Chapter 29: Shadow Venoct

Meanwhile, on Mt. Wildwood, Katie was making her way to a specific part of the woods, with Whisper and Komasan trailing close behind. Not one of them had spoken once the entire walk.

As she approached the shrine on the way to their destination, Katie dropped a coin into the tribute box for luck, "please let it be someone calm and harmless."

After that, she proceeded to walk deeper into the woods, jumping the barrier that blocked the path. Walking further, the crank-a-kai came into view.

"Katie?" Whisper siad breaking the silence, his mistress turned to him, he continued, "Are you sure you want to do this? While, yes, a fair number of the yokai in the Crank-a-kai were put in there by mistake, some of them did deserve what they got. And it's entirely a gamble as to which you receive."

"Well… you said it yourself, it's a fate worse than death, maybe Damona did something to get in there, but we shouldn't let innocent yokai suffer," the human girl sighed. From her pocket she pulled the five star coin she had bought the day before.

With a deep breath, the girl walked to the prize machine, hearing its signature, "Feed Me!"

She knelt down, inserting the coin into the slot. She briefly looked to her yokai friends, who nodded in affirmation. Another deep breath, and Katie turned the dial, time stopping as the gears of the machine turned.

After what felt like days, a prize ball rolled out of the machine, this one gold instead of grey. The girl picked the ball up, one hand on each side. A final breath escaped her lips as she pulled the prize ball apart.

With a puff of smoke, cyan runes once again burst from the pieces. In the middle of the runes a humanoid shape took form, when the runes faded, the form quickly leaped into the shade of the trees. All they could see of it was snow white hair and a glowing, red eye quizzically staring at them.

"Hello?" Katie asked.

The yokai moved in front of her face in the blink of an eye, allowing her a good look at it. It looked nearly the same as the yokai who had saved her from terror time, the only difference being in color. His skin was pitch black, contrasting his hair and eye. His Gi was a dark blue as opposed to purple, and the dragons around his neck looked like dark clouds.

"It's… you look just like..." Katie said in surprise.

"Did you free me?" the yokai spoke in a calm voice. Unlike the other yokai, this one was on the ground, looking her at eye level, because of this he seemed younger than the first yokai, almost her age.

"Um, yes. I'm Katie," she introduced herself.

"I am unaware of my given name, but many call me Shadow Venoct," the yokai replied with a bow.

Shadow Venoct: S rank

Slippery

"... as thanks for my freedom, I am obliged to defend your life from any danger," Shadow Venoct continued.

"I… don't think that's necessary," Katie said, "I don't really need a bodyguard or anything."

"I insist, you have done me a great kindness, I wish to pay it forward," the yokai replied.

There was not much arguing. Just like with whisper, Shadow(which she had started calling him to save time) insisted on repaying the debt. So all they just decided to come home.

An odd thing Katie discovered was that everyone could see Shadow, though most assumed he was a child in costume. That relieved the girl, but made her consider that maybe he should be the last line of defense, since he was the only one of her yokai friends everyone could see.

Thankfully, he was able to float into her room undetected, though it made her question how he could hide here further.

"I don't really know where we're going to put you. My parents don't come in my room often, but I don't wanna risk it," the human wondered to herself.

The yokai moved to the closet, opening the door and peering into it and saying, "this space should be adequate."

"My closet?" Katie asked, "are you sure?"

Shadow crawled into the space, snuggly sitting amongst her things, "yes!"

"Ok then…" the girl said.

"He sure is an odd feller," Komasan said.

"I think we should be more cautious of him," Whisper said, "afterall, we just met him, he could have been a dangerous criminal."

"Why don't we just ask em?" the lion dog said.

"NO NO NO!" Whisper dejected, "Ex-convicts never like bringing up their reasoning for arrest, if he was a criminal, he will NOT enjoy us bringing up his past!"

"You're curious about my past?" Shadow asked him.

Whisper let out a scream as he ducked beneath the bed.

"Well… I am a little curious," Katie said sitting down.

"Well…" the dark yokai started, "My memory has many gaps, such as how I cannot remember my given name, similarly I have no real idea how I became a yokai."

"You don't remember how ya died?" Komasan asked in surprise.

"Truthfully, I do not," Shadow shrugged, "I remember my life with my family, then somewhere down the line I was a yokai…

I remember I lived some three hundred years ago, in a small, mountainside village in Japan. There I lived with my parents and younger sister. I resided on a rice farm, peacefully tending to the crops and teaching my sister about the world.

We would have such fun, sometimes I would pretend to be a fierce monster, and she a samurai, come to bring me to justice! It was a pleasant life…

Next thing I knew, I was a yokai. I had awoken once in the middle of the woods, not sure how I had gotten there, or where my family was.

With no real knowledge, I wandered the forest, meeting with many other yokai whom were very friendly to me. They taught me that I had an extraordinary power called 'Paradise.' the tears of my dragons could instantly heal any wound they touched.

For a time I was the village healer, helping my many friends make speedy recoveries. For some odd reason, I was getting a rather large influx of patients one year, some yokai I had never met before. Soon followed by men in robes marked by crosses.

For some reason, these men accused me of being a demon and began to chant a spell…

… after that, I was in a state of limbo until you released me," Shadow finally finished.

"The order of the cross.." Katie sighed. So he had just been an innocent soul as well, "so you really don't know how you died?"

"Unfortunately not, there are many gaps in my memory," the yokai replied, "though… sometimes I feel like it's not justthe memories missing… like some part of me is gone with them.."

Shadow looked down in a silent grief, he truly wanted to be content with his afterlife, but something about missing these memories, not knowing how he became what he is, it had always bothered him.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Katie taking his hands, "hey, don't worry. Whatever it is you're missing, it's gotta be out there somewhere! We'll find it, I'm sure!"

Beneath his dragon scarf, Shadow smiled, "thankyou!"

With a blue glow, his medal manifested and dropped into her hand.

Meanwhile, in the dark of the night, another yokai was having an odd feeling.

"Hmm… I sense a power, not unlike my own…" he said to himself as he stood atop Mt. Wildwood, staring at the city below, "No… I must focus on my goal… to bring down Rubeus J."