Manta crawled out of the well to find the rest of the group standing around taking in the view. All around them were trees and grass as far as the eye could see. There were no houses, no streets, no cars and no other people. "So, um, have any of you guys figured out where we are yet?" Manta inquired.
" Manta? Awesome you came too! Well now that we're all here maybe we should start walking!" answered Yoh in excitement.
" Walking? And exactly where is it that you think we'll be walking to?" snapped Ren.
Ryu walked up to Yoh and put his hand on his shoulder, " Never mind short pants Yoh, I agree with you. Lets head towards the town this way."
" There's a town over there? Does this mean you know where we are?" asked Horo Horo excitedly.
" I have no clue where we are, but if we keep walking this way we have to come across something eventually!" Ryu turned to see the rest of the group staring at him with mixed looks of frustration and anger on their faces.
Right then Yoh spoke up, " Ryu's right, standing around here is going to get us nowhere, we might as well see what this place has to offer. Besides, once we find someone else, they can let us know where we are."
So everyone headed off into the woods in search of someone who could tell them where they were. They had sent their spirits on ahead of them to see if they could find a village or people or anything. The group was so enchanted by the beauty of the forest that it took them a few moments to hear the muffled sound of a growl in the distance. Suddenly the ground began to tremble underneath their feet. Horo Horo turned to face the direction of the sound. By now it had become clear that something was coming towards them, and it was coming very fast.
Yoh started to run in the direction of the growl, which was now getting louder and louder. Amidamaru and the rest of the spirits had returned from their search. " Master Yoh, something does not feel right here."
" I completely agree Amidamaru, let's go, Spirit Flame Mode Now! Into the sword!" Amidamaru went from a spirit ball into Yoh's sword, Harusame. Yoh glanced back, he could see everyone else preparing as well, Horo Horo put Kororo into his snowboard, Ren had put Bason into his Quan Dao, Saiyaka had put her spirit Setsuna into the Sword of Nine Blades, Ryu had put Tokagero into his wooden sword and Eliza was staying close to Faust. They were all running fast, and as they ran, they could feel the ground shaking harder and the animal was growling louder and louder. Manta began to fall behind; he just couldn't keep up with everyone.
" Come on Manta," Ryu grabbed him by the back of the shirt while he ran past. Manta let out a rather childish scream.
"Come now Manta, I know you're scared, but this is no time to be screaming like a girl!" Ryu was too busy concentrating on keeping up that he hadn't even noticed that Manta had somehow sprouted a bushy tail.
"Guys? Ummm, Guys?? WHERE DID EVERBODY GO?!?" Manta started to freak out. He had been running so hard, trying to keep up, but he had tripped and when he got up everyone had disappeared. Without warning a hand grabbed him by the back of the shirt.
" Shippou, let's go! Kagome senses the shard is this way!" Manta was now being dragged behind this tall young man with black hair and a gold staff.