Hey guys! I'm so sorry to keep you guys waiting on chapter 8. That was my bad. I've been busy in my life and I've been working on so much art! I do want to thank who's watching this story for waiting, it's been a while since we last left this story off. Shigure and the gang are back again!
Enjoy! Let the rest of 2021 treat you all well! : D
"Ignatius?" Shigure recognized him immediately while holding back his lance. They faced each other eye to eye.
"Yes. It is me. I was told that you need help. Is that true?" Ignatius wasted no time asking the leader of the children.
"Yes. That is true. We've been trying to fight off these shadows and nothing seems to be keeping them back that easily." Shigure replied, he looked back at the group before turning back to the tough child unit.
"I see... I'm coming with you. You'll need all of the help that you can get." Ignatius nodded and went over to Soleil who was excited to see him.
"Oh! Ignatius! You're here! I'm so happy!" Soleil cried out. Ignatius embraced her into a hug. He then slow pulled away and he looked at the others. Selkie flinched, she hid behind Kiragi.
"Hey! What is wrong with you?" Takumi's son asked the scared fox. Selkie hissed out a few things that he couldn't catch.
"She's scared of me? I won't bite." Ignatius grinned but then he looked over to his right. A few shadows were coming to them.
"What's wrong, Ignatius?" Sophie was worried as she turned around and saw the shadows coming to them from afar.
"More shadows!" Shigure turned around and saw a full army. Corrin was in front of it as he spoke out to the children units. Percy hopped on his dragon, getting ready to attack.
"You all seem very excited... As much as you want to get rid of me, you cannot." Corrin disappeared and the shadows grew aggressive. Ignatius charged at the shadows and everyone followed him. Forrest used his magic spell book to shock the enemies and make them disappear.
Corrin grabbed Kiragi as Shigure was about to make his move and injure her but she held her sword to his throat.
"GAH!" Kiragi yelped while struggling to get free from her grasp.
"If you ever want to see him in one piece, you might want to think about what you're doing..." Corrin cracked a wicked smile. Kiragi tried to say a few words but he was getting choked. The more Shigure moved, the tighter she held him.
"Don't you dare!" Shigure pointed his lance at her.
"Why don't we make a deal. Come join us and I will let Kiragi free." Corrin smiled.
"And why would we join you?" Shiro stepped in front of Shigure. Siegbert was sneaking from behind Corrin, waiting for his chance to strike.
"We are not giving up that easily!" Nina pulled out her bow and some arrows.
"Oh? The daughter of Niles, trying to put an end to me as well?" Corrin held her yoto closer to Kiragi's throat.
"N-No!" Takumi's son choked out his last words.
"I don't think so!" Siegbert struck Corrin in the head with his sword. Corrin screamed in agony and dropped the young unit on the ground while Shigure came to him quickly and picked him up.
"Are you alright, Kiragi?" Shigure panicked while holding him close.
"Yes. I'm f-fine." Kiragi gasped for air. He looked back at what Siegbert had done. Corrin held her head and took off with the rest of the fleeing shadows. The yoto that she held, was on the ground, it was cracked at the bladed tip.
"She dropped her sword?" Percy looked at the sight with confusion, his dragon growled at the sword. It was sensing something.
"I don't think that dragon likes that sword in particular." Nina held her weapon downwards towards the ground.
"What will we do now?" Selkie was looking at everyone. She was confused. Shigure finally let Kiragi get up on his own as he explained the plan.
"There is a change of plans now. We must take another path if we want to easily get to the source of these shadows. In this case, we gotta follow Corrin. She went north." Shigure hopped on Joseph. The pegasus bellowed and flew off.
The other units followed him. Ignatius felt guilty about not telling anyone about Kana but he wanted to keep his cousin's promise. Soleil looked back at Ignatius, she was worried about him.
"Ignatius, are you okay? Soleil worriedly asked. She wasn't sure if they should continue with their friend looking very gloomy.
"Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing, I was thinking about something else." The heavy armored unit replied before following Shigure's group. Siegbert looked up into the sky, black lightning was flash across it.
"Something tells me that a new storm is coming through." Siegbert finally broke some of the silence as the others agreed them him.
"Does that mean that it's getting worse?" Kiragi wondered.
"It could be a signal. We need to be on our guard. You never know what is coming up." Nina replied while Selkie ran passed her and shape shifted into her fox form.
"Selkie?" Nina was surprised.
"What has gotten into her?" Sophie was confused while Forrest and his horse stopped behind her.
"I smell a wolf!" Selkie barked.
"A wolf? Out here?" Soleil looked at her in confusion. She didn't think any wolves would be out where they were. She walked near Selkie, trying to keep her calm.
"Don't hold me back! What if it tries to hurt us!?" Selkie growled louder as the figure came out. It took the other units by surprise which caused Shigure and his pegasus to stop moving.
"What happened?" Shigure was curious to find out what his group was looking at from below.
"There is a wolf after all." Nina pointed her bow and arrow at it.
"So you're going to shoot me without letting me get a chance to introduce myself?" The wolf growled back before changing into her human form.
"Velouria?" Selkie shape shifted back to her normal self as well while the others looked at her.
"Yes. I'm afraid we have already met but who are the rest of them?" Velouria paced around the young units.
"They are my friends! Why are you traveling by yourself?" Selkie answered as she asked the wolf girl another question.
"No, the others have yet to catch up to me. I'm heading off to defeat the shadows." The wolf unit answered while kicking her feet on the ground gently.
"You rang?" Ophelia called from the other end of the bushes.
"Of course! I didn't know you showed up that quick!" Velouria grinned while looking back at the other units.
"So? Is it just you two?" Ignatius wondered. He gave the wolf a long look.
"No. There is more!" A voice called out from afar until another pegasus flew out from the trees.
"Caeldori?" Shigure saw her coming down to them.
"Of course! Shigure, how have you been? Did the shadows cause you to run here too?" She gave him a worried look after her greeting.
"Yes. We've all been chased down here. The shadows are getting dangerous." Shigure answered.
"Does this mean we get candy after this?" Asugi wondered. He was getting tired of running around without his addiction.
"No!" Hisame shouted as he and the female Kana arrived.
"Aw man..." He kicked the dirt and stayed quiet with his arms crossed.
"Good lad then..." Hisame chuckled. He came over to Shigure and explained what happened. Shigure nodded and understood.
"Hisame! You guys finally caught up to me!" Shiro ran and tackled his friend. Hisame was trying to get him off.
"Shiro! Stop!" Hisame was finally able to use his knees and fling the excited unit off of him.
"Sorry, I got excited. It's nice to see you guys here with us!" Shiro smiled as Nina interrupted the happy moment.
"Who is that girl?" She wondered, looked all around her. She looked like the male Kana.
"Oh! Me? My name is Kana!" The female child unit grinned. This made Nina jump back and take out her bow and one of his arrows.
"What are you doing?" Kiragi panicked as he held Nina's arms down, trying to stop her from killing the young unit.
"Kana hurt my arm! Now he's acting like some girl that I don't know about!?" Nina shouted. Selkie flinched while Velouria charged at Nina and pinned her down.
"Listen! Kana is with us! She doesn't need to be picked on or even killed by someone that we don't know!" The wolf growled in her face and almost bit her hair but Nina threw her off and two of them stared at each other.
"Hey hey hey! Let's not argue!" Ophelia cried out, she blocked each of them from causing their attacks.
"Oh? Why must you stop us?" Nina looked at the blonde child unit while getting ready to shoot her instead.
"Kana is our friend. Caeldori found her and Hisame knows Kana. We must keep her alive." Ophelia begged Nina to stop. Nina look up at Ophelia and then back at Kana. She let out a sigh as she put her weapons away. Velouria turned back into her human form and walked back over to Hisame.
"You guys act like kids." Asugi huffed while looking at Nina.
"Do you wanna fight?" Nina was looking at him. Asugi raised a brow and only huffed.
"Why do you want to fight me? I'm looking for candy. So if you don't mind... Stay out of my way." Asugi gave her a sly look before turning to Caeldori.
"Asugi, please. Let's not start anything with these guys. We are already in enough trouble." Caeldori sighed and got off her pegasus to meet with Shigure.
Everyone talked about what happened while each of them were in the heart of the Deep Realms. Shigure turned to Soleil, who was trying to finish their story. Caeldori gave them all a worried look. When Nina explained the bad things including Kana himself, this made the female unit even more worried. Ignatius bowed down but didn't say where the male Kana is.
"So... That is what you've all been through. I'm so sorry! I'm also sorry about your Kana. This female Kana came to us. She said that she was with her father and suddenly the shadows attacked them. Her father rescued her and she was warped here." Caeldori finished her end of the story.
Hisame finally spoke to them all.
"We must stop these shadows and bring peace. What are we going to do?" He looked at Percy who was playing with his dragon. The dragon got excited.
"First, we are going to follow Corrin." Soleil explained the plan, but she didn't know what else to do. She looked at Hisame.
"Well if we follow Corrin, that is a good idea. But what if we come across more shadows?" Hisame replied while looking back at Shigure.
"We must fight them. I feel so bad for killing my grandmother..." Shigure looked down at the ground in defeat.
"I wouldn't worry about it. There was nothing more that you could do." Sophie gave Shigure a bit more hope. Siegbert also gave the worried unit a nod.
"Trust me, Shigure. You are leading us well!" Siegbert cheered.
"Thanks, Siegbert. You've all been great support all this time. Maybe we need to all head off to where Corrin went before it's too late." Shigure smiled and jumped back on Joseph. The pegasus cried and flew north. Caeldori leaped back on her pegasus and flew off with Shigure while the others followed on foot, horses and dragons. Percy felt the storm was getting worse. His dragon roared and reacted to the black lightning. I flapped it's wings harder and flew towards Shigure and Caeldori before keeping up with their pace.
"Sorry about him, he is just scared." Percy grinned shyly.
"It's no worries. My pegasus seems like she is scared too, but since she knows that I'm with her, she's alright. Your dragon just needs to know that you are there for him. He'll calm down." She replied while looking at Percy and his dragon.
"Oooh! I'm right here, boy! Don't worry about a thing!" Percy cheered but his dragon roared and quickly flew to the right to dodge the black lightning that was going to strike them.
"Whoa!" We better be careful!" Shigure warned them.
From below, the others were following them. Forrest and his horse, Genie were ahead of the others. Ophelia was with Velouria and Selkie while Soleil was with Kana, Sophie and the others. Shiro and Siegbert were running together, side by side. They looked up at Shigure, Caeldori and Percy.
"They'd better be careful, that lightning is striking badly up there." Siegbert huffed.
"Yes. We don't need them getting stuck." Shiro also huffed while trying to keep up. Asugi was trying to run behind Kana for candy but Nina slapped him.
"What did I do?" Asugi grumbled.
"Stop trying to sneak up on Kana and steal candy! There isn't any candy here!" Nina sternly announced and she continued running. Asugi slowly got up to his feet and followed them while holding his cheek.
"Hey, Hisame! Do you see anything down there?" Shigure was blocked by a few dark clouds.
"No, not yet! There is a lot of black fog here though! I can't see anything!" He coughed.
"Oh no!" Caeldori stopped her pegasus from moving.
"Oh my god!" Percy covered his mouth and coughed. His dragon wheezed and tried not to suck in the awful air and fog.
"Why must this happen to us?" Soleil coughed. She could barely breathe. The female Kana and Ignatius was by her side, they were also coughing.
"We gotta keep moving." Hisame coughed. Selkie and Velouria transformed but even they started coughing. The air was different and very dark. Kana felt like she was dying, she looked at her friends. All of her friends were blocked by he fog, she didn't see Siegbert or Shiro.
"We lost them!?" Siegbert coughed.
"No way!" Shiro could barely breathe. He didn't want to take in anymore air.
"What is happening?" Shigure noticed that he was falling down fast. His pegasus was starting to faint from the bad air. It couldn't go on any further as the sound of thunder rumbled the air. Caeldori wasn't feeling well. She tried to see if she could help her friends, but her pegasus was also feeling faint. Dwyer used his healing powers to keep everyone's strength up. He'd been so far behind due to losing the male Kana and the drama that happened.
"Dwyer! You finally caught up!" Caeldori smiled.
"For you, Caeldori, I'd help you." He gave the female unit a look. She only huffed and turned around before everyone was able to get up again. Joseph was able to fly upwards again and allow Shigure to jump back on him.
"Dwyer. You caught up!" He looked at him. Kana felt like she could breathe again as she looked at Ophelia.
"I feel as good as new!" Ophelia cheered. She looked back at Velouria who also felt better. Selkie and Kiragi got up and looked at each other. They finally saw Dwyer.
"Dwyer!" They both cheered in unison and charged at him. They gave him a big hug.
"Whoa!" He fell over.
"Guys, calm down." Sophie chuckled. The fog was starting to go away as their sight was clear. A castle that was floating above an island sat afar. Shigure looked at it.
"This is it. This would be the end." Shigure looked at the castle. Rocks were floating with it.
"Really?" Percy cried.
"What's wrong now, kid?" Asugi's harsh voice came at him.
"I don't want this to end. We fought so well together!" Percy cried a bit.
"It's not the end of the adventure, yet. We must take care of the evil source and the shadows." Sophie cut in.
"Yes. If we lose, we may not be able to come back." Shigure warned them.
"Yes, we must give it our all!" Kiragi's spirit rose.
"Of course." Caeldori responded.
"Hey, when you all mentioned another Kana like me. What was he really like besides his violent act?" The female Kana wondered.
"He was friendly and playful!" Soleil cheered and danced.
"Yes, Kana was friendly and super playful." Percy added.
"Oh... I wish he were here." Ignatius sighed.
"Yes... But he bit Nina and he ran off because he was afraid that he'd hurt someone else." Shigure sighed.
"Good. I hope that kid gets killed and then I can grab all of his candy!" Asugi gave everyone a smirk.
"No! Stop being so harsh!" Forrest finally spoke.
"Well mister, I get to say what I want!" Asugi grumbled at him.
"Why must you be so addicted to sweets?" Caeldori face palmed.
"What? Do you have an issue with that?" Asugi argued but Hisame got in the way.
"There is no time to argue about candy. At this rate, we are slowing ourselves down by chatting. Let's head to the castle and stop whoever is ruining the real world and the Deep Realms." Hisame pulled Asugi away from the pegasus knight.
"Right! Come all! Let's take out the main source!" Shigure charged forward with his pegasus.
Everyone followed Shigure on the northern path to the castle. Ignatius was still keeping his tongue tied. He'd hate to tell the others that he did see Kana. That he was very adamant about staying behind. He swallowed and kept his mind on defeating the shadows and the main bad guy.
Mean while, inside of the dark castle...
Anankos was watching everything from below his castle fall in ruins from the evil shadows while Corrin ran back into the castle, crying in shear pain. She had a headache and blood was dripping down her face. She quickly ran into the dark throne room and cried out to her new leader.
"Anankos! Those children cut me!" She screamed.
"Grrr... I thought you were stronger than they were! Why did you continue to attack them!?" He growled.
"I was doing as you asked!" Corrin growled.
"Like you'd survive." A male voice cut in.
"What did you say!?" Corrin looked at Anankos.
"I didn't say anything. Why are you staring at me?" Anankos growled at her.
"Then who?" She turned to see a male figure coming up to her.
"My name is also Corrin. You don't look that weak. I'd expect you to do better than that." He smirked at her.
"Do you wanna fight!?" The female Corrin growled at him.
"No... I don't, I want to fight alongside you. Together, we can defeat those nasty pests." The male Corrin snickered and got closer to his counter part. She withdrew her sword and looked at Corrin with a surprised look.
"Hmmm..." Another voice startled her.
Leo, Laslow and all the other units came out from the shadows to greet them.
"You need us as well." Leo looked up at both Corrins.
"My dear friends..." The female Corrin looked at everyone and Anankos.
"You all have my permission to attack those kids now. We've got them cornered." Anankos grinned and looked down at both Corrins and the others.
"When do we start?" Laslow asked while looking back at his dead wife.
"Stay in this room and get into the planned positions." Anankos ordered.
"Yes sir!" They all replied in unison.
"Consider yourselves lucky." Leo walked off.
"I wonder what his issue is..." The male Corrin smirked at him.
"He's been that way." The female Corrin smiled and let out a small laugh.
"Ah, he sounds like he's tough. He left his magic book on the ground." The male Corrin picked it up and walked down the hall.
"Where are you going?" The female Corrin asked, stopping him from walking down the hall.
"This book belongs to Leo. I'm returning it to him." The male Corrin disappeared into the shadows of the hall.
The female Corrin looked down the hall, wondering about her counter part. She was confused as she left the throne room, turning around to face Anankos one last time.
"Don't worry sir. I won't let you down." The female Corrin looked back at him with a stern look.
"You won't... You never failed me before." Anankos chuckled.
"What do you mean by that?" The female Corrin looked at him.
"Nothing..." Anankos grinned while looking down on her.
The evil unit walked off and growled.
"Whatever happens, I hope our side wins..." The female Corrin mumbled under her breath and left.
Near the castle...
Shigure and his group continued towards the castle. The units on foot and on horses slid down the slope and made it at the bottom. Kiragi slowly moved ahead of the group and talked to Nina.
"So, Nina, where do you think we are going?" Kiragi asked while looking at her.
"Well, we are doing to the dark castle up in the sky. How will we get up there? I don't know." Nina looked up and then back at Takumi's son.
"I wonder what will happen to us once we get up there." Kiragi was worried. Asugi came by his side and teased him.
"Listen kid. If you worry too much, you'll die fighting." Asugi smirked which earned him a slap on his right cheek this time.
"OW!" He yelped.
"Stop scaring people and keep moving." Nina huffed and turned around. Dwyer ran up to Nina and looked at her arm. He moved the bandage off of it.
"I want to check you arm." Dwyer looked at Nina.
"Oh?" Nina watched him take care of her.
He saw that the scars have healed since the attack that happened a day ago. He took off the bandage and let her continue on in peace. He walked behind Asugi and carefully watched him.
"Why are you walking behind me like that?" Asugi grumbled.
"Nothing... Do you have a problem with that?" Dwyer's gloomy look was starting to creep him out.
"Stop staring at me like that and stop being so creepy!" Asugi walked faster and Dwyer only followed him further. Percy was talking to Caeldori about his dragon, she was super interested in learning about them.
Soon, they all stopped at the castle, it was too high up for any of the units on horses and on foot to go up there.
"Shigure, how will we get up there?" Soleil asked from below.
"We must find you a way in." Shigure answered her question firmly. Caeldori was looking around and found a dark sword in the middle of a pentagram.
"Oh!" She flew down and stayed on her pegasus, she placed her lance in the pocket of her bag. She then grabbed the sword and tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge.
"Move! I bet I can pull it out!" Ignatius was quick and proactive to pull out the sword. He tried to pull it out but it was no avail. He wasn't able to remove the sword from the center of the pentagram.
"Can I try?" Soleil placed her own sword down and tried to pull out the sword, but even she couldn't get it to move.
"Who can pull out the sword?" Asugi wondered while looking at Hisame and Selkie.
"I don't know..." Siegbert pondered.
"Our parents are in danger, this isn't helping..." Percy muttered.
"I know!" The female Kana walked up to the sword and tried to pull it out from the pentagram with all of her might, some dirt on the ground shifted, it was starting to work. Suddenly, a figure swooped in and stood beside her and helped her pull out the sword. The dirt was starting to shift more and more. Everyone gasped and saw that it was the male Kana! He was back to help them.
"Kana! You returned!" Kiragi was excited.
"I know you'd be back!" Siegbert smiled as Shiro was surprised.
"There is two of them?" Ophelia forgotten what they said before.
"Yes! They are pulling out the sword!" Forrest grinned.
Both Kanas were able to pull out the sword as the ground rumbled and shifted. The center of the circular platform was moving upwards. Shigure and Caeldori smiled and nodded. Percy was confused about what just happened.
"Kana! You are back!" Soleil ran up and hugged up. He embraced this moment and gave her a hug back.
"Of course I'm back. I decided that it was time for me to stop being lazy and help." The male Kana replied.
"Who are you?" The female Kana asked him.
"I'm Kana. Who are you?" He asked her in return.
"I'm Kana too! It's nice to meet you!" The female Kana cheered and shook his hand.
"It's nice to meet you too! And it's time that we put this evilness to rest!" Kana told all of the units.
Everyone was excited that the male Kana was back. Hisame and his group were left confused. They didn't know this Kana but they were excited that he was here. Velouria wanted to make them a trash collection once their adventure is over.
Once the platform was at the top, everyone noticed that Caeldori, Percy and Shigure was gone.
"They must have went inside already! We gotta hurry!" Shiro charged at the castle doors as they slowly opened.
"This seems too easy..." Hisame started to think about it.
"How easy is it?" Kiragi wondered.
"It's not." Soleil sadly said as she looked back at Sophie.
"We can do this! I'm not giving up!" She looked ahead.
"Right, if we don't fight, then we will lose everything. Even our parents." Selkie told them.
"That means no more candy from my mother..." Asugi cried.
"Yes, that means no more candy for you..." Hisame teased him.
"Why are you bothering me?" Asugi argued.
"Asugi! Stop!" Nina pushed him down.
"Dwyer, are you alright?" Forrest looked up at the healer.
"Yes. I'll be okay." Dwyer gave them all a gloomy look.
"Let's hurry up and go. The more we chat, the worse it gets." Hisame beckoned them to follow. Siegbert got ahead of the group since he was leading it. Shiro was by his side while Hisame huffed behind their backs.
As the castle doors closed, Azura who is watching from above, knows that things are only beginning to end, but was it?
"My children... Please... Stay safe... Anankos is one enemy that will take over everything... He is very dangerous..." Azura's voice echoed in their minds. Shigure could hear his mother's words but he couldn't respond. He noticed a couple more shadows were blocking his path to the throne room. Percy and Caeldori were at his side, they were ready to fight. Shigure looked at them and smiled as he turned his focus to the shadows that charged at them.
From outside, three more units were sneaking in to join the fight.
"So, we have to help too?" A scared voice asked.
"Yes, Midori... We have to join the fight." A magic unit replied, her voice was low.
"But, I can't fight, Rhajat. What if I die?" Midori panicked.
"Oh you won't die. You'll be fine." Mitama laughed.
"This is no laughing matter!" Midori snapped at her.
"Are you guys coming or what?" Rhajat looked back at them. Both girls nodded and followed her inside of castle. They were going to bring a surprise to Shigure and the others.
To Be Continued...
Thank you all for reading so far! Chapter 9 will be coming some time when I can finish it! I don't know when but I might be too busy to write out the chapter right now. But I will be writing it out when I can. Again, I'm sorry for the long wait. I didn't mean to post this in the year 2021 but I was trying to think of how to write this chapter. I'm going back to my Animaniacs fanfic for now! If you want to leave a review on how I can improve, you are welcome to!