Chapter 14: Ghost club
"So what's the plan this time, Gabe?" Komane asked as he paced from behind a brick wall.
The man in question was eyeing a boy and yokai with his spy-glass, keeping check of their every move.
"Howdy, Earth ta Gabriel!" the Lion-dog spoke again, this time definitely getting the attention of his human companion, "what are we gonna do?"
"Simple… detain the oni, save the boy, go home," the man said, "I thought we were clear on that."
"Ah knew that, but how are we gonna do it?" Komane yelled.
The exorcist thought to himself for a moment, he then reached into his bag pulling out the black book. He unlocked the binding and flip to a certain page, from it he pulled two medals. From his pocket, he pulled his stop-watch, flipping it open, "I call forth my familiars, yokai medal, SET ON!"
"Summoning, HEARTFUL!" the watch chimed as he inserted a medal.
"Speedy Artful, sing la-la-la, everywhere Heartful!"
"Enerfly!" a butterfly yokai announced.
"Enefly!" a second added.
Enerfly: D rank
Heartful
Enefly: D rank
Heartful
Meanwhile, Nate and Damona were having some lunch next to the Gorge Pond Museum.
"Are you sure it's safe for you to be out in the open?" Nate asked his fiance who was enjoying some tempora, "Komane is still out there, and we don't even know what the exorcist looks like."
"Relax, hun. It's not like they're following us around, " Damona said taking a bite of her meal.
"Well I'm just not crazy about being out in the open when people are trying to-" "who are you talking to?" Nate screamed in surprise at the voices in unison. He turned to see two girls around his age, one had short, black hair, glasses, a blue and white hoodie and blue skirt, and an eerie grin that was strangely similar to Damona's, while the other had long dark blue hair, and was wearing a dress that was two different shades of purple with a small smile on her face.
"Oh, great, it's you two," Nate sighed, "you guys have to stop sneaking up on people!"
"Oh, great more of your boring human friends," Damona said in annoyance.
"Well, if did that, how would we ever have any fun?" the first girl said, the second giggling in response.
"Zoey, just because you're into ghosts doesn't mean you need to act like one," the boy replied.
"Actually," the second girl piped up, "Our research shows that mimicking ghostly Behavior produces more results in our investigations."
"You two are still on that?" Nate asked with an annoyed sigh.
"Come on, Nate, like I said then, the school is straight up haunted, one of these days those ghost are gonna slip up, and we'll be there with a camera when they do, and then we'll be rich and famous, right Lina?" Zoey asked her companion.
"Well, I just want definite proof they exist," Lina replied.
"Yeah, but we might as well make some doh out of it," the black haired girl shrugged.
"So what these two are ghost fanatics?" Nate's fiance asked them. He leaned into her to whisper, "for a while I was basically Zoey's only friend, she's always talked about proving the supernatural real to become rich and famous and it was starting to get annoying, this one time she started stalking Lina because of some dum thing about spirits, so I set the two up as friends, they hit it off and now I don't see them very often, but when I do they act like this the entire time."
"What a weird thing to say to yourself," Zoey eyed her friend.
"U-uh, what makes you say that?" Nate said sweating.
The girl adjusted her glasses, "Nathan, you've never had a problem with talking to yourself, with the exception of people calling you average which has yet to happen in this conversation."
"So wait are you calling me average, or saying other people are," Nate inquired.
"And we heard the news," Lina added.
"Oh, yeah," Zoey said in realization, "While our investigation of your home didn't show anything-"
"Wait, you were in my house?" Nate cut her off.
"The door was open," the two girls shrugged in unison.
"IT WAS BLOWN OFF!" the yokai watch user yelled.
"Well regardless, we heard from that your house was subject to both a haunting and an exorcism, the ladder failing miserably," Zoey stated.
"This could be the scoop we've been waiting for, you can't expect us to buy into government nonsense explanations and ignore it," Lina added.
Nate just stared at them, "Look guys, nothing supernatural is happening right now!"
Almost immediately after that, a certain loin dog tackled Damona, knocking the table down.
"Then what was that?" Zoey snickered.
"Oh, yes. I sense two conflicting pressenses," Lina replied with a grin.
In layman's terms, Damona and Komane were in a fist fight. The Lion Dog had the half-demon's hands in his grip, but she was not ready to give up just yet. She kicked him square in the gut, causing him to release her hands, she fired a blast of ice at his bottom section. For a moment it looked like he was final down for the count, when suddenly he was engulfed in a golden aura. Komane Grinned as the ice started melting at his feet.
Damona became frustrated as she fired another blast, this time he swatted it away. The demon gulped as Komane started to form a spirit bomb in is hands, he launched it at Damona, who was only able to barely dodge. Attack hit the wall of the museum, leaving a black imprint.
"Woah," Zoey said in delight, grabbing her phone to record the event.
"Curious," her partner said getting the attention of the other two humans, "it's seams a third spirit has entered the fray, and is aiding the second."
"Third spirit?" Nate thought to himself. While the other two were distracted he used his watch on Komane, Above him the outline of a giant butterfly came into view. When the light faded it revealed the it's orange and green wings with golden dust falling from them.
"Crap, I know this guy!" Damona said as she pulled a wiki page on her YokaI-pad and threw it to her fiance, "His name is Enerfly!"
Nate caught the tablet and began to silently read, "Enerfly is the yokai of good fortune, those who come into contact with his golden dust receive extreme luck for as long as they may be inspirited."
"Call for back up!" Damona said Dodging some Holy fire.
Nate nodded as he pulled out Insomni's medal, "Let's see how well his luck is when he can't blink!"
He inserted the medal into his watch, "Summoning, EERIE!"
"Oogly, Boogly, Flippa' tedee, Oogly, Boogly, bubba, Eerie!"
"Insomni!" the one-eyed djinn said on her arrival.
Nate checked to see the oddly observant ghost fanatics weren't listening, than subtly said, "Insomni, can you inspirit Komane so Damona can get the drop on him?"
Insomni was about reply before Nate felt a chill down his spine.
"Well I could," Insomni started, "But why should I?"
"Uh, isn't she your friend?" the boy asked frantically at her reaction.
"Yes, technically, but what about you? The one who just summons me on a whim whenever he needs something without a care of what I may have have been doing before hand, for all you know I may have had the oven on!" the cyclops scolded him.
"What's up with you, you're usually so chill!" Nate said in reply.
"Well, Maybe some yokai don't like being pulled from what they were doing," Insomni yelled at him, she flew away yelling, "think twice before you summon me again!"
"What was that about," Nate asked befuddled, he turned his attention back to the fight.
"Hello, where's my bac-" Damona started before she suddenly began to blankly stare at Nate with wide eyes. Nate stared back but it was in confusion, when suddenly she shot forward and clinged to Nate's arm, "Save me, Nate!"
"You're acting weird too?" Nate yelled catching the girls attention, but before anything major could be said he noticed the super lucky Lion-dog had a fireball in his hand, "crap."
Nate took off running as fast as he could. Well, as fast as he could with someone only slightly lighter than him on his arm, while dodging fireballs. Komane gave chase, Shooting his fire which left craters in the ground where they hit. Zoey and Lina also gave chase, recording the event(despite not seeing the yokai.)
"Why… are… you… clinging… to… me?" Nate said, "you're the one who can fight back!"
"I don't know, you suddenly seem so heroic and huggable!" Damona said before something caught her eye, "Oh, that's why."
"What is it?" Nate said shining his watch above him, he saw a blue and purple version of Enerfly with purple dust falling from its wings.
"That jerk is Enefly! Enerfly's antisocial cousin! His dust makes you off putting to other people, but since I have cursed skin, it's making me specifically, super clingy!" Damona yelled in a tone that made her seem like a completely different person, "as long as you're inspirited, I can't fight and you can't call for help!"
"Then what do we do?!" Nate demanded.
"RUN!" his fiance replied.
"Y'all can run, but ya can't hide!" Komane taunted throwing another fireball.
Nate frantically ran into the Gourd Pond Museum, trying to escape the lion dog/enerfly combo. The yokai continued to chase the duo, through exhibit after exhibit. Somewhere down the line, Nate was able to lose them and slip into a supply closet.
"I think… were in… the clear," Nate said catching his breath.
"Yeah, looks like it," Damona said still clinging to her fiance's arm.
Suddenly, the two heard the doorknob click and heard the creak of it opening. The two cautiously turned around to the source of the noise, expecting to see Komane charging another fireball.
"Wow, that was awesome!" they heard Zoey's voice as the two ghost fanatics entered the room. Nate and Damona sighed in relief as Zoey walked up to her male friend, "Nathen adams, you are the subject of supernatural events unlike anything the world has ever seen… and I got it on tape!"
"Uh… thanks?" Nate replied sheepishly.
"We've never seen anything like this," Lina added, "I wonder why the entity suddenly decided to attack you?"
"Well…" Nate started, only for Damona to pipe up, "Better question, why isn't enefly affecting them?"
Nate paused for a moment, since he'd been inspirited Insomni distrusted him and Damona had been clingy the entire time, but Zoey and Lina were still their same creepy, ghost obsessed selves, it was baffling.
"I can't believe out of everyone we know the first to be involved in paranormal activity is Nate? Usually ghost go for the completely bizarre," Zoey said as she rewatched the footage.
"Well he is Bizarrely average," Lina replied making Nate cringe.
"Wait a minute," he whispered to Damona in realization, "they're gushing about ghosts, these two have always wanted to see the paranormal and it just happened to me!"
"So their greatest desires are over-powering the inspiritment?" Damona questioned. She admitted it wasn't the craziest thing to happen, "that means they could help!"
"Yeah, but are you sure you want them to know about you?" her human fiancé asked.
"Do we have any other options?" the demon girl replied. She took a deep breath and was engulfed in a puff of purple smoke, though nothing happened when it faded. Nothing except that Zoey and Lina were now staring directly at Damona… as if they could see her!
"Oh.. my… GOD!" Zoey said in awe as Lina gained a wide grin.
"Uh, Hey!" Damona waved causing the black haired human to freak out more.
"OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!" she exclaimed suddenly going for her phone.
"A real ghost, right in front of us!" Lina said in calm excitement.
"Welp, guess we're doing this," Nate sighed, "Zoey and Lina, this is my fiance, Damona."
"YOUR FIANCE!" Zoey yelled as if she was about to explode with excitement.
"Wow, I take back the average thing," the blue haired girl said.
"Nate, we're officially hanging out again," her bespectacled companion exclaimed.
"Well before that, we need your help," the yokai watch user replied.
Zoey put up a hand as she took a moment to regain her composure, "shoot."
"First, a quick run down, I'm a yokai," Damona said, "it's a universal term for anything in the supernatural, I, particularly, am a Oni/yuki-onna hybrid."
"Got it," the two said in unison.
"Another yokai named Komane, who is a lion-dog, keeps trying to attack us!" Nate added, "and this time he got reinforcements from two butterfly yokai, enefly and enerfly. One of them has been making him stronger while the other is right up there." He pointed upward.
"Uh… I can't see anything," Zoey retorted.
"Thats the point," Damona replied with a sigh, she then clarified, "The reason yokai have gone unnoticed by so many people for so long is because the majority of us are completely invisible to almost all of humanity."
Lina turned to her partner, "of course, that's why we rarely receive concrete evidence in our studies, we've been going about this all wrong."
"Makes me feel dumb," the black-haired girl sighed.
"However, we can use this to our advantage!" the demon girl announced getting their attention, "thanks to Enefly I can't fight but I can temporarily grant you the ability to see yokai, since Komane isn't expecting this you can attack him and he won't give it a second glance!"
"So you want us to low-key harm a ghost dog?" Lina asked.
"Meh, I'm down," Zoey shrugged in reply.
"Alright, just give me a second," Damona said beginning to swirl her aura then launching it toward the girls, "there, now you can see any yokai within the building."
Zoey adjusted her glasses as Enefly became visible to her, she turned to Lina and asked, "Ready to dispense some supernatural justice, my faithful companion?"
The blue haired girl replied, "no better way to spend my time."
The too girls instantly ran out of the closet, eager to put their temporary ability to use. After some quick scouting, the two noticed the Lion-dog-Enerfly combo surveying the area for their prey and looked to each other. The girls didn't even need to say anything to realise what they were gonna do next, they both nodded and began walking to opposite sides of their targets.
When the two were sure Komane would be between in a few seconds, Zoey began running to her friend, acting as if she had only just now seen her. Unfortunately for Komane, when he had reached the spot the had expected, Zoey was close enough to knee him directly in the face, then go to Lina and act like it was a complete accident.
"Ah!" Komane said looking at the girl, he wrote it off as a mistake then began to scold Enerfly, "ah think somethin's wrong with yur luck dust!"
"Bzz, nothing's wrong with it! Bzz," the butterfly replied.
"Well, than how in the hay, did ah get hit in the face?" Komane said holding his cheek, "that doesn't happen to lucky folks!"
The two yokai began to bicker as the Ghost club girls grinned at their success. From the closet, Nate and Damona watched as their two attackers kept extranging the blame for this scenario.
Unbeknownst to them, enefly was giggling at the display as well.
"Bzz, How about we quit arguing and just find them, bzz" Enerfly said with an annoyed tone.
Komane folded his arms, "fur once yer makin' sense."
The yokai pair resumed their search. The grins on the two creepy girls faded as they prepared for their second strike. Komane began wondering around the old springdale exhibit, taking notice of a particular painting of a spider-like Kabuki dancer, he scoffed, "General Arachinus doesn't look like that."
The two girls began walking near him, Zoey gave Lina a nod, then the blue haired girl fake tripped, falling on top of the lion-dog squishing him on the floor.
"Oh, are you ok, Lina?" Zoey did her best to sound legitimately concerned. She helped her friend to her feet, even though it was really a ploy to get on of them standing on top of the lion-dog.
"Thank you," Lina said before turning to the painting saying, "wow, isn't this piece exquisite?"
She emphasised her point she jumped up and down a couple of times, doubling Komanes pain, and amusing Damona and Nate, as well as their unwanted guest.
Komane grumbled before phasing through the girls legs getting back on his feat, he than immediately yelled at Enerfly, "ARE YOU DOIN' THIS ON PURPOSE!?"
The butterfly scoffed, "bzz, I would never, I pride myself on giving quality good fortune Bzz."
"Then how the Infinite Inferno do ah keep' on gettin hurt!?" Komane demanded.
"Bzz, The only way you continue to be injured while under my inspiritment, is if those injuring you are doing it intentionally, Bzz," Enerfly clarified.
"What," Komane said as his blood began to boil and his gaze shot toward the two girls.
"Uh oh," they said in unison.
"Do you two… Have any idea… WHAT… YOU'RE… DOING!" the furious guardian shouted.
"That's not good," Nate said in a panic, "Damona, can you stop him?"
"Not while you're still-" before she could finnish her replied, the purple aura faded from Nate and was exchanged onto Damona prompting her cursed skin, "what the?"
The soon-to-be couple looked up as the saw Enefly had randomly changed his target.
"Bzz, Need a little boost, Bzz?" the heartful tribe yokai asked with smiling eyes.
"Wait, you're helping us?" Nate questioned, "Why?"
"Bzz, Simple, you two are a cute couple, and those two are hilarious, Bzz!" Enefly laughed, "I imagine I'd have much more fun with you guys than I do with Gabriel!"
"Who's Gab-" Nate was about to asked but Damona cut him off, "Not important!"
The half-demon fired a dark purple blast that flew through the room and hit Komane square in the back.
"ERGH," he sighed in pain, turning to the powered up princess.
"Bzz, Enefly! What are you doing, Bzz?" Enerfly demanded of his counterpart.
"Bzz, What can I say?" Enefly replied, "I like these guys!"
"Traitor!" Komane yelled before Damona fired again, this time square in the chest, "Damn it, that hurts!"
"Consider it payback!" the Oni Princess grinned.
Komane growled before making a break for the door.
"We got him on the run!" Nate cheered.
"But he isn't getting away!" the two ghost obsessed girls yelled in unison blocking the door.
"Yes ah am!" the lion-dog replied jumping over them and phasing through the wall.
The two girls were a bit surprised before Zoey realized, "Oh yeah, ghost."
"Eh, don't worry about it," Damona said as she, Enefly and Nate came over to them, "we'll be ready!"
Enefly turned to nate, glowing blue as his medal appeared, "bzz, summon me anytime ya need kid!"
"Thanks," Nate said as he caught the medal. The butterfly flew away, his work done. The human than turned to his two female companions, "well, now that you know about this, you guys gotta keep it on the down-low, Komane already put Damona in the hospital once, I don't know what he'd be willing to do to you guys."
"We'll be careful, nathan," Lina said.
"But…" Zoey said, "how are we supposed to see him coming, without damona?"
Said demon girl smirked, "Ever here of the yokai realm?"
Meanwhile, the retreating lion-dog and butterfly made their way back to their masters, out of breath and very mad.
"I take it you failed?" the man asked in a calm tone, drinking some tea.
"Ah, wouldn't summon Enefly again," the lion-dog said before passing out from both his wounds and exhaustion.
"I'll make a note of it," the man sighed.