Sins of Blairwood-15
~Rats in the Wall Arc~
"AAAAGGGH." Amy screamed. "RAT."
"It's got my sandwich." Terry called out.
"GET IT." Amy shouted, as they chased after the rat.
The rat with Terry's sandwich went running along the table slowing down and stopped at Erma and Senshi with the duo looking at it, before it snuggled Erma's cheek and Senshi scratched the top of its head. But before the rat could run off again, Senshi grabbed it, and went walking to the window, before he opened it, and gently plopped the rat outside into the flower bed.
"There you go little guy, now go make a burrow somewhere you won't cause a ruckus." Senshi said.
"Hey, it still has my sandwich." Terry stated.
"You wanna risk catching the plague?" Senshi questioned, going to wash his hands. "Don't worry, I have an extra sandwich in my lunch bag you can have."
"I guess that's fine." Terry said. "But I don't think it was alone."
Senshi looked over to see another rat running around the cafeteria, causing havoc.
"Alright Erma, you're catching this one." Senshi said.
Erma sighed and used her telekinetic powers to try and levitate things she could use to catch the rat. Trays, lunch boxes, bins, containers, eventually she just got annoyed and started throwing silverware at it, causing more of a ruckus.
"What in the world is going on in here?" Their teacher shouted, coming into the cafeteria, right before the rat leapt in front of her face, and she had to duck as to avoid getting hit with utensils and silverware, resulting in her getting covered in ketchup and a hotdog landing on her head.
"Erma." Amy called out from the cover of the table. "Couldn't you just use your telekinetic powers on the rat?"
The swirling mess of utensils and cutlery stopped before Erma grabbed the rat with her powers, and brought it over to where she and Senshi were.
"Finally you got it." Amy cheered.
"Alright Erma, completely flawless." Terry said.
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Senshi said, looking around at the mess the cafeteria had been made into.
"Children." Their teacher said, walking up to them, looking like a blood covered murderer, with the hotdog still on her head. "Principal's office, now."
"Oh come on Ms. Bierly." Amy groaned, before the rat spit what it was chewing on, into Erma's face, causing the ghost girl to hit her teacher with the rat like a missile, as the rodent escaped.
Later in the Principal's office, Amy, Terry, Erma, and Senshi were standing in front of the principle, who was actually blind, but somehow still knew they were there.
"So you made quite the mess in the cafeteria today. Not to mention you knocked out your own teacher afterwards." Principal Phibes said. "I never thought I'd have to do this to you four, but I'm afraid I have no choice. I'm gonna have to put you kids in DETENTION."
"But Principle Phibes, we were just trying to catch that rat. It was causing a lot of chaos." Amy said.
"Come to think of it, there's been a lot of rats popping up at school lately." Senshi exclaimed.
"An' one of them ate my sandwich." Terry exclaimed.
"Dude, were you seriously gonna eat that afterwards?" Amy questioned.
"It's called having Principle, Amy. You wouldn't understand." Terry said before Erma gave him a hug.
"Kids don't be silly, there has never been a rat problem in this school, ever." Principal Phibes exclaimed.
"Erma and I spotted a couple in the library, the cafeteria, the gymnasium, even the bathrooms for crying out loud. This school does have a rat problem." Senshi said.
"Now children, be lucky that you didn't completely wreck anything that belongs to the school, besides the kitchen utensils if…" Phibes stopped when the sound of something squeaking caught their attention. "Sorry, please excuse my pet hamster Charles. He really likes attention." Phibes exclaimed, reaching into the cage on his desk, before pulling out not a hamster. "Now as I was saying, if anything else had been damaged. Your punishment could have been a lot worse."
Senshi was listening to what Phibes had to say, but his eyes wondered from the rat in the Principal's hands, to the cage on his desk with an actual hamster skeleton in one of the corners, and alerted Erma and Amy of it.
"Should I tell him about the rat murdering and taking the place of Charles?"
Erma shook her head no, as she knew that would have made things complicated and saddened Phibes.
"Sidney dear, could you please come in here?" Phibes questioned, as another child came in.
"Hall monitor Sidney, reporting for duty, Principal Phibes sir." Sidney said, saluting like she was a soldier.
"Please escort these four to their class." Principal Phibes said.
"This way maggots." Sidney said.
"Call me maggot one more time, see what happens." Senshi said.
"There, there Charles. You are such a good boy, yes you are." Phibes exclaimed as the students left for their class.
~Detention~
The four students were sitting in the detention classroom, each doing their own thing, Senshi was twirling his drumstick in the air over his pointed fingers, before he noticed a skittering sound coming from the wall. He wasn't the only one to notice the noise as Erma noticed it to, as she got up to see what was making that sound by listening in on what was in the wall, before Connor came up behind her.
"Hey Erma." He said, before he suddenly found himself strangled by Erma's hair. "Erm… HUUK." He choked out, before Erma dropped him. "Nice to… see you here…"
"What are you doing here Connor?" Senshi questioned.
"Yeah, never pegged you for the detention kind of guy." Terry said.
"I know, but the hall monitor caught me going to the bathroom without a pass." Connor said.
"Without a pass? Doesn't seem like much of a crime." Amy said.
"Yeah well… Sidney's kind of a…"
Knock-knock-knock… The five students turned to the door to see Sidney looking at them through the window, and gave them the, I'm watching you look, before jumping back in fear, as Senshi sent his spear at her, stopping a centimeter before the glass.
"She's a pain in the ass, who looks down on others, just because she gets to skip classes at times to do her monitoring duties." Senshi groaned, bringing Chastiefol back to his hand in its common drum stick form.
"Whoa, Senshi using adult language, that only happens when he's really mad." Amy said.
"What's got you down pal?" Terry asked.
"It's nothing… ever since I got here to this school, I've been sensing multiple presences under the school's foundation, but I can't exactly pinpoint where they are. It's driving me crazy." Senshi groaned. "I don't wanna ask my Aunt Merlin for help, because I don't wanna end up dependent on her or anyone else from my family."
"What kind of presences have you been sensing?" Connor questioned.
"I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's sort of like a combination of rodent and human, I think humanoid rodents, I'm not sure." Senshi sighed. "Sometimes being able to sense other people's aura is nerve-racking."
"Hey chill out man. Just do something to take your mind off it." Terry said.
"I can't, not when there's a skittering sound, coming from the walls." Senshi sighed, before the others jumped as loud skriching sounds came from the wall, causing Connor to jump into the air, and land in Erma's arms, or he would have if Senshi didn't grab him with his drumstick, right before the sound of a large creature screeching in anger, came from the wall.
"Ohoho, what was that?" Terry questioned, excitedly.
"Probably one of the humanoid rodents I mentioned." Senshi said, as he set Connor on the ground. "Sounds like it came from inside the wall."
"Erma, mind poking your head in and…" Amy stopped when Erma grabbed the top of her head, and ripped it off her body, before sticking it through the wall. "I didn't exactly mean it like that."
Inside the wall, Erma was looking around, before she heard the sound again, and turned her head towards it, catching the faint glimpse of a shadow running through the corridor of the hollowed wall. Back outside, Senshi and the others were waiting with three of them having baited breath.
"Well, you see anything Erma?" Senshi questioned, before she phased completely through. "Huh, apparently she did."
"C'mon, let's follow her." Amy exclaimed, going for the door, and opening it, only to freeze when she noticed Sidney coming down the hall.
"I think it best, if we stay in here." Senshi exclaimed, as Sidney turned her head as she heard something and went running after it.
Returning to their seats, Senshi floated through the air and to the ceiling, before he went out the door, and closed it, before following Erma's aura, making sure to stay close to the ceiling, before he flew over the Principal and Vice-Principal.
"So what's the status Ms. Ripley?" Phibes questioned.
"So far Mr. Phibes, we still haven't found the source of the rat problem." Ripley said.
"Hmm. Unfortunate, we need to find it soon." Phibes said. "We're starting to get notices from parents about this situation."
'So he is aware of the problem. But why hide it?' Senshi questioned in thought.
"We're trying to control that as much as we can sir. Only thing is that we can only keep the truth hidden for so long." Ripley said.
"An' what will happen if it breaks out?" Phibes questioned.
"We might have to shut down the school, if the number of rats keeps increasing." Ripley said.
'What truth are they hiding, what secrets could they be withholding from the rest of the town? I have a feeling I'm about to find out.' Senshi said as he continued to follow Erma's aura, all the way to a janitorial closet, one in which Sidney was at. Inside he could sense the auras of Connor, Amy, and Terry. 'They must have gone a different route than me.'
"Look what you did to the wall. That's it, back to detention with you all." Sidney exclaimed.
"Now hold on just a second there Sidney." Senshi said landing on the ground. "I know these three very well, and I know for a fact that they wouldn't do something like this. Let me have a look at the wall."
"So you can contaminate the evidence I have to show the Principal and Vice-Principal? I don't think so." Sidney said, before she jumped in shock as a small pink thread of magic pricked her neck.
"Oh, I see." Senshi said smiling. "You three, head on out. I've got something I want to talk about with Sidney."
"Uh, right." Amy said as they left.
Sidney tried to stop them, but she found herself frozen to the floor.
"Don't bother Sidney. I've temporarily removed control of your basic motor functions from you, aside from talking that is." Senshi said, closing the door behind him. "Now, I know that form is exhausting you immensely, and it's taking a lot of mental energy, so why don't you drop the disguise?"
"What are you…?"
"Drop the act to. I've seen all your memories. The rat village under the school, the truth about who you really are. You're going against your father's orders, by infesting the school with rats. So drop the façade." Senshi said.
Sidney froze before she relaxed, and her body lit up, before the light died down, and she was in her true, hybrid form.
"There, you happy? What are you gonna do now?" Sidney questioned.
Senshi snapped his fingers, and Sidney suddenly had control over her full motor functions again.
"Let's talk." He said sitting on the box. "I get you're wanting to have your people accepted faster than your father's plan. I mean, I'm a literal demon, and it took centuries for my kind to be accepted in the ancient kingdom of Liones." Senshi exclaimed. "But your father's plan is there for a reason. If you move things too fast, ahead of schedule, then you're only gonna cause more harm than good."
"But I'm tired of having to hide who I really am, I'm just wanting to be me." Sidney said.
"Now I see why you act like you look down on everyone else." Senshi sighed. "You've reached your mental limits on how much you can take."
"Yeah, I have." Sidney exclaimed.
"Then, how about this?" Senshi suggested. "I assume Phibes and Ripley know about the underground civilization under the school. Phibes is probably gonna be holding an emergency meeting with your father tonight. So I'll join, I think I have an idea on how to start integrating rat people into society, faster than your father had planned, with minimum drawbacks."
"What could you do?" Sidney questioned.
"I come from a long line of kings and queens, human, demon, fairy, and angel alike. I think I know a few things about trying to get the supernatural to fit in." Senshi said.
"Fine. I'll go inform Phibes about of what's happening. In the meantime…"
"I know, I know, back to detention." Senshi said.
"I was gonna say keep your trap shut about what you saw in my memories, but yes, back to detention." Sidney said.
~Later That Night~
"Hey Amy, why'd you bring that dinky little net?" Terry questioned.
"Senshi and Erma said to bring whatever we could, so I brought this." Amy said.
Amy, Terry, and Erma were standing out in the grassy fields, in the dark, with nothing much to protect them. Erma and Senshi had come up with a plan after Erma had returned to the detention room, and compared notes with Senshi. So after they made their plan, Senshi told everyone to come that night, with anything they thought could be useful on the mission.
"Against that giant in the wall? Good luck trying to catch its foot with that." Terry exclaimed.
"That's some talk, coming from the guy who mainly brought weapons made out of wood." Amy said.
"Excuse me, I have a golf club in this bag you know." Terry practically shouted.
"Ooh yeah. You brought a skinny weak metal stick instead of an aluminum bat, great thinking genius." Amy exclaimed.
"Hey guys I'm here." Connor said, coming to the group, only to get the evil eyes from Terry and Amy.
Erma managed to get their attention, before pulling out her book of spells, and a vial of dust, bringing them closer. Performing the ritual, Erma made them invisible, and set the stopwatch for the allotted time they had.
"Where's Senshi? Shouldn't he be here for this?" Terry questioned.
"He said, he'd be taking a different approach to entering the school and finding out what the problem is." Connor said.
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go." Amy said.
Jumping over the fence, the group went running to the school, and with Erma using her powers, they'd broken into the school without any trouble, and went running down the hall, to the janitor's closet where the wall with the hole was.
"Oh man, I'm freaking out right now." Terry whispered.
"I know, but we shouldn't get caught. We're fine." Amy whispered.
"No. I mean I'm a kid, breaking into school. That's so unnatural."
Running through the halls, the children still weren't caught on the security cameras, not even as they reached their destination.
"Alright, remember the plan. Once we get into the wall, we split into teams of two, and search the entire area." Amy said. "As soon as we see something weird, we'll contact the others, with Connor's walkie-talkies, and we'll…" Amy stopped when she saw someone behind Connor, someone of high standing power at the school. "Uh, Connor."
"Got them." Connor said, pulling the devices out of his bag, before seeing his friend's looks of fear.
Unknown to him, he was standing with Principal Phibes right behind him. He turned around to see what was behind him, and nearly cried out in shock before Erma silenced him with her hair wrapping around his mouth.
"Did either of you hear something?" Phibes questioned.
"No sir, I don't think I did." Sidney said, being the one leading Phibes by the hand.
"Not a thing." Senshi exclaimed.
Moving out of the way as the trio came past them, Senshi shot a side glance to Erma and Amy, showing he knew they were there, and that they should tail them, in a loose follow.
Right after the three of them came into the closet, a horde of rats came in, and moved the box out of the way, allowing Senshi, Sidney, and Phibes, a clear access path through to the secret passage in the wall.
"Careful of your head sir." Senshi exclaimed as he and Sidney helped Phibes through the hole.
Behind them, Erma, Terry, Connor, and Amy came through the hole, and began following behind the trio.
"Hold on, anyone find it odd Phibes didn't hear us back in the hall way? An' what's Senshi doing with them anyway?" Terry questioned, but got nothing in response. "Okay, fine. I'll just be the dumb muscle."
Following the trio through the hollow corridors, they stopped at the intersection Erma lost her quarry at, just in time to see Sidney lift up a secret door in the ground, leading further into the sublevels of the school, and terrain the building was made on. That kinda pissed Erma off.
With the four of them, following Senshi, Phibes, and Sidney through the corridors, they began to hear Phibes addressing Sidney.
"I'm surprised you've kept your mouth shut about what you learned from peering into Sidney's memories, young man." Phibes exclaimed.
"I promised her I'd keep quiet about this until I gave my idea to the leader of the civilization. I'm sure we can come to an understanding." Senshi said.
"What if things don't pan out the way you hope?" Phibes questioned.
"They will, trust me, I know what I'm doing." Senshi said.
With things having gone quiet again, the four followed Senshi, Phibes, and Sidney further in through the corridors, before they came across what looked like an ancient civilization.
As the trio, plus the invisible quartet, traversed through the streets of the civilization, they were getting the sense that they shouldn't actually be there. Things got even worse, when the trio stopped, and giant rodent like people went running past them, and gathered in what seemed to be the town square, and the biggest rat man, stepped up addressing the Principal.
"Hello, Phibes." He said.
"Delapore old friend. How are you doing? It's been a while." Phibes said.
"Unfortunately, we have to skip the salutations. We've heard about your troubles up above." Delapore said, before looking down to Senshi. "An' who is this?"
"My name is Senshi Liones. I'm a student at the school, and a friend of Sidney's." Senshi said, surprising Sidney with the friend bit.
"Did my daughter reveal to you her true form?" Delapore inquired, that statement surprising the four invisible, hiding children. Never in a million years, would they have expected the school's hall monitor to be the child of an anthromorphic rat.
"She did, only after I told her, I knew everything that was going on." Senshi said.
"Be that as it may. The problems we're having up top are becoming a worry. Soon it'll become a problem for you and your people, if we don't settle it." Phibes said, getting them back on track. "Hopefully though, things should calm down, especially now that we've found the source. Isn't that right, Sidney?"
"HERESY. We should have known she'd be responsible for this mess." A rat with a scar on his face, cried out in anger, before he had to step back, as Chastiefol in its first form, was in front of him, and floating.
"That'll be enough out of you." Senshi said, nonchalantly. "I will not have you making any inappropriate, or lethal threats, towards my friend. So if you wish to keep your tongue, I suggest you keep your mouth shut."
'He's acting differently than usual. He's not acting like a child, he's acting like a King.' Erma thought, remembering how Senshi's Uncle Harlequin acted, and seeing the striking resemblance in the two behaviors.
"What does this mean for our plans Del?" One of the others questioned.
"This is pointless. We should do what our ancestors would've done, years ago." The scar faced rat said, before the spear neared him.
"It isn't wise, to make threats of war, in front of a king." Senshi exclaimed, forwarding his brow. From where Erma was hiding, she could see something was off with Senshi, and his shoulders were tensed up, as if in pain.
"Please forgive him. He's only concerned about our people." Delapore said, trying to defuse the situation.
Senshi sighed, and pulled Chastiefol back to him, reverting the sacred treasure to its drumstick form.
"I apologize, the last few months have been stressful for myself, but that is no excuse for my behavior, as a ruler of the Fairy King's Forest, I should hold myself with a bit more constraint than this." Senshi exclaimed, his words shocking the inhabitants, of the cave.
"The Fairy King's Forest? But if you are a fairy, where are your wings?" Delapore questioned.
"I am only a child." Senshi chuckled. "I have yet to reach the age that they will grow in at."
"Yet you have such mastery over your Sacred Treasure. I'm in awe, your majesty." Delapore said, bowing and taking a knee to him.
"Please, I'm nothing special. I am here in your territory, because I wish to discuss something with you about bringing your people into the light of society." Senshi said.
"But we have our own way here, it's helping us to stay alive, and to remain fruitful among our own kind." Delapore said.
"But it's wrong." Sidney said, shocking her father that she'd speak against him like that.
"Sidney."
"I'm sorry dad, it's just… I don't see why we still have to hide down here from everyone. An' I know you've let me go up to school, to make friends, and be happy but…" Sidney was silent for a moment. "But I'm just tired of lying to everyone. We should be living with them, not running."
"Impressive, you actually managed to deceive me, and hide the truth of the matter from me." Senshi said. "Not a lot of people can protect themselves so well against memory magic as strong as mine. You're quite gifted Sidney."
"Well, isn't she just a precious little flower?" Delapore turned with a sneer to a rat that was approaching them. "Just because you're the daughter of our leader, doesn't mean we're leaving our future in the hands of a couple of children."
"I suggest you back off." Delapore said.
"Or what? You know, for being our noble leader, you seem to show a lot of weakness." The rat said.
"What I show, is what's keeping us alive." Delapore stated firmly.
"We oughta be taking the upper world like we should have, generations ago. They're the ones who built this school on top of our home, after all, and it's only a matter of time before they discover our existence anyways."
"What you're suggesting is we go to war, and betray the upper worlders that have been there, for us." Delapore said.
"Delapore, he's right about one thing." Senshi exclaimed.
"You and I know that eventually, our races will cross paths. It's inevitable." Phibes said. "An' we should prepare for when that happens. That's why young Liones, is here now. In fact, we might be doing that, sooner than we'd think. Isn't that right children?" Phibes smiled, turning his blind eye to the four children's hiding spot, that Erma moved them to once the invisibility began to wear off, causing the children to panic.
The scar faced rat jumped up to the top of the wall where the children were hiding. Glaring down at them, with menacing eyes.
"That's it, I've been getting caught all day." Terry said, pulling out a hockey stick, and letting out a battle cry.
Unfortunately, the swing stopped when the rat grabbed the weapon with his tail, and pulled Terry up, face to face with him. Terry just let go of the hockey stick, and dropped to the ground, just as Connor was grabbed by the ankle by another rat, and was being dragged away.
"Guys help." Connor cried out as he was dragged away.
Erma used her telekinetic abilities to send the rat pulling Connor away, through a wall as Amy used her net on one of the rat's noses, confusing it as to what it was supposed to have done.
"Gah." Amy cried out.
"Let go of me." Terry shouted.
Erma turned to help her friends, before another giant rat came up and jumped on her, pinning Erma to the ground.
"I got her guys. I got…"
The rat stopped speaking as he looked up to see Chastiefol in his face, with dark purple flames covering the blade. He could feel the heat from the flames intensely, as Senshi had enough of the violence, as he was standing in the frame of what was supposed to be a window, his sclera black, with matching veins traveling down to his cheek bones.
"That's enough." Senshi said. "Let them go, now. There's no need to restrain them. We're just here to talk."
The rat backed off, grabbing a hand full of dirt from the ground, before throwing it in Senshi's eyes, temporarily blinding him, long enough for the rat to kick the Sacred Treasure, spinning back towards Senshi. Just as he was able to open his eyes to see again, they widened when he saw the black flames of the blade, too close to his face for him to stop it in time, right before it cut downwards on the right side of his face, and down his neck and collarbone, causing him to cry out in pain.
"AAAAHHHHH." Senshi cried out, gripping the sliced and cauterized areas on his person, as he fell out of the frame and onto the ground.
"Senshi." Amy called out, as they ran out from behind the wall, and to where Senshi was on the ground. "He's not healing, why isn't he healing? Isn't he immortal?"
Erma was about to panic, before she remembered that Senshi's Grandpa Ban was immortal, but also had a scar on the left side of his face, that he got sometime after he had received his immortality. Whistling like Senshi does, Erma summoned Oslo, who opened his mouth, to create a portal for her to go through.
~Hidden Island~
Ban yawned as he was getting a glass of water, he's been asleep all day and was planning on taking on a night patrol. But the instant he grabbed the pitcher of water, a portal opened in front of him, and Erma's head popped out, a concerned look on her face.
"Hey little Oreo, what's the matter?" Ban asked.
"Senshi's hurt. He's not healing, and the only thing I thought of was to come to you, since you got a scar after you got your immortality." Erma said.
"What? Hold on a second I'll go grab King." Ban said, racing away through the tower, before coming back a few minutes later with a young looking boy under his arm, holding a big green pillow in his arms, and fairy wings folded on his back.
"Ban, I can fly you know." King said. "What are you even grabbing me for anyway?"
"We might need your special healing dome." Ban said. "Okay little Oreo, take us to Senshi."
Erma pulled herself out of the portal, just in time to let King and Ban through.
~Secret Rat Settlement~
Ban and King jumped through the portal, appearing through the portal before Ban put King down, and ran to where Senshi was, surrounded by his friends.
"Move, let me through." Ban said, examining Senshi's injury. "What happened?"
"Senshi was only protecting Erma." Amy said. "He pointed Chastiefol at the rat man that pinned her down, but his eyes were black with veins going down them, and there were dark purple flames on Chastiefol's blade."
"Then the rat pulled a dirty trick, and blinded Senshi with an eye full of dirt, before kicking Chastiefol at him, causing it to spin, before it struck him, cutting him." Terry exclaimed. "Why isn't he healing?"
"Dark purple flames?" Ban questioned. "Damn it. Those are cursed flames, flames of the Demon King. The only thing that negates the immortality healing abilities. An' this wound is deeper than the one the captain inflicted on me. He's losing a lot of blood."
"Stand back, I'll handle this. I'm not gonna loose him, like I lost Elaine all those years ago." King said, spreading his wings, as the others backed up, and Ban gently lay Senshi on the ground. "Spirit Spear Chastiefol, Eighth Configuration: Pollen Garden."
The pillow King laid on changed shape, and turned into a dome of green light that covered Senshi, as pollen like spores began falling from the top like snow.
~Short Interlude~
Senshi and Erma were smiling, as they were sitting on a black cauldron with Senshi wearing a green hat with a black belt and buckle on it, covering his eyes, while Erma was flipping a gold coin in the air, and catching it. On the ground beside the cauldron, was the leprechaun who had tried to attack them, for finding his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, tied up, gagged, and unconscious with a black eye and a few scrapes.
"Luck a de Irish." Senshi smiled, raising the lip of the hat, to uncover his eyes, as a four leaf clover with a long stem sat in his mouth like a piece of hay, as he leaned against the rainbow.
~End Interlude~
"Now, who's the asshole I have to beat for doing this to my grandchild?" Ban questioned, turning to look at the denizens of the underground civilization.
"Mr. Ban, I'd recognize that voice anywhere." Phibes said. "Please calm down, we're only here to talk peace. There wasn't supposed to be any battle."
"Fine. But if any of you tries to lay a hand on my grandson's friends again, I'm not gonna show any mercy." Ban said. "I swear as the Fox Sin of Greed, Undead Ban."
"What is the meaning of this?" The rat who was questioning, Delapore's leadership, asked, directing their attention to the children. "Do you not see this my lord? This treachery? Those four even started attacking us."
"Only because you provoked them." King exclaimed.
"It did look more like self defense to me." Delapore said.
"But Sire, you cannot deny that Phibes has brought them, knowing he was being followed. Then the pale one brought two more to our sanctum." The rat exclaimed.
"That is true. But she only brought the other two, because one of our kind, hurt the young king with his own weapon." Delapore said. "They were brought for his own health and safety. But the children, are a quandary."
"I am sorry, my old friend. I didn't intend on these children to follow us. But after hearing their presence earlier, I figured to take advantage of the situation." Phibes exclaimed. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you all to Erma. She and Senshi are students at the school with their friends, their human friends. Despite that Erma possesses some, extraordinary abilities from what I hear." Phibes said, directing their attention to Erma, who went into the dome with Senshi, and held him close.
"She's half yokai." Ban said. "She's just like that little brunet hiding behind Phibes."
"I'll be honest. I am actually surprised." King said. "I had honestly thought the rat man species had gone extinct when the Fairy King's Forest had been burnt down by that red demon, centuries ago. I mean, the underground labyrinth of roots belonging to the Sacred Tree, was your home."
"According to stories from our ancestors, we'd managed to survive, with more than enough survivors to try and start anew. They had made their way here, to the new world, and created this colony, where we have lived, and thrived for centuries." Delapore said.
"Back to the matter at hand." Phibes said. "As I said before, the discovery of your people will be inevitable. But that doesn't have to end in tragedy. Let Erma be the example here, since our original example, is currently lying in recovery. The world is not what it was before. It's changing, it's opening, it's turning. An' in this school, thanks to both of them, everyone's eyes are widening."
"Easy for you to say, you blind bat." The rat declared. "The children can at least blend in with humans on looks alone. Where does that leave us?"
"Okay, I'm seriously lost right now. What in the world is going on?" Terry questioned.
Ban sighed as he leaned against the stone wall, before looking at Sidney.
"Hey kid." Ban exclaimed, getting Sidney's attention. "Mind filling us in on what's happening?"
"Oh, well I guess you do deserve an explanation for what's going on." Sidney exclaimed. "Not like they're ever gonna get to tell you with all their arguing. You gotta understand, this is all that I know."
"Well? Out with it already." Ban said.
"We've lived down here in the underground for so long, even before I was born." Sidney began. "In fact, it's been our home ever since before my dad took charge. From what I hear, it was more peaceful. It was a time when no one had to worry about hiding. Just us and our underground home, without any disturbance whatsoever."
"Until there were disturbances, correct?" King inquired.
"That was until the humans up top started building the school. The rumbles from above… the noises… it was disturbing our peace down below. Eventually a small group of humans came to my grandpa and the rats. But this group seemed special. Not a sign of fear in their eyes. They agreed to keep this city a secret, but as that was happening, that was when my parents met."
"Ah, love at its finest." Ban smiled. "Reminds me of when I first met my wife Elaine."
"My mom wasn't like most other. She was probably to kindest, out of all of them. She was sweet to everyone, rat and human alike." Sidney exclaimed. "At least that's what my dad told me. I… I never got to meet her… She died, bringing me into the world."
Ban looked to the arguing group, a thought coming to him, when he noticed how Phibes was acting, before Sidney continued the story.
"But from her I was given this ability. To guide our smaller brothers and sisters. She always wished for a day when both our kinds could live with each other, peacefully." Sidney exclaimed, as she held out her arm with a rat on it, and holding it out for Erma to take, as she held her arms out. "It's why I started bringing these rats up to the school. But I guess I still need to hide my true self. To hide our home, heck it's the reason why I'm even the hall monitor."
"Um, if I may butt in for a second." Amy began. "I'm a bit confused about your powers. I mean yeah, you have this power to control rats, but so what? Erma does things like that to. I don't see a reason why you need to hide it. I mean, other than that, you look like a regular human to me."
"Well, there's one other thing I can do." Sidney said, this getting the attention of her father.
"Sidney please don't." He called to her.
"Oh no, you've done enough damage you little traitor." The scar faced rat said, charging at Sidney. "Your very existence was a mistake to begin with. You die here." He said with a war cry, charging at Sidney and pouncing at her, before he was stopped, and hovered in the air, as something was holding him up.
When he looked down at his body, he saw a golden spear shaft and the bottom half of a golden leaf spear head, poking out from his abdomen, with dark purple flames spreading across his body. Looking towards the ground, he saw Senshi, struggling to keep himself awake, propped up on one arm, with the other, reached out towards him, his right eye closed as he couldn't see through the blood covering it.
"I warned you." Senshi said with strain. "Do not hurt my friends." He said before coughing a bit. "Spirit Spear Chastiefol, Third Configuration: Fossilization."
The rat tried screaming out in rage and pain, but before he could make a sound, he was fossilized with dark purple flames roaring like torches on his head and in his stone hands, like a main of hair, and an attack he was making with magic, before his petrified form, was gently placed on the ground, like a statue.
With that done, Senshi fell back to the ground, with Erma embracing him, before she felt something poking through the back of his shirt.
"Hey Delapore." Ban said. "Don't you think you should let your daughter decide on showing them her true form? I mean, it is kinda too late to put the shovel down. The hole's already been dug so deep."
"Ban's right. I think it should be her decision. Senshi just expended the last of his energy protecting her after all." King exclaimed.
Delapore looked to Sidney before he sighed, showing her it was all right to show them. Sidney let out a deep sigh, before she stepped in front of the others, and let her façade go, changing into her true form, showing them what she actually looked like, leaving them shocked.
"I was afraid of this." Delapore sighed. "Look at them, they're shocked, frightened even."
"Wait for it." Ban smiled.
"Finally, trying to keep that form can be exhausting." Sidney sighed.
"Kinda like how I can change into a different form." King said. "Takes a lot out of me too."
"Look… I… I know I might not look so… human…" Sidney said a bit worried as Erma gently set Senshi down and left the dome of healing pollen. "It's just that, I've been cooped up in that form for so long, and I just thought that…"
Sidney stopped when Erma grabbed her hands, and looked her in the eyes, giving her a smile, before the ghost girl pulled Sidney in for a hug, surprising the other rat people.
"You're so cute." Amy said.
"You can transform? That is awesome." Terry exclaimed.
"Incredible." Connor said.
"I knew you'd feel better… if you let yourself relax."
The children looked to see Senshi sitting up with the help of Ban, his wound mostly gone, leaving a prominent scar along the entire length where he'd been cut, as the dome dropped.
"There's nothing wrong with who you are." Senshi smiled. "Being yourself, is what makes you special, it's what makes everyone unique. Don't forget that."
Sidney was silent for a moment, before she smiled as she began to tear up, happy to finally be herself and not have to hide who she is.
"Well I'll be…" Delapore exclaimed.
"See? Like I said, things are changing." Phibes stated.
"You know this doesn't change our plans though right? We still need to dig ourselves to a new location." Delapore said.
"Oh without a doubt, I assume the noise upstairs can be quite the annoyance." Phibes said.
"If you're looking for someone to help you dig through the ground, we know just the gal to help you." Ban smiled, right before an Oslo portal opened, and out of it came Elaine and a human sized Diane, wielding a matching Gideon. "Speak of the devil."
"Alright where's the fight, who'd dare to harm my baby." Diane said, looking ready for a fight, before spotting Senshi.
"Hi Aunt Diane." Senshi smiled.
"Oh my goodness, Senshi what happened?" Diane questioned, dropping Gideon and rushing to him, before inspecting the wound. "Why haven't you healed properly? Why is your voice a little hoarse?"
"He was cut badly by his own Spirit Spear and cursed flames." Ban said. "King did what he could, but you know how badly those flames can affect our immortality."
"Oh sweetie, are you sure you're okay?" Elaine asked. "Your voice sounds off."
"His voice box was damaged." King said. "I did what I could to heal it, but this is what he's gonna sound like from now on, it might even get worse as he gets older."
"Hang on… Senshi what are these lumps poking through against your shirt?" Ban questioned, feeling the lumps on Senshi's back.
"Let me see." Elaine said, as Ban turned Senshi around to look at him. "Oh my goodness, these aren't just lumps." She smiled, removing his shirt, showing that what he had, were newly sprouted wings. "He's an early bloomer. He got his fairy wings."
"The exact opposite of King." Ban mocked.
"Not funny Ban." King grumbled.
"So Delapore, to get back to what I wanted to propose." Senshi said, turning to look at the leader of the Rat Tribe. "How would you feel, about a little cultural exchange program of sorts?" He smiled.
~1 Week Later~
Erma, and Senshi were sitting with their friends at their usual table, with Sidney accompanying them in her normal hybrid form, ready to dig in to the lunch Diane and Emiko made them. Diane had insisted on staying by Senshi's side for a while until she was sure he was okay, to which Emiko and Sam were more than happy about, so long as Diane didn't forget to take her medicine that kept her human sized. It would be a disaster if she ever did, so after conversing with Merlin to make sure it was safe, Diane started taking one pill every night, and every morning before she went to bed, and after she woke up, just to be safe.
When the duo were about to dig in to their lunches, something went zipping past them, before one of the rat children from the underground civilization, sat at one of the tables, with a smile, and began conversing with the friends they'd already made, attending the school. The program Senshi proposed to Delapore was going well, and if any human children thought it would be a good idea to bully any of the rat kids, Senshi would put them in their place as he was made official ambassador to keep things in order, when this news about the underground civilization had gotten to the mayor's office, after becoming public knowledge.
"Looks like the news kids are fitting in just fine." Amy said.
"Yep, and the best part, we didn't get into trouble for sneaking into school. Thanks to Principal Phibes." Terry said.
"Speak for yourself, I got grounded by Erma's parents when we got home, after telling them about how my voice changed, and how I got this scar. I can't play video games for another three weeks." Senshi exclaimed.
"Won't your new duties as an ambassador keep you too busy for those anyway?" Amy asked.
"Besides, he said we wouldn't get in trouble, so long as we didn't say anything about seeing him down in the underground city." Connor said. "Does anyone think that's a little weird?"
"Well, I mean he is Sidney's grandfather on her mom's side of the family. So I guess he just doesn't want to be seen as biased towards the situation." Senshi said before looking at Sidney's lunchbox. 'No way, that's the limited edition Warrior Unicorn Princess Lunchbox. Only 150 were ever made, and they stopped selling and making those six months ago.'
"Is something wrong Senshi?" Sidney asked.
"Oh, sorry no. Just a little tired from my duties as an ambassador I guess." Senshi chuckled. 'Oh boy, I get the feeling, I've signed up for something I shouldn't have.'
~After School~
After the school day had ended, everyone took their routes home as they were eager to do their own thing, aside from Senshi, who no doubt had a bunch of ambassador stuff to do when he got back.
When they got to Connor's neck of the woods, they all said their goodbyes to him, and Connor went home, where he planned on completing his homework before he did anything else. When he was walking down the hall to his room, he passed by his sister's room, right before she opened the door, and she stepped out, and looked to Connor.
"I let you borrow my walkie-talkies a few days ago. You promised you'd give them back to me. You didn't give them back. Can I have them back please?" She questioned.
"Oh yeah hang on." Connor said, reaching into his bag and pulling them out. "Sorry about that, turns out I didn't need them after all." He exclaimed, handing them to his big sister.
"Thank you, apology accepted." She said, before returning to her room. Returning to her desk, she placed the devices back on the charger, before sitting and leaning back into her chair, a devilish smile on her face, as she menacingly tapped her fingers together. "Now… Where were we?" She questioned, looking to her Erma obsession, her shadow forming an evil red smile, of jagged teeth.