Broken Worlds 10
Danger Lurking
Disclaimer: I do not own Tamers.
Shibumi instructed the Demon Seekers to get to know how to use their new weapons. They trained vigorously for hours on end. Takato wanted to ask him a few questions about his ability.
"How am I supposed to make an illusion without it taking too much energy from me? It nearly took all my strength to make that giant raccoon to eat the rooster."
"It will drain some of your energy at first," Shibumi explained. "You need to practice with illusions until you can summon creatures. Try to confuse your enemies before you destroy them with a creature you summon."
"How?"
"Use your imagination," Shibumi answered with a grin. "That, Takato, is your greatest strength. You have a great imagination and you can use that to your advantage. With enough practice and will power," he touched Takato's forehead, "what you have in here, will come out here." He gestured to the space around him. "You can make the illusions as real as you want to. Now go and imagine your reality."
Takato nodded and went outside. He took out some of his sketches and tried to ponder on them. Al he had to do was imagine something and make it appear. He focused on a tree in front of him. With a little hard work, he could make it look like something else. He closed his eyes and made the branches lengthen, the trees come into claws, it seemed to be working and then he heard a scream.
He opened his eyes to see Ai backing away from the tree. "That thing is---"
Takato stopped the illusion. "It as just an illusion, Ai," Takato said. "Did you see it?"
"Yes, I did."
He smiled, "it worked. I'm starting to get the hang of this illusion casting."
"I'll say so," Ai said, "but do you have to cast them so well?"
He chuckled, "I do if we want to beat the demons."
"I'll go see Makoto," Ai said. "We need to train."
Juri took out a card from the bag around her waist and held it out in front of her. Shibumi watched as she sent a bolt of lightning to her imaginary target. He clapped, startling her.
"I didn't know you were watching me," she gasped.
"You are very good with those, Juri," Shibumi said.
"Thank you," she put the card back in her purse, "I've had enough practice. But I wish I had more than these cards."
"The cards are very powerful," Shibumi insisted. "What more would you need?"
"What if I lost these cards?" Juri asked. "I have no other way to defend myself. I wish the power was inside me, but my mother died before she could show me. I learned how to use the cards by myself."
"You wish to use a wand? Or cast spells on your own?"
"I feel like I have no magic in me," She whispered. "It's only the cards. They could work in anyone's hands."
"I disagree."
"Hmm?"
"Only a mage can perform magic," Shibumi insisted. "You do have magic inside of you and you will find that you don't need the cards. You've used them so much that you can perform a spell on your own if you wanted to."
"There are no magic words on the cards for me to memorize," she said. "I don't know any. The cards are my only magical item. I just hope I don't lose them. I have to keep them on me at all times. My skills are important to the group. Shibumi, I'll need to use your cards."
"You have plenty."
"Yes, but I need more," she said. "Different levels. I have mostly minor levels here. They won't be enough on the demons."
"Come with me then," he told her.
She followed him upstairs and he pulled out a box from a shelf. He blew off the dust and opened it.
"You may take as many as you wish," he stated.
"Thank you," she said, filing through the cards. A few of the cards she already had in her possession. "Ah, you have an armor protection card."
"Take it."
"This may come in handy," she said, putting into her purse. She took a higher-level invisible shield card and level five cards in fire, lightning, wind and ice. "The highest level I have in these is three. There are five levels to each card."
"You know a lot of these spell cards," he told her as she chose more cards.
"I've used them many times since I was a little girl." She explained, "it's interesting, I never liked fighting as a child. I didn't like to see people get hurt, but I knew I would have to use these some day.
"I'll leave you to these," he told her. "I'll check to see how the others are doing."
"Thank you."
Juri tried out the next levels of the cards as he went to watch Shuichon practice fighting with Jenrya. He was impressed at Shuichon's speed.
"Did you learn all that from the animals?" Shibumi questioned.
The siblings stopped fighting and Shuichon turned. "Yes. I did."
"She even has acute senses like animals," Jenrya explained. "Sight, smell, hearing…"
"That's interesting," Shibumi said. "Those skills will come in handy once you get to the demon world. It is like the night all the time and there will be smells there that you have never smelled before."
Shuichon snorted just thinking about it.
After hours of training, Shibumi provided them with a meal and some more information. "Travel north to the mountains. There is a tower for your amulets there. You need to put your amulets in the spaces until you can go on further."
"What will happen?" Ai asked.
"That is for you to find out," Shibumi explained. "You should leave immediately. Time is running out. You can't stop to rest."
"But the sun will set in a few hours," Kenta said. "Alice told us only to travel by day."
"When it gets dark you will find the gateway to the demon world," Shibumi explained. "Travel north to the mountains. It will be cold. Take what you can carry and hurry."
Knowing better than to argue with a wise man, the demon seekers finished their meals and left. Though weak and tired, they pushed them selves onward. They came closer to the mountains and the air was getting thin. There was not enough oxygen in their blood to keep moving. Shuichon, however, was in the front of line thanks to her animal senses. A relative of a camel lives in the high Alps and can survive high altitudes because they have more oxygen in their blood. Shuichon was like a human, but because she was around animals for so long, she was like an animal as well.
"All we need to do is climb," she said. "It's not that steep." She reached her hand into a crevice and began climbing. Ruki started climbing next and she used her sword as a pick.
"Be careful, Shuichon," Jenrya said, climbing up after them. Ruki looked down at him.
"I'm sure she'll be all right," Ruki insisted. "She's doing better than all of us." The others started to climb, hoping they would reach the top soon.
Juri, however, cheated a little. She used a cart to levitate herself to the top. "I will wait for you," she said to them, rising up the mountain.
"Cheater," Ruki hissed under her breath.
"Why not taking one of us with you, eh?" Hirokazu asked with a yell.
"I can barely breath," Mako complained.
"We are almost there," his sister insisted. "We need to keep moving."
He took in deeper breaths and continued to keep climbing.
Juri made it to the top and waited at the edge to help the others up. "What's it like, Juri?" Shuichon asked.
"Take a look for yourself," Juri said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the top. She pointed to a ravine between two mountains. "I see the tower."
"So all have to do is put our amulets on there," Shuichon breathed.
Ruki was just two feet from the edge. She heard something give underneath her. She looked down to see Jenrya about to fall down. She gasped and grabbed his arm before he fell. He looked up at her in surprise.
'I cant believe she caught me,' he thought.
Ruki was also surprised. 'I just saved a man's life.'
Shuichon gasped, "Jenrya, are you all right?"
"Yes."
Shuichon looked down. 'I don't believe it. Ruki saved my brother, but why?'
"You should be more careful," Ruki muttered and resumed climbing. She got to the top and again, lent Jenrya her arm and helped him to the top.
If Shuichon were the same sweet girl she was as a child, she would've thrown her arms around Ruki and thanked her over and over. But Shuichon was still trying to understand what Ruki did, and why.
Ruki stayed at the edge and helped the remaining climbers up. They stopped to get their breath.
"So what now?" Hirokazu demanded.
"We find the tower," Kenta reminded him. "And we put our amulets in the holes."
"It's over there," Juri said. "It's on the other side of the ravine."
"One of us will have to go," Shuichon said. "We all won't be able to make it over this and the pole is only big enough for one person anyway." She squinted. "And it looks like the spaces for all of our amulets have been destroyed. There's just one hole left, on the top."
"Yes. I can teleport myself there."
"No, I will go." Shuichon said. "I can make it."
"Shuichon don't do it!" Jenrya shouted. "it's dangerous. Let Juri go."
But she didn't listen to him. She backed up to the edge of the mountain and stretched her legs. "I have to, Jenrya. If something happens, Juri can do it."
"But--"
"Don't try to stop me," she hissed. "I must do this, for myself. You know about my jumping ability." And she took a deep breath, broke into a run and as she got to the edge of the ravine, she bent her legs, lurched forward and laughed into a high long jump.
"Will she make it?" Ai asked.
"I hope so," Makoto replied.
Shuichon ran in mid air, holding out her hand. She almost fell through the ravine but she grabbed onto the grass around the pole. She pulled herself and let out a sigh of relief. "I made it."
She brushed the dirt off the top of the pole, took her amulet and placed it into the hole. In a moment, she will wish that she let Juri do the job. The ground began shaking and Shuichon and to wrap her arms around the pole to keep from falling.
"What is happening?" she demanded.
"Shuichon, get over here!" Her older brother ordered.
"I can't!" she exclaimed. "It's shaking! There's something coming!" She looked down at the ravine and screamed. "Oh no….FIRE!"
"I'm going after her," Juri said. "Hold on, Shuichon!"
Fire consumed the whole ravine, preventing Juri from getting to Shuichon. There was a laughter within the fighter.
"This is as far as you go, humans!"
"It's a deva!" Kenta exclaimed.
The fire pulled together and became a dragon. "Foolish humans!"
"I guess we don't have to guess its element," Hirokazu said. "Juri, blast this thing!"
"You've got it," she said, pulling out her strongest ice and water cards. "I'm going to put this fire out!" She held both cards in front of her and a wave of water launched toward the dragon, followed by giant blocks of ice. The water evaporated off its fiery body and the ice melted.
"You will have to do better than that," the dragon said, flying toward them, making the trees burn.
"I used my strongest cards," Juri said, "I've got nothing left!"
"What do we do now?" Ai wondered out loud.
"I don't know," Juri replied. "It is too strong."
The clouds came together and thundered. It started to rain.
"It's raining," Kenta said. "How?"
"Must…" Takato said, squeezing his eyes shut, "must…keep control…"
The water turned into hail. Though it was just an illusion, it seemed to drive the dragon off a bit. "NO!" It hissed.
Now Takato made it seemed like it was snowing. He made the snow form a frozen monster.
"It's so cold," Juri whispered.
"Please….let this work," Takato chanted. "Snow monster…I demand you get destroy that dragon!"
The snow monster threw a punch toward the dragon, turning its fiery breath into water vapor. The snow monster seemed to be taking the dragon off guard.
"It's working!" Hirokazu exclaimed. "Come on, Takato, concentrate! You can do it!"
"I'm…trying," he grunted.
The dragon was now pushed to the edge of the ravine. The snow monster froze its wings off. Shuichon was still holding tight to the pole, fearing for her life.
"Please, let it be over soon!" she exclaimed.
The snow monster took a deep breath and blew a frozen wind onto the dragon. The head from the dragon made the snow monster melt a little but it wasn't giving up. It kept blowing the frozen wind onto the dragon, putting it in a frozen prison. The monster now pushed the dragon over the edge and the dragon grabbed its arm in its claws.
"Oh no!" Jenrya gasped.
"Now Juri," Takato muttered, "your water card, use it on them both!"
"But the snow monster will--"
"Just do it," Takato snapped, fighting to keep control of the illusion. "Before I lose it! Quickly!"
Juri took out her water card and sent the wave of water to both creatures. They were forced off the edge and fell to the bottom of the ravine. The demon seekers watched them fall as the snow monster melted and the fire dragon lost its fiery body. Water rose up the ravine, forming a river. With the snow monster gone, Takato didn't have to keep the illusion going and he fell to his knees.
"Well done, Takato," Jenrya said.
"I'll never get used to this summoning stuff," Takato muttered.
"You can come now, Shuichon!" Ai said. "The fire dragon was beaten!"
Shuichon opened her eyes at let out a gasp. She looked down at what she once saw fire in the ravine, now water. She put her amulet back on.
"Amazing!" she exclaimed, diving into the water and swimming to the other end. Ai reached out her hand to help her out. "Now all the Devas have been defeated."
"We just have the demons to worry about now," Ai said.
A portal opened up behind Juri and a giant, skeletal hand grabbed her. She screamed, trying to fight out of its grasp. "No! Someone help me! Takato!"
"Juri!" Takato ran toward her, his hand out stretched. He was too tired to move.
"Let her go!" Ruki took out her bows and arrows and shot the hand. There was a scream from whatever the hand belonged to but it didn't let go of Juri. It tightened around her, making her purse containing all her cards was ripped opened and her cards started to fall out as she was pulled into the portal.
"My cards--no!" she exclaimed. "Help!"
Before he got to the portal to grab Juri, Takato fell down and the portal closed. "NO!" He hit the ground repeatedly. "She's gone! Juri!"
"What do they want with Juri?" Ruki questioned. "Why did they take her?"
"I don't know," Hirokazu mumbled.
"The demons want people who feel negative emotions," Shuichon recalled, "but it doesn't make any sense. Juri never shows any negative emotions. None at all." Shuichon frowned. 'Why didn't they take me?' she thought. 'Don't they know about my fear of fire? Didn't they see how cowardly I was just now when the fire dragon came out of the ravine? Juri was the first to strike--what do they want with her?'
"We have to go in after her," Takato said. "She lost all her cards. She won't be able to defend herself."
"How?" Jenrya said. "The portal's closed."
"We'll find a way," Takato said. "We've got to. Juri needs us!"
TBC