Chapter 31: Blizzaria
It was a bright summer day in springdale, the sun shining like a gemstone. On such a hot day, Katie, along with her friends Alex and Sarah, decided to spend it at the beach.
The eleven year-old was clad in a blue one piece swimsuit with a heart design, as well as sunglasses on her head instead of her bow.
To her right was Sarah, a girl with black hair held up in a pink flower clip, pale skin and was wearing a pink sundress and carrying a bag and parasol.
To Katie's left was Alex, a girl of mostly Japanese descent with tan skin and dark brown hair. She was wearing a black and red swim shirt and matching swim trunks, atop her head was a yellow and white hat marked with a blue 'M.' Under her arm was a body board.
"You girls ready for a day of Sun, Sea and Sand?!" Alex cheered.
"Yes!" Sarah exclaimed.
"You know it!" Katie agreed.
They set their things about ten feet from the shore to avoid the tide. After laying out a towel and setting up her umbrella, Sarah lied down and pulled a book from her bag.
"You're seriously reading, what happened to fun in the sun?" Alex asked her.
"You have your definition of fun, this is mine," the other girl replied.
"Suit yourself," Katie said, "ready to hit the water?"
"Girl, you know it," the japanese girl replied, "Last one to the water's a rotten egg!"
She took off running, Katie following close behind. The two ran into the sea, Alex jumping onto her body board the second the water was deep enough. The cold water felt relaxing to Katie… Until she felt it get colder… and colder, until it felt like she was freezing solid!
She looked to Alex. The athlete seemed to have been feeling similar. Seconds past as it seemed the water was rapidly dropping in temperature.
Within half a minute, the two decided not to risk frostbite and made a swim for shore. Both shivered the minute they left.
"H-how d-did it g-g-get s-so c-c-cold?!" Katie asked.
"Y-Yeah! That was so fast it was borderline supernatural!" Alex yelled in agreement.
"W-wait, supernatural?" Katie whispered in realization, "could it have been a yokai?"
"Of course not," Whisper said, popping out of nowhere, making Katie jump in surprise. The self proclaimed butler took out his yokaI-pad, "Colder waters are common this far north, you see, the ocean acts as its own coolant."
"Then who's that?" Katie asked, shining her light at the water, revealing the shape of a humanoid yokai floating just above the surface of the water. The seiliute seemed eerily similar to a yokai they had met before.
The light faded as the yokai's full form was revealed. Katie's jaw hit the ground as she saw a near exact copy of Damona, the only difference being her hair was a dark indigo, her kimono an icy blue and her eyes a bluish green. Falling from her hands and feat were glowing blue snowflakes, hitting the ocean beneath her.
"But I'm never wrong!" Whisper exclaimed.
"Whisper… who is that?" Katie said as a scenario about two damona's torturing her ran through her mind.
"Aw yes, who is this frosty fiend…" Whisper said, frantically looking through the Yokai wiki.
"My name is Blizzaria," the yokai whispered, "but most people call me Aria."
Blizzaria: S rank
Charming.
"Wait, most people call you Aria?" Katie questioned.
The Damona lookalike Donned a worried expression, "uh, well you see, uh.. Blizzaria is a common name in my species of yokai because of the famous 'Goku Blizzaria,' so, uh. A lot of us go by nicknames to avoid confusion."
Katie was perplexed by the yokai's sudden shyness, but her thoughts were interrupted by Whisper, "I remember now! Blizzaria!"
He showed a picture of a yokai that looked very similar to both Aria and Damona.
"It says here that Blizzaria is a common name for the yokai 'Yuki-onna,'" He said, "Yuki-onna are ice Yokai who spread cold weather wherever they go, sometimes even freezing active volcanoes solid. Snow day in the middle of june, it's their fault!"
"Well, why does she look so much like Damona?" the human girl said as she saw Alex try again to get in the water, only to jump out from the cold again.
"Because Damona is a Yuki-onna," Whisper said flipping the page to said oni-princess's, "Oni King Plundros married a Yuki-onna, thus Damona looks almost exactly like one."
"Weird…" Katie said, she turned her attention to Aria, "Aria is it? What are you doing here?"
"Um… well… I wanted to…" the yuki-onna seemed to be finding her words.
"Oh for the love of enma, just spit it out!" Whisper yelled, causing her to yelp.
"Why is she seem so scared?" Katie asked.
"That's why," Aria said, catching the attention of both of them, "I thought freezing a beach in the summer would build confidence.. I'm a coward."
"I mean, yeah, if you're intimidated by Whisper, you're not wrong," the humane said nonchalantly.
"HEY!" her butler said appalled by her comment.
"You're right!" Aria quietly cried, "I'll never be confident in myself, Oh I never should have been given a Glacial Clip, I'm such a loser!"
"Um… I didn't mean that, I mean, you really can't be that pathetic," Katie said.
Aria began to shed tears, "It's true, I'm a pathetic excuse of a yokai!"
As her tears hit the water a cold, blue aura came off of her, effectively lowering the temperature of the area. Still reading her book, Sarah suddenly started to shiver, as did other people around them.
"Looks like she's even colder when sad," Whisper felt a chill crawl up his back.
"We gotta get her to stop before summer ends early, are there any yokai that can boost confidence?" his mistress asked.
Whisper began searching on his yokaI-pad. After a few seconds he said, "apparently the closest yokai with such abilities is a fellow named Beelezabold, his most recent Kainet post says he's in a yokai cafe nearby."
"Well, lets go," Katie said, "Aria, could you come with us?"
"Um… o..k," the yuki-onna quietly said.
A short walk later and they arrived at Frostia's Place, the cafe in question. Upon entering the building, Whisper told Katie to shine her light, which revealed many yokai of differing shapes and sizes.
The girl walked up to the counter and asked, "Excuse me, is Beelzebold still here?"
The women running the cafe nodded and pointed to a booth in the far back. The trio moved toward it and began to hear bits of a conversation.
"Now mate, if I'm given ya this medal, you gotta promise me this plan is gonna work," the voice of an irish man was heard, "the Orda already caught me Uncle Cavity, Oi don't wanna join em."
"Trust me, Boldy, the order will never know what hit them," another, more feminine voice replied.
"Excuse me," Katie said when she finally came up to the booth. Sitting in it were two yokai and a human, red headed woman. On one side sat a yokai who looked frighteningly similar to the devil, being mostly human from the waist up and having goat legs and horns now.
Opposite to him was the woman with a big lizard-like yokai sitting next to her.
"... I'm looking for Beelzebold?" Katie said, semi nervous.
"Who wants ta know?" the devil like yokai asked.
"We require his services," Whisper spoke up, pointing to Aria, "mostly her."
The obvious demon's eyes narrowed, "I'm in the middle of somethin right now, so beat it."
"Nah, we've covered most of everything," the woman said in disagreement, "we gotta get out of here anyway, order will likely be swarming this place within the hour to find us, so I suggest you do the same."
She stood up and began walking away, being followed by the lizard yokai, "he's all yours."
Beelzebold: S rank
Shady
As the two walked away, Beelzebold frowned at them, taking a drink of what probably wasn't apple juice, "look kid, Oi got more important things on me mind right now, so make this quick."
"Whisper, are you sure we should trust this guy, he literally looks like satan!" Katie asked.
"Oi can 'ear ya!" the demon yelled, "want me 'elp or not?"
Whisper moved to where the woman had been sitting, "yes, you see our yuki-onna friend here has quite the self esteem issues."
"So you want me to boost 'er confidence?" the devil-like yokai asked, being met with a nod, "aight, then. Let's talk payment."
"Payment?" Whisper, Katie and Aria all said at once.
"Yeah mate, if ya good at somethin, never do it for free," Beelzebold said taking another drink, "my standard is two grand, but I'll put more work in for 'igher."
"Two grand…. YOU MEAN TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS?!" Katie asked in shock, "I DON'T HAVE THAT KIND OF MONEY!"
"Well then, looks like we're done 'ere," the demon said putting some money on the table and getting up.
"Wa wait!" Aria stopped him, grabbing a hold of his arms, "Please, I've been a coward my hole afterlife… c-could you please help me c-confident? I'll d-do anything!"
Beelzebold looked her straight in the pleading eyes, and with a growl, "then get me the money."
He ripped his arm from her icy grip, and began walking out of the cafe. Katie followed close behind and said, "look, mr. Bold, maybe we can work out some kind of deal!"
"Get me the money or no dice," the demon replied, not even looking at her.
"Come on, man, can you help us out here!?" Katie asked, within the next second her face was an inch away from the business end of Beelzebold's trident.
"If you say one more Enma damned word, I will personally escort ya to an early afterlife," he growled.
Katie was frozen with fear as she looked into his eyes, he was entirely ready to do it.
Before anything else could happen, an ice blast knocked the weapon from his hand. All eyes turned to Aria, who immediately looked freaked out at what she just did.
"Uh… L-leave her alone, y-you big meany!" she said in a worried tone.
Beelzebold's eyes narrowed. He leaped into the air and landed in front of the yuki-onna, effectively terrifying her.
He started laughing as a smirk formed on his face, "ya need a boost in confidence, eh lass? Well how's knocking the weapon of a yokai who could kill ya in a minute out of 'is 'and due?"
"W-what?" Aria asked, still scared and now confused.
"Oi like ya style kid, and ya need to stop sellin yourself short," Beelzebold laughed, "ya remind me of… well, me, back when Oi went by 'Timidevil.'"
"Timidevil?" everyone else questioned.
"Aye, no one's born courageous, back when Oi was young I was scared of me own shadow!" the demon said, "tell ya what, I'll 'elp ya out, on the 'ouse."
"Really?" Aria asked in excitement.
"Meet me 'ere tomorrow, same time," Beelzebold began walking away, "don't be late!"
With a smile, Aria turned to Katie and said, "thank you. Hopefully I'll be braver when I meet you next."
Her medal manifested and fell into Katie's hand as she flew away.
"You're getting good at this," Whisper said.
"Thanks… NOW TO GET BACK TO THE BEACH!" his master replied triumphently.
"Wait a minute, you only helped her so she wouldn't bother you?" the djinn asked in realization.
"Yep," Katie said walking away, Whisper was at a loss for words.