15
The Dreadful Dungeon
Kurama walked though the old decrepit dungeon. The place was very old and falling apart. This was proved every few seconds as a piece of stone fell from the ceiling. It was also filled with traps. And, every single one, still worked. This place had every kind of trap from spikes that pop out of the ground, to killer statues. He had run into that, and everything in between. He was, to say the least, tired. But so far, he had been lucky. He had only gotten a few scrapes and some minor burns. Normally he would rest a bit in a safe corridor before moving on, but this time, there was much more on the line than the prize at the end. So, he refused to stop. And he wouldn't, until he was out of this place, and had what the kidnapper asked for. For his mother's sake, he couldn't fail.
He stopped in front of one corridor. It was long, and dark. He couldn't see the end from where he was standing. He took a step closer, and his foot hit something. He looked town, and saw a skeleton. A past adventurer, who had died just at the beginning of this pathway. He looked up again. The enter pathway was riddled with skeletons. Not all human either. A few had been pinned to the wall with arrows, a few, had lost their head, and some looked scorched. Kurama swallowed. This was not going to be fun. Well, he could at least test the first trap. He picked up the skeletons arm, and threw it inside. Once it hit the ground, spikes shot up from the floor.
'Spikes again. Simple enough.'
A few steps back, then a running jump and he cleared the first obstacle, then landed in a half kneeling position, the sounds of arrows hissing came immediately after that, so he quickly rolled forward, which proved to be a wise choice, for old spinning blades shot from the walls above him. When his roll came to a stop, he was now lying on his stomach, a blade over his head, some one else's right beside his. He knocked the skull away wish his arm, and finished moving under the spinning blades and quickly stood only to get up halfway, then duck down and move as spikes popped out of the ceiling.
Close, but still okay.
Kurama was lucky, and was unharmed. He was about to move, when the spikes redrew in to the ceiling. He was quick, they popped back down, seconds later. Then from his left, fire came blasting from the wall. Jump forward. Then more arrows coming from every which direction. Move in to a feat of acrobatic jumps and flips. A few nicked him, but nothing too bad. Halfway through the next area, spikes shot from the wall closest to him. He couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise as he quickly found himself back pinned to the other wall. He opened his eye.
At this point, if Yusuke were here, he'd probably say, "You're one Lucky Fox, Kurama, you know that?" but alas, his friends weren't here. Time for a quick damage assessment. His left sleeve had been pierced, better that than his arm. A spike had just missed his head. His eye went to the spike that nearly took his head, and was greeted, with yet another skeleton, head also just missed by the spikes, but had been run though by another. Kurama's right side had been pierced by one, but not pinned. Only grazed. Ch, yea right. More like torn. But not as bad as one may think. A few more spikes near to his body, but not in it, thankfully. Seconds ticked by, and the spikes did not retract like last time. Perhaps it was because this time, they had him pinned.
Pinned to the wall, with little room to move, this meant it was time for one of his famous fox tricks. But what did he have to work with? There were the wooden spikes, but it would take a lot of energy. There was some mold or moss on the wall behind him, and the seeds he kept in his hair. Out of all this, there was really only one good choice. He began the process of feeding his spirit energy through one of the seeds he kept. It took only seconds for the plant to grow. The plant he chose, was his death tree. In moments, he had an appearance very much like a gorgon due to the plants many mouths. He hated doing it, due to the plant's natural diet of meat, but it was also the best choice for getting him out of this mess the fastest. After all, he was on a time limit. The plant bit though the wooden spikes with ease, the wood disintegrating at the plants lightest touch due to its acidic saliva. The moment the spikes were cleared from around him the spikes retracted looking to try to drive into him again. He didn't waste a moment in moving out of the spikes' path, his plant also shrank back in to its seed state. The spikes slammed right behind him. There was soon a feeling of heat around him. This could only mean one thing. In a split second decision he leapt forward and moved in to a roll, narrowly avoiding the flames that threatened to consume him from all sides of the corridor.
Kurama let out a sigh of relief. He was quite glad to be out of that hall. But as he looked around the room, the hard part was far from over. The room he was in was vastly large. And it was littered with skeletons of every size and creature. At the end of the room, the mirror was on a pedestal, a glint of moonlight shining over it. There was then a deafening roar. He looked up to see a great three-headed beast come down from the unseen ceiling above. It landed on the ground with such force, that it shook the ground so greatly that Kurama lost his balance and fell. He quickly got back to his feet and pulled his rose from his hair. He gazed up at the beast now before him.
It was large. The three heads glared down with a never-ending hunger down on to him. It had clearly been a long time since the beast had last eaten. One head was like that of a Dragon. A Kimono dragon to be exact. The second head was like that of a snake, and the third was of a hawk. Each of the three necks where long, the color corresponding with the head. The snake head was a glistening red, looking a bit purple in the night light that shone throughout the cavern. The kimono dragon was a deep brown, while the Hawk was also shades of brown, the feathers that coated it stopped just at the base of the neck. The Wings the giant beast had were feathered, but folded and flapped like that of a bat's. Its body was large and muscular, coated with smooth scales. The front legs where like lions claws, with the lack of fur, and the back legs had hoofs. The entire body was coated with colors of browns reds, greens, and browns. A powerful reptilian tail lashed in the back. It raised its three heads and roared ready to attack. Kurama's grip tightened around his rose. This fight was not going to be easy. Whoever created this guardian did a good job, and he could sense its power easily. No, this would indeed not be an easy fight.
'But for mother sake, I must win.'
Shadow Fox: Sorry this is taken so long. We've both been really busy. And I'm afraid it may be some time before the next up date. We're both very busy people, and to make matter worse, MY comp lost the notes that was our later chapters, so we have to start over again. Which really stinks because it was turning out great. And would have made the up dates go a bit faster. Once again I apologize for the delay, and any inconvenience. Oh for crying out loud, I sound like some kind of sales person.