Author's Note: After your letters, I thank you for giving me this chance. And for N'jata, thank you for letting me continue this story, as half the credit for the creation goes to you. Well, I think most of the creation of this story goes to you. And as for your request, and after much careful consideration: Yes, I shall help you finish your story.
Legendary Adventurers, Futuristic Saviors
Chapter 26: the Journey back to Home; A Littel Thorny Problem pt. 1
Outside
Far in the Hills
The defeat of Takemaru was mainly a short one, and it was dealt with swiftly. For now, there was another problem heading over on the horizons. The headless body of the Night Walker, was slowly but surely making its way towards the half-demolished and slightly on fire Iron Town. As it started to tumble and stumble onward to its destination, the protrusions on its body began to stretch outward to the sky and back down again. The spears and globs of the black ooze crashed and punctured the forest and earth as the giant beast continued to lumber on to its pointless destination. And the tendrils and globs that stretched onto the land and washed it in a sea of slime, began to drain the life out of the land that it bathed it in. Plants, animals, or some of the samurai that tried to flee the scene, it mattered not; anyone or anything that got engulfed in the tsunami of sludge, died and withered into ash. Truly, this was the vengeance of the Darker Half of Shisha Gami.
Jumping across from the distance, making their way to the heart of the sludge beast on the safe ground, Alex and Isaac charged on forward. The half-demon youth rode atop the transformed fox-squirrel, going as fast as they could to make it there in time. Isaac rode as hard and fast as he could in his gargantuan form, and Alex held on as he could to the beast's fur. While in his other hand, he held the severed head of the Forest Spirit King himself.
Alex looked over on the mountain's horizon and saw that the sky was slowly but surely lighting up. The sky going from black to blue in a slow manner meant one thing: the sun was about to rise up. He had heard from San that Shisha Gami transformed into the Night Walker whenever the sun set in the horizon, and when dawn approached, he would revert back into his deer form. However, with Shisha Gami in this state, a feeling of dread washed over Alex's mind and body as the terrifying question came to mind.
"Isaac?" the young lad asked his large furry companion as they kept on going. "If Shisha Gami doesn't get his head back before the sun… what's gonna happen to him?"
The furry beast kept his eyes forward, but didn't ignore the young outlander at all. He then answered, "Well considering Shisha Gami's current condition, he's nothing more than a swollen brain-dead blob of death." he then jumped over a large rock as they boht landed on the other side, still trying to make time to get there as he went on. "And when the sun rises up, he'll disappear like a bad dream."
"Well, we'd better hurry before sunrise then," Alex insisted as he got a good look at the target head on.
They were very close to getting to the giant blob that was once Shisha Gami's body, but only about a mile left. However, there was a huge obstacle as they saw the Sea of Black Slime before them. "We'd better be careful and not touch the Night Walker's Body," Isaac warned Alex as he hopped onto a patch of land untouched by the slime, and hopped to another spot before it was engulfed, "If we do, then we'll share the same fate as those men back at the Pool."
"Yeah, I know," Alex shouted as he held on to his friend.
The duo jumped from land grass to any large rocks that were nearby that wasn't engulfed by the slime. And every time they jumped away, they nearly dodged getting swallowed up by the sludge that nearly took their lives. It was a daring assault that they were doing in order to reach the headless body of the Night Walker, while trying to stay alive. As they were getting close, the Night Walker suddenly turend in their direction, almost sensing the two assailants heading towards him.
Alex took noticed of this as he gulped, "I think he just spotted us." And that was made even more evident as the giant drew back its massive left arm. And like a cannon, it shot its fist directly at them at colossus speed. "I hate it when I'm right!" the young outlander shouted as he drew in close to Isaac as they prepared for the worst.
When the fist connected to the ground, it erupted into a tsunami-like geyser that shot everywhere in their area. The massive fox-squirrel managed to jump high in the air to avoid the blasting ooze. However, he suddenly realized his margarine mistake as the two looked down at their location.
"Oh dear," Isaac gulped as he and Alex got a gander down below to their footing. "We've run out of ground," he finished as it was made evident.
All the areas for them to land in were all encompassed in the black slime. There was nowhere for them to land safely on. Isaac transformed into his default form as he jumped on to Alex's right shoulder, huddling himself on the young lad's shoulder. "I guess this is it," the little fox-squirrel spirit guardian whimpered to his human companion.
Alex, completely freaked out of his mind, turned to his furry companion. However, his fear diminished as he sadly smirked, responding, "See you on the other side, Isaac."
And with that, the two looked down at the black ooze as they hurdled downward, and screamed out comically to their doom.
SWOOSH!
A fiery blaze zoomed out of nowhere, and scooped the two up in its arms. As the two awaited the upcoming death, they both noticed that the wind was blowing against them instead of under them. Once they opened their eyes, the duo noticed that instead of falling down into the sludge, they were flying above the surface, at high speed no doubt. The two immediately looked up, and saw someone holding onto Alex' right hand… it was San, being carried by a transformed Rukia.
The two lit up, as they shouted, "San! Rukia!"
"You two are hopeless without any girls helping you," the Wolf Princess chirped out, smiling at the satisfaction of the situation.
Alex smirked at this as he commented, "Well, I'm thankful for flying Fire Spirit Airlines, as of this moment."
The wolf princess's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown of confusion. "Airlines?"
The young outlander sighed as he half-smirked, "I'll tell you when we live through this."
"I… I can't hold on for much longer," Rukia said in a strained voice. In truth, she had never carried two people at the same time, and it was proving difficult as she was losing altitude. "we need to land! Fast!"
They looked around, and saw a boulder big enough for the four of them. It was the only spot that hadn't been consumed by the sludge, and they wasted no time getting there. However, the fire spirit was coming in too low and too fast, as they were barely at a frog's breath away from crashing into the black ooze. And just when it looked like they would plummet into the sludge, they crashed onto the rock like a plane would on a flat top mountain. Alex nearly fell over the edge of the rock, but stopped himself just in time. However, the head of Shisha Gami suddenly broke free of his belt, and plopped into the Sea of Black Ooze.
"No!" the young outlander shouted as he shot his right hand into the sludge, desperately fishing it out. However, as he did this, he felt the sludge was being digested or absorbed into his arm armor, making him gag out in pain. He gritted his teeth as his arm was in convulsions, being exposed to this kind of cursed sludge.
Just then, another hand shot in with his, and he heard a female's voice gasp and groan. He turned to find San, gritting her teeth and her face shown to look in concentrated agony than in wreathing pain. He looked to her, in worry, as he asked, "San! What are you doing!?!"
"You've taken all this pain for all of us," San answered, her voice straining in trying to deal iwht the pain. "It's time I helped you bear it!"
Then finally, after much fishing around in it, the two pulled out the severed head of the Spirit King. The two held it up, as it dripped with the black ooze, as they attempted to offer it to the headless Night Walker. But as they did so, Alex took notice of the affects the black ooze had done to them both. For San, she nearly convulsed in pain as her left arm was becoming a bruised purple with dark veins traveling down her arm and to her shoulder. Her fingernails turned black and sharp as claws as they nearly pierced the flesh of the severed head. The dark veins and purple flesh began to creep up to her neck and under her eye, as she opened it to reveal it to be yellow, like a wolf's. she gasped in shock at this as she turned to look at the young outlander.
Alex's transformation wasn't as reserved as hers was. The black ooze film once again encompassed his whole head again, with his orange hair spiking out and solidifying into steely sharp blade spikes, the golden armor then encompassed his face and head, making the same humanoid boar face plate and jaw. But this time, his right arm was going further in transformation; the two spikes began to stretch out and lengthen, and somewhat appear to look like they were popping out of vents. The fingers were beginning to become more claw like, and his bicep and shoulder were matching up in length with his three times sized forearm. The shoulder pad grew out black ooze hardened spikes and the golden horn that connected his shoulder to his chest, stretched out and stuck out from behind now.
Before their transformations could go any further, Alex looked up to notice that dawn was fast approaching, and had to make this fast as possible. He looked up to the Night Walker, and shouted in his demonic disembodied voice, "SHISHA GAMI!!! WE GIVE YOU BACK YOUR HEAD! TAKE IT, AND BE AT PEACE!!!"
Then suddenly, the Night Walker stopped in its tracks from reaching Iron Town. It slowly turned around, almost facing the four, as its shoulders slumped in a way that made it look like it was looking directly at them. Isaac and Rukia, whom had rejoined the two after recovering, were by the couple's side. Isaac, being the first one to speak, squeaked out in nervous nature, "Well, uh… I think you got his attention."
The giant Night Walker leaned downward, shading the four as it reached down to the ground with its hands. The giant over towered them all at this point; next to the Night Walker, the four were nothing more than four tiny pieces of cuscus. It then sludged down upon them slowly but fast, as it looked like it would soon devour them all. The four huddled together, and Alex wrapped his left arm around San, holding her close to him as this happened.
Finally, encompassed them all, as the sludge neck covered them. But as it did, the sludge turned from black oozy color, to a golden light color. Inside the sludge, the four were being bombarded by bright light and strong winds instead of a gooey sludge-encompassing tidal wave. The golden light then spread across the Night Walker's body as fast as it could, until finally, it disappeared and transformed the black ooze into its usual translucent bluish tint. Its back spines were stretching back out, and as it lifted up, the sludgy neck transformed back into the Night Walker's head. The four heroes had done it, they had restored the Spirit King's head, and once again made it whole and at peace.
Back in Iron Town
The women and lepers had all made it to the river, where the Black Ooze couldn't reach. They watched as they evacuated, the black ooze or what remains of it, had blanketed all of Iron Town. The ruins of it were dripping and overflowing with the black stuff. Their home had all come to ruin, all for the goal of obtaining the creature's head. But they were all thankful to have escaped with their lives. And as such, they were witnesses to what had transpired up on the hills and mountains. They had witnessed the outlander and the Wolf Princess returning the head to its rival owner, thereby saving them all from oblivion.
Toki and Koroku were among the survivors as they saw this. "Well, I think it's over," he told himself as he sighed with relief, cradling his broken arm.
"Yeah," Toki nodded as she looked to her husband in a smile. "All thanks to those kids."
"Hello!"
Just then, they all heard distant shouting from down the river as they looked. There, floating about a few yards away from them, Shizu, Jigo, Gonza, and the rest of the men, were all coming down there on four makeshift rafts. With them, a few of the men were tending to Lady Eboshi's injury. The women and lepers were overjoyed as one of them shouted, "It's the men!"
"The men are back!"
As the men traversed their way to the women and lepers, the men all shouted in glee and to get their attention. It had been a horrendous experience for them all back in those mountains. And they were all glad just to get back, as one of them commented, "I can't believe we made it back! I never thought I'd live to see home again!"
"I never thought I'd see my wife again, either," one of the younger men smirked. "I can't wait to hold her again in my arms!"
"It's a shame though," one of his friends joked. "If you left her behind, I would've been the one to comfort her!"
That earned a playful punch in the arm, as the men all rejoiced to be back home again. Even though it was in ruins, it was still their home. When they got to them, the women immediately ran up to her. "Milday!" they all shouted as a few of them rushed to her aid.
Toki was the first to notice the missing arm; she looked to Gonza in shock as she asked, "What happened?"
"Her ladyship was injured," Gonza simply answered, not giving all the details. "The Wolf Princess saw to her recovery."
"She did?" Toki was surprised as ever to hear that the former enemy of Iron Town had saved their ladyship. She turned and looked to the hill, picturing Alex and the Wolf Girl together saving them all, and smirked, "When she pops up again, I'll have to thank her to a glass of sake."
But that all would have to wait, as all the parties saw the Night Walker formed up again. As it did so, it turned to look at the horizon, and saw the golden rays of the sun rising out from it. Daybreak was now upon them, and the Night Walker was whole once again. But something happened that no one expected to happen: it immediately sucked up all the remaining black ooze into its body, almost purifying it. And after all of it was gone, it suddenly toppled over, falling to the ground, as if it had immediately been dealt a fatal blow. And it was directly falling over to the black oozed and still on fire Iron Town.
"Look!" one of the men shouted, getting everyone's attention. "It's falling towards Iron Town!"
"Everybody," Jigo shouted. "Huddle together, hold on tight, and don't let go! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!" everyone immediately did as they were told. They all huddled together, holding on to one another as best they could to await the incoming blast or tidal wave to come.
All of the citizens of Iron Town gazed at this scene, as the body fell down towards Iron Town. When it connected to the ruined city, its massive body exploded in waves of air, blowing away all the debris from the sight. The black ooze, the bodies of Osano's men, every last sign of the struggle in the city just disappeared like a flood washing away anything in its path. It struck at the citizens, but didn't blow them away or hurt them at any kind at all. It was like they were stones that the air just flowed around. The winds even blew away the sludge from the city and put out the fires, blowing it and all the debris straight out of the valley. Then finally, the wind died down, leaving nothing but Iron Town and its people all in silence.
As the citizens all looked in amazement by this transpiration, they came to notice the land all around them. For only what felt like two minutes, something wondrous and amazing happened before them all. On the barren hills that they chopped all the trees down, and even the ones that were poisoned by the black ooze, a miracle occurred before them all. The hills, mountains, and shores, all started to become alive again, as fresh green grass grew from the dead earth. Seedlings sprouted out from the ground, and suddenly grew to great heights into towering fine trees that nearly blanketed the hills and mountains. The dead trees became encompassed in small vines, and soon merged into larger ones that sprouted out leaves and flowers of all kinds. But it didn't stop there, as the remnants of Iron Town soon became engulfed in green grass and vines blanketing the walls as well as some of the buildings as well. And in the center of town, a mighty tree sprouted from the ground, stretching up to about twenty-five feet in height. Its branches stretched out and grew leaves, becoming an umbrella to shade half the town in, and flowers and fruits growing from it as well, making it a veritable Tree of Life as it were. It seemed that the gust of wind somehow carried the essence of the Spirit King, Shisha Gami, and once again restored life to the hills and mountains once again.
"Huh," Koroku gawked in awe, as did everyone else at this miraculous event. "I didn't know the Spirit King could make the flowers grow." he reached to his head with his broken hand out of the sling, and scratched in confusion. Suddenly, he realized an obvious fact as he drew his broken arm back and looked at it. He flexed it and moved it around as he smiled in astonishment, and shouted, getting everyone's attention. "My arm… IT'S HEALED!!!"
After hearing that Toki turned to the leper, Kuki, and was amazed as she pointed out, "Kuki! Your face!"
The leper looked into the water, to see what her friend was in shock about. And what she saw was that the bandages on her face had come off… to reveal healthy skin on her face, as well as the rest of her body. The other lepers, including Osa, had all been cured of their lepersy indefinitely. They all rejoiced by this as they cheered on in happiness at one another.
Eboshi, who had finally woken up, had witnessed it all. The land, her lepers, and everything that transpired from the night and this dawn. And then her smirk returned as she placed her hand on the area to where her arm used to be. But this wasn't her trademark sneaky smirk that she usually flaunted around… this was an honest smile as she looked at the river, whispering, "Amazing. Not only did Alexander, but the Wolf Clan and that crazy little Wolf Girl helped save us all." she looked around and asked Gonza, "Gonza, where's Alexander? I need to speak with him."
"I'm not sure," Gonza honestly answered his mistress. "He disappeared right before we got you out of the Spirit King's pool."
"Well, if you find him, tell him I need to thank him," she smiled as she explained. "We're going to start all over again. This time, we'll build a better town."
Back on the Hills
The once dead and barren hills that the four heroes had traversed to reach Shisha Gami was now alive again with green grass, flowers, and trees. Both Tsume and Kiba were sitting on the rock that the four were on, along with Rukia who sat next to Kiba. Isaac was on the ground, nudging someone from a well-induced slumber. It was Alex, the armor gone as he laid by his side, holding San close to him tightly; the wolf princess asleep and snuggled her face deep within the boy's chest.
Finally, after Isaac hopped onto him, he tickled the boy's face with his tail, "Tickle, tickle."
Alex stirred awake, swatting away the annoyance that tickled his face. He groaned a little bit as he looked to see Isaac, "Morning."
"You too, boyo," the little fox-squirrel smirked.
As the boy got up, he was astonished by what he saw all around them. Immediately, he gently shook San as he tried to wake her up, "San, wake up. You've gotta see this."
San slowly but surely woke up, as her eyes opened in a drowsy state. As she slowly woke up and looked up, the first ting she saw was Alex. She gave him a rather bedside mannered smile as she whispered to him, "Good morn…" but stopped as she looked all around them.
The two humans stood up to grass that reached to their knees. They saw all around them, the green earth once restored to life again. In complete awe at this, they both ran to the Cliffside, with Isaac on the young outlander's shoulder, and Rukia following after them. They stopped as they now had a great view of what they were looking at. All the mountains, the ones that were once covered in death and blood, was now flourishing with life once again.
To the Wolf Princess, this was a joyous occasion; her home had been restored once again. But, her face became saddened at two realizations. Alex saw how dour she was, and asked in concern, "San, what's wrong?"
"My mother. I know that she had found peace, but…," she tried to finish, but she shook her head as she changed to the other subject, "It's just that even if all the trees and beasts return, it won't be Someisa's forest anymore. Nor his." the Wolf Girl sighed as her eyes conveyed sadness once again. "The Spirit King, Shisha Gami's dead now. As is Somiesa."
"No, they're not, San," the young outlander answered, getting the wolf princess's undivided attention. "Don't forget, the Spirit Kings are life itself. And they're here right now, telling us something." He lifted his right hand, and saw the curse bracelet, still there and alive. But that wasn't what he meant as he opened his closed fist. In his hands were the light green tear bead, along with a white one and a black one; the new beads representing Shisha Gami's essence. "They're saying that it's best to live and let live. To move on with our lives."
When San took a glimpse of Alex's wrist, she noticed the band was still on there. She looked to him, in worry and pity for him, as she tried to comfort him. "Alex, I… I'm sorry…"
The young outlander didn't know what she was talking about, until he saw the band. He smirked as he reassured her, "It's alright. I'll get used to it. But it's weird now; it's almost as if… all of Nago's rage is gone; like Shisha Gami just washed it away."
After a while, the three teenagers and beasts were all about to go their separate ways at this moment. San and Rukia were with Tsume and Kiba as they were about to go to the forest. And Alex stood by with Isaac, now in his big beast form; the young outlander standing by the Fox-Squirrel's side, scratching him from behind his ears. But for both San and Alex, it was sort of an uneasy goodbye for them both. Especially San who was the only one aware of their feelings for one another, despite the young outlander time traveler being a bit of a dense head when it came to this.
San sighed as she looked to the young lad in the eyes, her expression of pained sadness. However, she didn't shed tears as she spoke to him softly, "Alex, you mean so much to me." she lowered her gaze from him as she finished, "But… but I just can't forgive the humans for what they've done." she then whispered, "If I could, then maybe, I might be able to stay…"
"Hey, it's alright," Alex answered as he reached up to her and cupped her cheek, making her look at him. He smiled as he replied, "You've got a big responsibility now being the heir to the Wolf Clan. The forest'll need you now more than ever." he then lit up as he concluded, "You'll live in the forest, and I'll stay in Iron Town for a while, helping them rebuild it." that earned a look of concern from San as the young outlander reassured, "Don't worry, I won't let them chop down anymore trees." he then pulled back his hand as he replied, "Whether it's in the forest, Iron Town, or back in my home, I'll always be near. Isaac will make sure of that; we'll come and visit any time soon, okay?"
The Wolf Princess smiled at that gesture, and nodded, "I'd like that." And with that, the Princess Mononoke and her brothers strode off, back into the forest, leaving the outlander, the fire spirit, and the fox-squirrel alone.
Rukia turned and bowed before the boy, "I misjudged you earlier, Alex." she then looked up, as she transformed into her true form, "I thought most humans were destructive, greedy, and unkind." The Fire Spirit then smiled as her primary arms and hands lit up like jets, as she slowly descended off the ground. "But you proved me wrong; I hope to see you again." And she took off, leaving Alex and Isaac a bit stunned as before.
But the young outlander just smiled as he waved goodbye to her, and asked Isaac, "Think we'll ever see her again?"
"Oh, we will," the fox-squirrel guardian replied with a nudge to the boy. "She'll be back to keep an eye out for you."
Four Days Later
The small community of Iron Town was hard at work rebuilding their town after the battle. In the past couple of days, they had restored most of the homes, and had rebuild the Iron Works. However, they didn't clear away the forest as they did before, so the Iron Works was now made for something else. Even though they had used up the iron from the sand and didn't dig from the mountains, they had taken the iron and steel that was left from the battle. With help from the Outlander, they had begun to recycle the old armor and used that to make more guns. Not for battle against the forest, but from Osano's men, who hadn't shown up in a while so far.
So when they weren't reusing the iron, they were hard at work with their other business. From the excessive plants that had grown around and in their town, they had turned it into a farming community of sorts. The shore line from their town and to the other side, they had used it to grow vegetables and rice to trade with the other towns. The beasts of the forest usually wandered on in for a while, but nothing hostile in the least bit. In fact, both sides seemed to live more in harmony more than ever.
On the river bed close to Iron Town, a particular outlander was hard at work, cleaning his clothing. Alex, dressed only in a towel around his waist, was scrubbing the life out of his only clothing that he had on him. His socks and underwear were drying near a fire that was currently drying up some of the meat that he had gotten from the Amishi village. The bag and cloak were there as well, as was a certain fox-squirrel that was chewing on a piece of dried meat with much delight in it.
"MMmmmm," Isaac hummed in delight as he continued to chew on the piece of meat. "My, my, my, my. You're cooking skills are certainly improving since the last time."
"Glad to know that," Alex chuckled as he flapped his shirt dry of excess water. "I was beginning to wonder if I had overcooked it too much."
The two were silent for a moment, until Isaac turned to look at Alex for a moment. They had been talking about it for a while, and even though Isaac disagreed about it, Alex was dead sure to do it. The fox-squirrel sighed as he asked once again, "Alex… are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I know I made up my mind about ensuring the Spirit Kings stay alive," Alex reassured his furry friend as he brought over his shirt and hung it to dry over the fire. He then looked down to Isaac as he took his jeans to the water, "But if what Rukia said is true, and that tree works both ways…" he looked up and the clear and cloudy sky with hope in his eyes, "… then maybe I can go home."
"But what about the promise you made with San?" Isaac brought up as he stood up, finishing his meat jerky. "You promised to stay with her; I mean, even though there's a way for you to go home, that doesn't mean…"
Alex turned to face the little fox-squirrel as he answered, "I'm not breaking my promise to her. I'm just visiting my home and coming straight back as fast as I can."
The little fox-squirrel just sighed as he laid down again, continuing to eat his jerky meat. "Fine by me," Isaac replied as he gnawed at the meat. "Just don't expect her to be as understanding as I am."
He closed his eyes as he chuckled, "Yeah, I suppose not. I mean, I was already threatened before by her." he turned to the right of him as he went on, "What with 'I'll kill you, human!', or 'If you so much as touch me, I'll rip the tubes out of your throat', and oh, yeah! This was my favorite, I think; 'Touch me, and I'll tear your ears off with my teeth!'."
"I didn't say that."
The sudden familiar voice caught the young outlander by surprise as his eyes opened up… SMACK! A freshly caught fish was thrown into his face. The young lad stumbled in his crouched position and he fell straight into the river. Immediately, Alex shot out of the river, as he spat out water, looking at whoever threw the fish at him.
"You're wide open for an attack" said San, standing at the shoreline and walking to where his clothing was drying out. She stopped at the fire and smirked at the young time traveler playfully as she teasingly taunted. "Didn't you learn your lesson from last time?"
"With all that we've been through, I think I might've forgotten." He glared at her and asked annoyed as he stood out of the water, "Are you trying to kill me, San?" it was then that he noticed her face turning blush red as she looked down, shocked in surprise. "Wha… ?" he immediately looked down, and blushed himself as he saw the towel was nowhere to be seen. "Holy Crap!" he shouted as he ducked into the water, and pointed, "San! Toss me my jeans! Please!"
"Sure," she responded as she went over and grabbed the blue garment. "Here, catch!" and tossed them over to him as he caught the pants. She kept her back turned as she heard him step out of the river. Her face was as red as ever as she thought to herself, 'That… that was the first time I saw a human… I mean… a boy naked like that.' she shivered, not sure if she was excited or just freaked out about it. But somehow, she smiled warmly as she thought, 'But… at least I saw the body of the one that I…'
She stopped in her thoughts as Alex spoke out, "Okay, I'm decent."
San turned around as she saw him, now in his pants and had gotten a better look at him. From yesterday, she once again got a glimpse of his upper body's build, but noticed differences. For one, on the left shoulder were bite marks from Takemaru's attack. It was the only wound that didn't disappear from his body, which made her worry about something. If Takemaru could hurt him and leave a mark on the young boy… would half-breeds like him and Alex be the only ones that could hurt him? It was too much for her to bear at this point.
Unable to bear the silence at this point, San looked at the bag that he always had by his side. As well as the cloak and noticed it all seemed to be packed and ready to go somewhere. She turned to look to him and asked, "So, is it true?" Alex turned to her as she finally asked, almost saddened and disappointed, "Are you really returning home?"
Not sure if the answer would cause her great pain, he was slightly hesitant and quiet. He didn't really remember the events from when he was fully armored and the beastial side of his curse took control of his senses. But he did remember San's tears when she saw him. He even remembered when she embraced him from behind to prevent him from going any further into killing anything else. So, with a heavy sigh, and looked to San as he answered, "I am."
The Wolf Princess looked hurt as she turned around, crossing her arms. "You're more than welcome to stay with me in the Forest." her voice seemed to quiver a bit as she continued, "That's what I said when you didn't have anywhere to go." the young outlander then took notice that she was shaking as she spoke up, "You even said you would stay." she then turned to Alex, with a tear going down her cheek, a look of anger on her face than hatred as she nearly cried out, "And now you're leaving just like that!" even then her voice dripped with worry as she went on, "It's not even safe for you to wander around outside this forest! That samurai, Takemaru, went missing after the Night Walker was at peace. That damn Ghost Princess is somewhere out there alive, along with her minions, and…!"
Just then, surprising her, Alex was in front of her, and brought her in a close embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, while holding her head close to his chest. Feeling this warmth again, the wolf princess almost felt intoxicated as her nose took in the scent of the outlander. She nuzzled her face into his chest, almost forgetting how hurt she was.
Feeling her calmness, Alex spoke out, "I did say that I wanted to stay here, and maybe someday I will. San, you've lost your mother, and all you have are Kiba and Tsume. If anything I want to stay by your side." he then gently pulled away from her as the two looked eye to eye. "But I have to go back and tell my family I'm alright." he smiled to her as he whispered to her, "They're my clan as well."
The two teens were silent for a while, as they looked at one another to assure the words that were spoke would be kept. San reached up to the young outlander, and cupped his face to him. Alex was a little flushed by this action, wondering if she was gonna try and kiss him… KA-BONK! She slammed a powerful head butt to his forehead that caused him to stumble back.
The Wolf Princess crossed her arms as she huffed and walked away, stating, "You better come back afterwards! I'm not planning on leaving the forest undefended while you're lazing about back in your time."
As Alex rubbed his sore forehead and put on the rest of his clothing, Isaac just had to chirp out loud, "Man, you two act more like a married couple than a bunch of teens who're on a friend/couple standstill relationship."
"Shut up and eat that jerky," Alex shot back as he was getting his shoes on.
Two Weeks Later
At the Edge of the Amishi Village
After the duo had fully packed a few weeks ago, they set out to the village of the Amishi. For Alex, it had taken him almost a month on foot to get to where Iron Town was. But now that he had Isaac in his Beast Form, he could simply go back there in less than two weeks rather than six. The giant Fox-Squirrel had really made good time for them both as they had cut across the land pretty fast as the young outlander rode on top of the Fox-Squirrel like any man would on a horse. And after a two weeks journey, they had arrived at the middle of the forest to where Alex had wandered in from the tree.
"Alright," Alex said as he surveyed the forest all around them. "The tree should be somewhere around here. Can't be too far."
"You've been saying that ever since we got here," the fox-squirrel groaned as he shook his head
They had wandered in pretty deep as they could in the darkened forest, not even noticing movement in the trees. If Isaac's senses could attune to it, he would have noticed thorn covered vines were slowly snaking their way around the trees. And in an odd scene, the vines were actually infecting the plants, much as Nago's slimy worms or the Night Walker would with everything they touched.
It was then that Alex spotted it, "There it is." there it was, right smack dab in the middle where his home would be in the future, the Sacred Tree of his aunt's temple.
He hopped off his fuzzy companion, as Isaac transformed back into his default form and hopped on to the young lad's shoulder. The familiar shadings of the area, the fresh sweet smell of damp forest, and the unfamiliar forests that he got himself lost in. it was when he was near this very tree, falling down the cavern underneath it, and finding that strange bulb that lit up the place and sent him here in this time. Everything that had happened, all of it seemed like yesterday instead of a whole month.
He crossed his arms and smirked in thought out loud as he told himself, "Hard to believe I got sent here by just this tree. A lot's happened ever since…" he smirked at the memories that he had: being cursed by Nago, gaining the strange armor power, which surprisingly was controllable now, meeting Isaac, Rukia, and even San. He chuckled at all that transpired, "I guess it wasn't all that bad."
Isaac looked to Alex as he cocked an eyebrow, "You mean to tell me all that whining about getting killed out here, and you're suddenly happy about it?"
"Pretty much."
Isaac sighed, "You're the strangest human I've come to know, Future Boy."
After a small chuckle, Alex looked to the tree, and sighed as he crossed his arms, "Okay… so how to I get back?"
"I…" Isaac stated looking confident, only to shrink with uncertainty as he replied. "… have no idea."
Before Alex could go ballistic, a thorn vine as big as a fire hose shot right at them. Hearing it come right at them, Alex easily dodged it using his demon-enhanced strength, speed, and agility. He crouched to the side as he and Isaac looked up to where the vine was. It had originated from one of the trees, which was becoming covered with the same type of vines as it blackened and decayed the forest all around it.
"I'm impressed," a sultry voice called out from the tree, catching both their attention. "You're a lot faster than the Ghost Princess told me you would be."
'Ghost Princess? Does she mean Yashahime?' Alex thought with dread of that name. considering how much of a psycho he saw her as, the young lad knew that this was bad news. "I figured this wasn't gonna be easy to go home like that," he told himself as he stood up and shouted. "Who's out there?"
Then from out of the shadows of the tree, as if answering his demand, a beautiful girl stepped out to look down upon them. Suddenly growing from behind the girl, a comfy couch throne made of tree leaves, vines, and mostly bushes. It was a girl, of sixteen and Caucasian, slim and slender figure with beautiful skin, long blonde hair that went down her back and braided into one large ponytail that touched her ankles, jungle green lipstick, and dazzling emerald eyes. However, something was amiss about her; as the only thing she was wearing a dress that split down to her bellybutton, exposing her cleavage a bit, no back, shoulder-less, and the skirt going down to her ankles, but split down from her left ankle to her hip. But the odd thing about the dress… was that it was made entirely out of leaves. Around her waist was a belt made entirely made of vines with a rose as the buckle. Around her arms were vines as well, acting as gloves, a vine ankle bracelet was on her right ankle with a leaf on it. Wrapped around her legs to her ankles, a single vine clung onto them. And behind her head, was a large rose leaf hat of sorts.
Alex gulped at this strange girl, but Isaac had a different reaction. His little eyes went as wide with saucers and his tongue stuck out as he howled out, "OW, BABY! YEAH, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' ABOUT!"
"Take a cold shower," Alex mumbled, and looked to the strange flower girl. "So who are you? It's obvious you were sent by Yashahime, so are you after me for revenge?"
The girl merely chuckled as she replied, "My name is Baras, former minion spirit of Somiesa, turned servant to King Hexxus." she then snapped her fingers, as a vine shot out from behind the boy, shredding his pocket by surprise. The vine stopped in front of Baras, and hung to it, was a necklace of sort. And pinned to it were the three beads belonging to both Somiesa and Shisha Gami. She gladly took it as she smiled, "And what I want are the beads of the Spirit Kings' essence." she then curtly looked to the two and asked, "So… where's the Wolf Princess and Fire Spirit? Aren't they with you?"
"They're back in Iron Town," Alex responded, not liking this one bit as he slowly backed to the Sacred Tree. "Why do you ask, Hippie?"
Not being fazed the least by the boy's rudeness, she answered, "Just asking." suddenly, a wave of sharp vines grew behind her as she smiled, "I just want to know where they are so I can kill them…." and then they shot straight at the two, like a shower of arrows that blotted out the sun. "… right after I'm done with you two."
Alex and Isaac gasped as the young outlander backed into the tree. As soon as he touched it, the tree's aura began to glow bright green. Baras immediately took notice of this, and didn't expect what would come next. Underneath the boy's feet, a gaping hole collapsed in, just as the vines were about to pierce the two heroes. The massive hole then swallowed the two up, like a giant mouth opened up for a grape to fall in. then, as if time slowed down, both Alex and Isaac fell several meters down into darkness… with the vines following after them.
Baras viciously smirked calmly as the vines then returned back, "Well, that was easy." The vines' tips were in front of her now, being inspected of the blood that was shed. But Baras' smile faded away as she frowned, "What? Where's the blood?" in truth, the vines were bone dry clean, not even a speck of blood was on them at all.
The throne she sat on, stretched out with her on it, as it stopped at the hole. She looked down, trying to find them, but could only see pitch black darkness down the pit. She huffed as she blew her cheeks out puffy, "That's no fair, escaping like that without even a scratch." Just then, she heard footsteps approaching as she turned her attention to what appeared to be warriors coming at her. It seemed that she had gotten much attention around, and that the Amishi People had sent their finest soldiers after the disturbance.
"Oh, dear. One nuisance after another," Baras signed. "I guess the Princess Mononoke and that Fire Spirit are gonna have to wait."
Next Chapter: the Journey back to Home; A Thorny Rose pt. 1
