway around the world. Real genius work back there, Sam," I retaliated rather nastily. I knew I was upset, but the words just couldn't be stopped. The second they slipped off my tongue, I regretted opening my mouth.
"What was I supposed to do, Danny?" Sam retorted. "I just watched as Vlad dragged you inside the house. I waited a few minutes before following. I thought Vlad was going to hurt you or something."
"News flash, Sam!" I shouted up at her. "I've been Vlad's special punching bag for an entire week! He shot me in the shoulder, for crying out loud! All because I refused to move out of the way of someone he wanted to kill. And you know what? He killed him anyways! Shot him in the head! You're too late, Sam! He's hurt me so many times now that I don't care anymore." My weary stare transferred to my shoes before I whispered, "What difference would it make if you saved me now?"
We didn't say anything for a long minute. My eyes were tempted to connect back with hers, but I refrained from moving them from their transfixed stare on my sneakers. The fear in me prevented me from moving at all. I was scared of how she was going to respond. A pit of regret yanked my stomach into a depression inside me as the silence precariously built up between us.
I so badly wanted her to say something. I wanted her to yell back at me for being so mean and selfish. What was wrong with me? Why was I pushing her away like this? This somber pause was killing me.
"I'm sorry," Sam said quietly. My head shot up, and our eyes met. Those violet orbs of hers were wet with emotion. The pit of guilt in my stomach churned into a twisted ball of inner suffering. Oh, I hoped she wouldn't cry!
"No, Sam. I -," I struggled to start the apology. Sam cut me off abruptly when she got down on her knees so we were face to face. She took my cold hands into her warm ones. The touch comforted me. It was nothing like Ran's and mine connection. This was natural. This is what I liked.
"Danny, I'm sorry that we weren't there for you," Sam told me calmly. She sighed with indignation. "Vlad did a really big head job on you. I didn't realize that could happen until we bumped into each other in the garden. But I'm here now. I'm your friend. You don't have to go this alone anymore."
Her words settled my agitated mood. I closed my eyes and gave a long sigh. Opening them, I pulled a weak smile to my lips and said, "Thanks."
"Does this mean you're ready to be nice?" Sam asked with well hidden smugness in her tight smile.
"Sorry," I said as my cheeks burned a tint of red. "I was a bit of a jerk."
"It's okay," Sam said. She threw her slender shoulders into a shrug. "I already guessed that Vlad was trying to train you to be his jerky pupil. I see some of his lessons have sunk into that thick head of yours." She rapped on my head here before saying, "Hopefully, you'll hop over to the good side again. We have cookies."
"Then that settles it," I said, grinning widely. "I'm a good guy again. You have found my weakness for the cookie. You fiend."
Sam giggled slightly. We were close. Very close. She hadn't realized this yet, but my thudding heart had already alerted me to our close proximity. I was disappointed when her eyes traveled quickly down to our hands. Her cheeks flushed a rosy pink as she disentangled her hands from mine and she stood up suddenly.
"Um...so what do we do now?" Sam asked after a pause of awkward silence.
"Heh, good question," I answered reluctantly. "First, we gotta get out of this bathroom. Then we gotta find that person with the power to destroy the golem. And the person has to agree to help us. That won't be easy. Then there's the problem of actually finding the golem." I was not comforting myself. My head spun in millions of directions before I uttered under my breath, "Crap. I'm crazy."
"You're not crazy, Danny," Sam said with the roll of her eyes. "What's the problem?"
"I don't even know where to start!" I argued loudly. "I mean, I know how to get out of the bathroom, but how the hell am I gonna find this person? This is impossible!"
"Calm down," Sam said emotionlessly. She almost sounded tired of me. I couldn't really blame her. My scatter brained emotions were so instant, I could have been mistaken as a girl. (Sorry girls.) Good thing I had Sam here to remind me to pull myself together.
"Alright," I grumbled. "What makes you so even keel?"
Sam let herself express something of a knowing, taunting smile. She folded her arms in front of her, shot me a jaunty look, and revealed with hidden pleasure, "Those names you gave us to research have, let's say, enlightened me. I'll tell you what we're going to do in a minute. First we gotta get out of this bathroom."
"Right," I said. The hope in my voice couldn't be denied. Sam watched as I spun the watch face around on my wrist. The pain I knew that was ahead made me pause for a second before I pressed in the face.
My eyes were squeezed shut. A gasp of pain clogged in my throat. The sensation of knives tearing down the insides of my arm for one brief moment was almost unbearable. Then the pain ebbed graciously away. I blinked away the tears that had sprung to my eyes during the gene transformation. That had been particularly hard.
"You okay?" Sam asked tentatively, crouching a little to look me in the eyes.
"Fine," I said naturally. A good clearing shake the the head and a ghost metamorphosis later, and I was in the best kind of spirits than I'd ever been in since the beginning of my long journey to Japan. "Where to?" I asked Sam as I leapt to my feet excitedly.
"To that garden," Sam said. She seemed glad to see me so eager and happy. "My stuff is all there. And your...um cat is out there too. Why do you have a cat?"
"Long story," I answered while taking hold of her forearm and turning both of us intangible. The bonds of reality easily left the both of us as I pushed off the ground and floated there in mid air.
"Good. I like stories," Sam said. I glanced back down at her as I phased through the ceiling and pulled her along after me. She wore a smirk.
Succumbing to her curiosity, I retold the story of Vlad and I visiting Prague. She seemed interested in my recount of the two ghost hunters and my fight with one of them. My throat found it difficult to get the words out when I got to the part concerning Chan Man. The fresh memory of his death was a painted picture inside my head. Many times through the tale I had to clear my throat and plow ahead.
"I can't believe the cruelty of that man!" Sam huffed as I let her down on solid ground once again in the garden. I had just told her that Mr. Goldberg had put his computer chip inside Inazuma. Like I'd predicted, she was having one of her usual animal rights fits. I was personally glad to get off the subject of Chan Man.
"Yeah," I muttered off handedly to sooth her diatribe. She led me into the bushes where she had been hidden only a few minutes before. "Very cruel."
"Here we are!" Sam practically screamed. Her mood was still reflecting on her anger towards the horrible Mr. Goldberg. The girl, breathing hard, came to a halt where a bed of leaves was at our feet. A large open backpack laid off to the side. Extra clothes and a ghost gadget or two could be seen in the depths of the bag.
"Jeez, Sam. And you tell me to calm down," I said quietly.
"I am calm!" she snarled back at me.
"Whatever you say," I muttered while rubbing the back of my neck in nervous habit. Better not argue with her when she went into this mood. It would be like poking an enraged lion with a very short stick. Yeah. Not smart. And although I don't consider myself someone with much gray matter, I still believe I've got enough common sense to let the girl go.
Sam gave a short sigh to settle her anger on the spot. She pushed some of her leaf infested hair behind her ears as she forced herself to remember what she was doing before saying anything. The story had gotten her flustered, but I could tell she was getting back to normal with each passing second.
"Okay, I made a visual for you on the plane ride here," Sam said. She kneeled down beside her backpack and started to empty it out on the leafy floor. Perplexed but willing to endure, I sat down beside her and waited suspiciously.
"A visual?" I questioned. "What am I? Five?"
"No," Sam said patiently behind her shoulder. "Just thought a family tree would help you to understand." She finally pulled out a worn and torn notebook and turned towards me as if drawing a meeting between us. Her fingers flipped through the crumpled pages until stopping at the one she liked. She folded it back, stared at it with critical eyes, then held it out for me to look at.
My eyes quickly scanned the tops of the family tree. I was halfway through it when the first surprise popped out at me. "Wait," I said in growing disbelief, "Mr. Izumi and Miss Tanaka are married?"
"Were married," Sam corrected. "She divorced Izumi a year after having her first and only daughter. That would be Ran. Oh, it's all in front of you. Keep reading."
"Whoa! This is crazy! Why didn't Vlad tell me this?" I said. My hands found holds in my unwashed hair.
"I don't think he knows they were married," Sam said quietly. I stared at her until she said more. She brushed her hair back behind her ear again before leaning toward me and saying as if sharing a secret, "Miss Tanaka used to date Vlad, you know?"
"Yeah, I know," I said.
"Oh," Sam said, surprised. She leaned back, gave a peculiar face, and asked, "You do?"
"They told me they had dated in high school the first day I met Miss Tanaka," I said. "Not exactly an image that gets out of your head after a few days."
"I think she wanted to marry Vlad," Sam said thoughtfully. "She was going to move to the States for him. But then he got into college and evidently fell in love with...well...your mom. Kind of broke this Tanaka woman's heart. So she probably married Izumi to make Vlad jealous. But of course she never told him for some odd reason. Then she had Ran, and she saw her connection with Izumi physically manifest. Must have drove her off. So, she divorced him, gave him full custody of Ran, and took some small knowledge of his drug business with her to start out on her own."
"How do you know all this?" I asked incredulously. "Do girls really think this way?"
"You'd be surprised how stupidly complicated girls can be," Sam said dully.
"Yeah. No kidding," I muttered in unwanted astonishment. I shook my head and regarded the family tree in my hands once again. "So Toushiro is Katsumi's little brother. Why is he working for Izumi then?"
"Toushiro?" Sam asked with interest. "How do you know anything about him?"
"He...um...kind of kidnapped me," I said evasively. "But, he's not so...bad. I mean, he did torture me a little. At the end, though, he didn't shoot me. I call that a good quality in a person. And he's an awesome fighter. Took on Vlad single handedly. Cool, huh?"
"No wonder you've been acting so weird," Sam whispered after a wide eyed stare.
"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked offendedly.
"Kidnapped, tortured, kidnapped again, tortured again," Sam said with exasperation. She threw her hands up into the air. "That's enough to give anyone some brain damage."
"Goody," I grumbled sarcastically.
"You know what I mean, Danny," Sam said with a reproachful look.
My mouth opened to argue but then closed again. There was no point to fighting with the girl. Besides, she was right. Maybe after days of having to be on my toes and quick to defend myself, I had forgotten to agree with people. It was a good theory.
"What does this have to do with me finding the golem or the person who's gonna help us defeat it?" I asked finally. "I mean, sure, it's comforting to see that Ran's insane because she has a whacked up mother. But this has nothing to do with anything, Sam."
"How do you know someone's out there that could defeat the golem?" Sam asked.
"The fox spirit told me," I answered. My entire body seemed to jump right off the ground when Inazuma leapt nimbly right into my lap. He purred as I began to scratch him behind the ears.
"Then this spirit has to know that you've already come into contact with this person," Sam said after giving Zuma an absent smile. She adamantly pointed at the family tree now in my hands. "The only people you've met in Japan are listed here. One of these guys has to be the person the fox spirit was talking about."
"You've got a point," I said grudgingly. My mind mulled over the list of names. A light bulb blinked into life inside my head. The fox spirit had come to me the day after I'd met Toushiro. I hadn't even known about him until that night. He survived numerous attacks from Plasmius. Out of any human I've met, he had the most chance of destroying the golem. It had to be him!
"You know who it is," Sam said when she saw the light smile fall upon my features.
"Toushiro Tanaka," I said. "No doubt about it!"
"Good," Sam said, sounding pleased. She paused for thought. The smile dropped from her face. "How do we find him?" My smile copied hers now.
"Ran would know," I said while in deep thought. "Toushiro seemed to hint at that he was close to her." My eyes traveled over the names of his three kids and wife. Vlad had been right. He had a kid my age. It was amazing how the evil man had come to that conclusion so quickly back in the warehouse.
"But how do we find Ran?" Sam asked with waning hope in her sigh.
"Now that's an easy one," I said, a laugh in my voice. "Come on. We're going to the arcade."
-Few Minutes Later-
"He's sticking back out again, Danny," Sam whispered into my ear. "Why couldn't we leave your cat behind? He liked the garden."
"He's been cooped up for days, Sam," I said while quickly shoving Zuma back down my hoodie. He gave a pleading mew before complying. His fuzzy head returned to the stuffy folds of fabric. "He's really interested in the noise and lights of the arcade, that's all. Once we're through here, he'll calm down."
We were inside the arcade now. I'd changed back into human form in an alley outside before coming in with Sam. What was odd was the part that I got as much stares here as if I was still an apparition. Sam got just as much or more than I. She ignored the dark eyes of the Japanese boys as if they were all part of the whirl of sounds and flash of bold, vibrant lights.
Sam gave me a side ways curious look. I threw her back one of obvious question. Pushing us through a tangle of players, Sam smiled and said, "Never thought you'd be a sucker for cute animals. That's supposed to be my thing remember?"
"He's not that cute," I objected with a lie.
"Oh, sure," Sam retorted. Her eyes slipped away from mine and settled on something next to my head. I looked over to see that Zuma had crawled up my shoulder again and was poking his head precariously out of the neck of my hoodie. His blue eyes were wide with innocent wonder. It was was, to be frank, really cute.
"Alright, he's cute," I admitted. Grinning, I shoved the kitten back down my sweatshirt and plowed through a throng of boys cheering on players at one popular gaming station. "But that's not why I'm attached. It's...uh...more than that."
"Really?" Sam asked with sudden serious interest.
I didn't meet her eyes. My reasons for liking Zuma so much were my own. I thought it would be stupid if I admitted I favored him because he reminded me of myself and I wanted to the savour I never had. In the back of my mind, I found the thing childish and somewhat selfish. It wasn't something I wanted to share.
Sam caught on that I wasn't going to say any more about it. A mysterious, sad smile flickered across her features. "That's pretty cool of you, Danny," she finally said in a quiet voice. I tried to smile back.
A massive crowd of teens and kids became a blockade to us. They were all cheering loudly for two competitors. The sheer noise was like going to a concert. I grabbed onto Sam's wrist before plunging into the ocean of bodies. Geek sweat from intensive game play pelted us from all sides as we squeezed through the throng. Somehow I knew what would meet us on the other side.
I brought Sam close to the front just as one of the gamers won. The crowd either cheered for the victory or booed in their disappointment in choosing the wrong champion. The loser slouched off in ultimate defeat.
Poor guy. I knew exactly who he had lost to. Ran Izumi.
"Give me another one!" Ran taunted the crowd of fans and haters in Japanese and English, just like before. She stood on a raised platform with colorful panels with arrows dotting the surface. A hand was placed on her hip. The scowl on her unsmiling face demanded for some competition. Her dark eyes held a certain pain in them. This wasn't the Ran I'd first met in this arcade. What had happened?
Today she dressed in a school uniform. She wore a cute plaid skirt she had altered to look freakishly short. Her white blouse sleeves were rolled up from whatever effort the game put her through. The rest of the school's dress code which included a yellow sweater vest, knee socks, and shoes were on the floor by the platform. She had kept the navy blue tie. It hung askew around her slim neck. Her long, black locks were all pushed up into a hasty ponytail. She hadn't spent a lot of time on her appearance that day.
"Come on!" Ran snapped at her crowd. "I'll crush every one of you losers!"
"Is she always like this?" Sam asked me. She looked disturbed at the sight of the girl.
"Not usually this intense," I said. I winced when she pulled out a cigarette, shoved it in her mouth, and lighted it with shaky hands. I had really wished that the destruction of her Hello Kitty lighter would deter her from the bad habit. Guess not.
"Don't make me force another one of you geeks to play," Ran spat after a long, desperate drag of her cigarette.
"I'll play you!" Sam shouted suddenly.
"Wait! Sam! Don't -," I hissed uselessly. She was already pushing some boys out of her way and crawling to the front but not before giving me a playful wink. I hoped she knew what she was doing.
When Ran saw Sam step up onto the second platform, she looked taken aback for a split second. No one would have noticed. I did because I knew her well enough. Something about Sam bothered her. The question of why came to me soon later.
"Seems like the Americans like popping up on me this week," Ran grumbled as she flicked her cigarette stub away. "Hopefully you won't screw up my life like the last one." The deathly look she shot Sam could have killed someone without prior experience, but Sam merely looked bored when receiving it.
Did Ran feel guilty for tricking me and helping her father in my kidnap? Had she really liked me that much? Why would she? I was the typical loser for a girl like her. That was even my nickname. Loser! That didn't sound like true love to me.
But maybe I was wrong. Maybe she had actually liked me because I was the first guy to not like her. She had finally found a guy who could ignore the good looks and see the crazy personality beneath. I'd been honest to her even though I'd been spying. Maybe she had liked that in me and had been crushed when realizing I didn't like her back and was spying on her. It seemed like an insane assumption, but that was just like Ran. Insane.
With apprehension nicking me from each heightened sense, I watched as the two girls on the platforms discussed the rules of the game. Ran shoved in a few coins inside their slots, flipped through the controls on a giant TV screen that displayed song titles, and punched in the tune of her choice. Lights and arrows were projected onto the screens. In time with the arrows on the screen, the girls would step on the corresponding arrows on the platform. Music blared out of the speakers. The crowd screamed for their favorite in a crazy hype of sound and lights.
The dancing on the platform was intense from the get go. My jaw practically hit the floor when Sam pulled out all the moves as if she had been born playing the game. The crowd of boys were blown away by this too. Halfway through their cheering for Ran they stopped and changed it towards Sam. When I noticed this I couldn't help but to laugh. It was the first real laugh I had since my kidnap. It felt good.
All too soon, the music ended and the game was over. The scores displayed in rainbow colors on the screen. Ran let out a wild whoop of victory when she saw her win. For a second she was back to her normal self. The smile on her face was of pure joy. I almost felt happy for her. I liked seeing her this way.
"No!" Sam yelled with an angry slam of her foot. I was surprised to see her this upset. Usually she was the easy going one of our group. She spun towards Ran and shouted, "Two more rounds! I'll beat you next time."
"No one beats me," Ran said with an arrogant laugh. She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and flashed Sam a cruel smile.
"Then why not put in the coins and beat me again?" Sam said with a challenging grin. Ran hesitated. Sam pounced on this like a cat who had been watching a piece of moving string. "What?" she asked with wicked intent. "Afraid I'll make a smudge on your winning streak?"
"You overconfident, pompous Americans," Ran seethed. She began to ram coins into the slot, never taking her narrowed eyes off Sam. "Fine," she growled. "But this time I won't go easy on you. I'm going to ram that stupid, prissy princess head of yours into the ground."
"Princess?" Sam snarled loudly. Not good! The last time someone called her that, the kid was pushed off the slide tower in second grade. He had to have five stitches in his head. "Who are you calling princess, you shallow miniskirt whore!"
Anyone who knew English well enough gasped. Quiet murmurs in Japanese sprung up from the crowd. I won't lie. I was sweating. Ran looked like she was going to leap right off her platform and gouge Sam's eyes out for that comment. From the expression on Sam's face I could tell she was expecting and practically wishing for it.
Girls are dangerous creatures. Remember that, boys.
"Well, well, well," Ran said evenly. "You've got plenty of nerve." Her lethal expression faded into one of complex admiration. Did Ran actually enjoy this competition? "Let's see what you can do." She extended a hand to indicate Sam to pick the song and said maliciously, "Bitches first."
"How gracious of you," Sam grinned back, a dark kind of laugh in her voice and eyes. Without looking at the screen, she slammed down on the go button. Neither of them knew which song they would be dancing to now. A string of hushed conversation drifted over the faithful crowd.
Ran looked impressed, but she was trying not to show it. Both girls turned toward their screens as the music pounded out of the speakers. The arrows dazzled with lights. The girls simultaneously hit every beat. I cheered Sam on. Dare I say that this was fun?
Round two ended with a flourish of spectacular footwork. By now both girls were panting and sweating slightly. They shared heated glares before getting their rainbow results.
Sam let out a loud shout of joy when seeing she had won. Ran gave a small shriek. Smoke could be coming out of her ears, she looked that incensed at losing. I wondered if this was the first time she had ever been beaten by someone in a game. The crowd was going ballistic. From their reaction I could tell that this was probably the only time someone had matched Ran for her skills.
"Eat that!" Sam gloated. The crowd had turned her into the the ultimate badass. I'd seen this side of her millions of times, but I never realized how hott it was till now. "Ready for round three? It's where I'm going to make you eat all your words!"
The crowd cheered wildly again at this fabulous speech of hers. Everyone was on board for Sam's win. If she did beat Ran, that meant Ran's rule over the arcade would be at an end. They whooped and whistled as if we were at the year's super bowl. It was hilarious at how excited they were. I couldn't keep the grin off my face.
Ran felt her fans betrayal. Her narrowed, dark eyes scanned the crowd as if to shut them all up with her anger. Those eyes landed on mine. A flare of intense heat ruptured inside me with the connection. A wisp of cool air escaped her open mouth. Crap.
"Kuso!" Ran swore with vehement loudness. The crowd all looked confused as the girl jumped off the platform, grabbed her backpack with furtive fingers, and whipped out a pistol. A gasp rippled through the throng.
"Danny!" Sam screamed my name as Ram took aim. I cringed.
BAM!
I opened my eyes, gasping in surprise and fear. Everyone was looking stupidly at something behind me. Slowly, I looked over my shoulder. The crowd had parted to show me the hole in the screen of an arcade game. It sparked in its last, dying computer breaths before going black. The kid who had been playing looked completely horrified. He would never get to finish his precious game.
As if they had all been thinking the same thing at the same time, the entire arcade exploded into chaos. The crowds dispersed as everyone screamed and ran for the exits. They were all like sewer rats with one goal of escape on their minds. They all managed to avoid bumping into me in their scurry for a way out. A fire alarm screamed through the building. It only added to the confusion of pounding feet and scared yelps.
"What are you doing here, Danny?" Ran shouted over the alarm. She was fearless as she marched around the platform and toward me with the pistol still raised and aimed in my direction. I raised my hands and backed up, my mind in a dire brain lock. "Answer me!" Ran screamed while cocking her pistol. "Or I'll shoot you, I swear!"
"I just wanted to talk to you," I said in what I hoped was a calm voice.
"Liar!" Ran shouted. She shoved the barrel of the gun against my forehead. "Where's your ghost body guard?" she asked. "You come back here to finish me off?"
"No!" I yelled back quickly. "It's not like that."
"My uncle told me what happened the other night," Ran said. "Some evil spirit came and took you away, but not after almost killing him! But I'm not afraid to kill you. I'm not like my uncle. I don't work for my father. Not anymore. I can do whatever I want with you."
"Stop. Ran, listen to me!" I told her forcefully. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Think for just one second, okay? Didn't your uncle tell you I'd been kidnapped? He had to mention that."
"He did," Ran sniffed. She was calming down as logic took over.
"Look," I said with all honesty now, "I didn't want to spy on you. I didn't want to come to Japan at all. I was dragged here against my will and forced to lie and trick you. If it was all up to me, I'd still be back in Amity Park eating stale bean burritos and watching golf on the TV for five hours on the couch."
"Why didn't he kidnap some other hopeless kid, then?" Ran demanded scathingly.
"I'll tell you everything, but this is not the best location to talk," I said. "Unless you want us all to get arrested. I'm sure the police would love to arrest the drug lord's daughter. Your choice."
The mention of the police upset Ran. Her strong stance wavered. She bit down on her lower lip in thought. She was a brilliant person, but pride got in her way too often. This decision was an inner battle between her exuberant pride and her flawless logic. I wondered which one was going to win this time.
"Alright," she said finally. As she put the pistol into the place between the small of her back and her skirt, she ran back to her backpack and school clothes. She hastily pulled on her shoes and sweater while saying, "My uncle's house is not far from here. We'll have to take the back exit." Her eyes flickered over to Sam who was still standing on the platform then back to me. "Is she with you?"
"Yeah," I said. This answer only made Ran hate Sam even more. Great. The las thing I needed that day was a constant cat fight between these two.
"Let's go," Ran said as she threw on her backpack and sprinted down a row of video games. Sam and I didn't need more prodding. Sam jumped down from the platform and we both ran after the Japanese girl. We careened around all kinds of abandoned machines. Dropped coins scattered across the dirty carpet posed as stumbling blocks, but we didn't have the time to dwell when I once lost my balance on them and fell to my butt. The fire alarm was only a background sound with each narrow turn.
Ran rammed her shoulder into the push door at the back of the building. It burst open in a spray of rain water. Despite the gloomy downpour of fat raindrops, Ran didn't hesitate before running into the alley. Sam was closely behind her. I brought up the rear. I pulled up my hood before plunging into the fray.
Shouts to my right made me pause and look that way. A group of three police men were rushing down the alley towards the three of us. "Run!" I shouted at the girls. They rushed down the alleyway before taking another one which cut them from view.
The second they were gone, I turned myself invisible, changed into ghost form, and flew over to a half filled dumpster sitting behind the arcade. Keeping myself invisible still, I used my ghost strength to pull the dumpster away from the brick wall. The policemen were yards away from me now. A powerful kick to the metal container was all I needed. The dumpster skated across the wet surface of concrete and connected with the three innocent men.
I didn't stick around to see the damage I had done. Quickly I turned back into human form and sprinted around the corner of the alley to catch up with the girls. The rain made vision very difficult, but I could make out the two figures rounding another corner into a third alley up ahead.
Puddles embedded in the blacktop sloshed and distorted in the disturbance of my soaked sneakers as I raced up the alley. Rain pelted me. My clothes were by now dead weights as I surged down the alleyway. Inazuma's tiny claws dug into my skin as he clawed me in his fear of so much sudden movement. I skidded to a stop just as Sam and Ran shot out of the alley they had been in.
We regrouped there on the spot. Ran shoved her long, wet hair out of her face. Sam was clutching a stitch on her side. Underneath my hoodie, I was trying to pry Zuma's claws out of my skin without grimacing.
"Dead end!" Sam yelled at me above the downpour. "What do we do now?"
"What did you do to the police back there?" Ran asked me.
"Not now," I said, shaking my head. "How do we get out of here?"
"Back the way we - kuso! Run!" She turned around and headed back toward the dead end alley. Sam and I looked back toward the arcade alley, saw now five policemen pointing and running toward us, and followed Ran. Two seconds later we were sloshing to stops beside a tall wooden fence.
"Come on!" Sam said while making a foothold with her fingers. "We can jump over this wall."
"Are you kidding, Sam?" I said. "That wall is more than a story high! We'd never make it over! Not to mention we'd kill ourselves on the fall if we managed to get to the top."
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Sam demanded. She furiously shook her head, her wet hair sticking to her face.
"We're gonna have to tell her at some point," I said. "Might as well do it now." Sam stood back with a look of firm distaste as I let the pair of rings burst over my body. In a second I was in ghost form. Ran gasped while backing up in alarm. Her hand moved toward her gun but stopped when she saw me bending over in pain. It felt like a knot of lava had been shoved inside my chest.
"You okay?" Sam asked me with concern. "What's going on, Danny?"
"I don't know!" I gasped. I looked at Ran. The second our eyes connected, the heat increased ten fold. The pain rocked me to my hands and knees. Inazuma scrambled out of my jumpsuit, fighting for freedom away from the scalding heat. Sam kneeled in front of me and scooped up the kitten in her arms.
"We got to get out of here, Danny!" she urged me in a whisper. "What's wrong?"
Realization came over me. Staring down at the wet ground that reflected the bleak moodiness of the sky, I knew I had made a mistake. How could I have been so stupid?
"Nothing's wrong," I told Sam with a grin. "But I think I found the person who's gonna destroy our golem."
A/N: Well, many of you guessers were right. Ran's gonna have to destroy the golem. Only problem now is getting her to do it. She's not the kind of girl who takes an order from someone. Anyways, only a few chapters left. Gotta gear myself up for a finale chapter soon. I'll see you guys in two weeks!