* Dressed up like a reindeer * Happy holidays everyone! Sorry for all the delays, but it's the holidays, busy, busy, busy! And, I just got accepted into the High School for the Arts were I live for creative writing, so I guess I'll have to work on my work for there before my fanfics, but don't worry! I shall update!



'I wonder is Bastet knows what she's doing.'

Kai frowned as she watched Bastet and Johnny prepare for battle. Johnny was looking pretty confident that he was going to win, but Bastet didn't look too intimidated.

Bastet blinked as she laid eyes on Johnny's launcher. 'He carries that around? What a freak.'

"Ready? 3…2…1…let it rip!"

Bastet narrowed her eyes, launching Illuser into the wok that had been set up. The silver blade hit the dish hard, and immediately started around the edge, circling Johnny's blade.

Kai growled. 'Idiot. She's making it easy for him to knock her out!'

Johnny saw her move also. With a smirk, he directed Salamalyon to attack. The red blade crashed into Bastet's, making it teeter dangerously on the edge of defeat.

"Uh oh." Bastet grimaced as she watched her blade take a beating. One wrong move and she would be out. "Illuser!"

At the sound of her voice, Bastet blade began to slowly light up. slowly, the silver snow phoenix began to rise from the blade, slowly stretching out it's wings.

Kai frowned. 'Illuser…looks different.'

The first time he had seen Bastet's bitbeast, Illuser had been silver and light purple, but now, the snow bird looked like it was truly made of ice. Its wings were shimmering, and the air was colder.

"Illuser! Get away from him!"

The blade quickly sped up, breaking away from Johnny and heading back into the dish. It steadied itself, and held it's ground.

Johnny watched her, and started to laugh. "An ice based bitbeast? This is too easy! Salamalyon!"

Bastet's eyes went wide as she caught sight of Salamalyon. She wiped her head around and glared at Kai. "Fire based?! His bitbeast is fire based?"

"Yeah!" he growled. "Is that a problem?" he added sarcastically.

She turned back. "No…not really…" her eyes fell back on Illuser and she let out an involuntary moan.

Illuser was melting.

"Illuser!" she cried, as the phoenix's wings began to drip, and he pulled back into the blade.

"Ha!" Johnny laughed. "Looks like I've melted your birdie."

He glanced at Bastet, who was hanging her head and looking at the ground. "Don't feel too bad, you aren't the first amateur to fall to a knight like me!" he continued. He laughed.

Bastet closed her eyes, and chuckled slightly.

"Bastet! What the hell is so funny!" Kai yelled. He didn't understand why she was laughing. Without Illuser, she didn't stand a chance.

"You may be a knight, Johnny." She slowly lifted her head, and glared at him. "But you're still just a filthy human!"

Her blade, which had been wobbling, suddenly steadied itself. A blue light began to glow from her bit, getting brighter.

"Heads up!" Bastet yelled, as the light erupted and bathed them all in pale blue. "I'm about to teach you a lesson in physics!"

Johnny took a step back and held a hand over his face to protect his eyes from the light. "What are you talking about? Huh?" he looked at Bastet. 'She looks…different.'

Bastet smirked as her blade sped up, causing the wok to vibrate. "When ice melts, it becomes water! Aqua Illuser! Attack now!"

Illuser began to appear again, much faster than before. The once silver phoenix was now blue, its wings dripping.

"I'm going to extinguish your flames!" she growled. The silver blade shot forward, slamming into Johnny's blade. The red blade began to wobble, but before it could steady itself, Bastet attacked again. Salamalyon let out a roar and retreated back into the blade, disappearing form sight.

Johnny blinked in shock. "No way. How did I lose?" he grabbed his blade and glared at Bastet. "You're not taking my blade!"

Bastet smirked at him and turned away. "I don't want it, it's weak."

His eyes widened. "What!?"

She glanced back over her shoulder. "Get out of here, you're a waste of bit power." She waved over her shoulder and started to walk away.

Kai smirked and started to follow. He had no desire to hang around anymore.

"Hey!" Johnny called after them. "I came here to fight Kai, not you!"

Kai started to say something, but Bastet cut him off. "Kai is a far better blader than I will ever be. If you couldn't win against me, how do you expect to beat him?"



* * *



"Mind explaining why you are soaking wet?"

Bastet rolled her eyes. "I fell in a puddle, do you mind?"

"Yes." Kai growled. "You disappear in the middle of the night, forcing me to find you."

The teammates were heading back to their hotel, having left an enraged Johnny behind. Kai was pretty annoyed about having to get up and look for her, and he was letting her know it.

"I don't care who you are, you don't just go wandering off!"

Bastet glanced at him. "Who are you, my mother? I can take care of myself."

Kai narrowed his eyes at her. "You smell like a swamp. You better not be hanging around in the room smelling like that!"

"Oh will you shut up."

"Care to know your futures?"

Kai and Bastet stopped in their tracks at the sound of the voice. They glanced at each other, wondering if the other was screwing around.

Kai glanced over, spotting an older woman sitting in the doorway of a shop, with a table covered in a velvet cloth in front of her.

The woman smiled. "I didn't mean to startle you." She said cheerfully.

Bastet glanced over Kai's shoulder. "Who are you?"

Kai blinked. "It's a little late for fortune telling, don't you think?"

The woman smiled warmly. "Yes. But tonight is the best night to read fortunes. It's a full moon."

Bastet glanced up at the sky. "Well, look at that."

The woman smiled. "So?"

Kai started to reject the offer, but another voice piped up. This one much high-pitched and younger sounding than the woman.

"You are a strange looking yokai, have not your eyes been removed?"

Bastet's breath caught in her throat. She glanced down, to find a young girl clinging to the older woman's leg, looking at her.

Kai looked confused. The night was getting stranger and stranger.

"Kelsey! That was very rude to say!" the fortuneteller exclaimed. "And why are you out of bed?"

"But momma," the girl protested. "Isn't she a weird looking yokai?"

Bastet turned away. "No thanks. I don't believe in fortune tellers."

She walked away, following after Kai. As they left, the older woman glanced after them.

"Mommy?" the girl said, tugging on her leg.

She didn't answer. 'That girl is definitely a yokai, but she looks like a human.'



The plot thickens. Leave a review please!