Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Chap. 23

Fifteen minutes after leaving the library, Yugo drove to the block where his house was. He had been trying to sort out the information he and Long discovered. Oracles, unborns, oni...just when it seemed things couldn't get worse... It was bad enough before. It was bad when he had gone on his quest to find out what happened to his father, facing the deadly Tylon Organization in the process. It had gotten even worse when battling the Beast Liberation Front, fighting a brainwashed Kenji in order to save him. Then it reached a fevered point when the beast signs appeared, due to the influence of the Tabula and the Unborn and he had to step in once more to stop it. And finally, the return of Tylon and their continued plans to create superhuman assassins; Yugo had been drawn into that as well. This was becoming quite difficult for him now. That wasn't to say that a part of him wasn't thrilled with the prospect of a battle. But he had a future to think about now. He had a wife to consider now. Speaking of which, as he turned the corner and approached his house, he saw her just entering in the door.

"Hey Ally..." he began to call. But almost immediately, his nose detected trace scents coming from her, the most prevalent being blood. At first, he simply considered it to be from patients in the hospital. But the scents were too strong and normally Alice would have cleaned herself before leaving work. But even worse, he could tell that the blood...was hers.

Bringing the car in to park, Yugo jumped out of the car and moved to the door. Alice had heard him for she left the door open. But she didn't answer him before, which made him worry. Entering the door, Yugo looked around and saw Alice seated on the couch. Her clothing was a little torn and as he sensed, she was wounded in several area of her body. Luckily, the wounds were minor, but Yugo didn't care as he ran up to her.

"Alice! What happened?"

The young woman looked up at him softly (and a bit painfully) and went on to explain what happened.

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Flashback

"Caaaaawwwwww!"

Alice jumped back as the crow zoanthrope suddenly lunged at her. Lifting her arm, she made an uneasy block to which he swooped right on by, scratching her arm with his clawed hands. Alice growled and whipped her arm back as Reiji circled back and came at her again, soaring through the air on his black wings. Realizing that the next attack would be worse, Alice brought her arms together. The crow seemed to grin as it came for the kill, but was thoroughly surprised when Alice's orange eyes filled up and a burst of energy shot out, knocking him out of flight and onto the concrete ground. When he arose, Alice had already changed into her alternate form; a white rabbit. The crow cawed rapidly, indicating a sort of laughter. Alice frowned mentally, but continued to bounce around in stance. Her form came with an additional advantage in being underestimated, therefore when she got to the fighting, she would show her opponent how horribly wrong they where to judge her on morph.

Finished with his mocking laugh, Reiji let his clawed hands down and Alice guessed it was some sort of stance, albeit weird as his face was left exposed. But that was soon brought in to light when the crow launched one of his legs at lightning speed. Only Alice's instinct and near equal speed allowed her to dodge the slashing kick, but that was only the beginning as the crow brought the same leg back for another kick. Alice hopped back this time, allowing it to miss totally and Reiji's wings suddenly spread and he pursued, with yet another kick along the way. Alice dodged twice, realizing that this guy wasn't giving her any breathing space and driving her to the wall. In her notice of this, one of Reiji kicks got through, razing across her chest and splashing blood on her white fur. Gasping (if a rabbit can do that) Alice fell back and hit the wall while Reiji lifted his knee and set his foot forward, threatening to finish her right there.

'Oh no you don't.'

As the crow shot his clawed foot in, Alice bent her knees and suddenly bounded high into the air, cartwheeling right over Reiji and landing behind him. Still in motion, Alice cartwheeled again, this time forward and with her foot hitting right into his back. Reiji flew briefly and smashed face-first into the wall. Alice tightened her fist and readied herself as Reiji recomposed and turned around, his red eyes now clearly angry. His wings spread out for the next strike, but suddenly he stopped and looked upward. Alice was a bit confused, but even more so when he shot up into the air and flew away. With the threat gone, Alice reverted back to her original form. The fight, although short, was tiring and her clothes were torn and bloodied. Alice let out a pained sighed and looked up briefly, wondering who that stranger was and why he attacked her and then just take off.

She didn't look up long enough to see the black shadowed flock that flew over her a minute later...

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"A crow zoanthrope?"

"Yeah." she replied, rubbing her abdomen tenderly. "Pretty nasty fighter too."

"Are you...?" he repeated worriedly.

"Don't worry." she reassured. "They're already healing. But there may be another problem. Before he attacked me, he mentioned a white zoanthrope." Alice lifted her eyes to look at him, knowing what she was about to say next would disturb him a lot.

"I think he may have meant...Xion."

"Xion..." Yugo whispered. His experience with the Unborn was less than pleasant, to put it nicely. Sitting down next to her, he sighed. "I guess he didn't die after all. Just when things couldn't get worse..."

Alice looked over at him. "Do you think that somehow he's responsible for all of this?"

"I don't know. But I don't think it's a coincidence either." He suddenly perked his head up. "Hey, where's Kenji?"

Yugo stood up from the couch and moved up the stairs. Alice saw his nose twitch slightly, an indication that he was using his sense of smell. 'Why would he do that?' she wondered. Lifting herself up, she followed him up the stairs as Yugo continued through the upper hall, heading for Kenji's room. But before he reached the room, his face consorted into confusion.

"Uriko?"

Entering the room, he found an unconscious Uriko nestled on the bed. Both adults approached her just as she began to stir.

"Kenji...?"

"Uriko, what happened?"

"Who are you going to kill?"

Those words echoed through Shin's mind as he ran across the rooftops. His determination to find Kohryu was matched by this small doubt in his mind. And even though he continued to run, he still was unsure as to what he would do. Will he fight Kohryu? And when he does, will he defeat him? And if he even pulls that off, what then? Shin stopped and remained still, once again clearing his thoughts. If he was to decide, he had to do it now. Return home or pursue his enemy?

"Sorry I couldn't be with you... Goodbye, little brother..."

Coris... Shin grit his teeth, remembering how he had lost his brother to the mechanical ninja. No, he couldn't stop. He had to continue. He had gone too far now. And he couldn't risk Kohryu taking someone else he cared about. With it now set in mind, he continued on. But stopped again only after realizing that running around as he did was pointless. He needed a vantage point if he was to find him. Looking around briefly, he found a higher building and leaped to it. His hands clung to the wall and Shin effortlessly pulled his way up to the top. His eyes narrowed sharply and his vision zoomed across the entire plain of the town. He slowly craned his head in search, now seeing the smallest object from miles across. But he was only looking for one object.

Kohryu...

His eyes continued to motion across, slowly scanning every building in range. Though his vision wasn't as good at night, it was still sharp enough to peer through the night if the ninja showed up. For five minutes, Shin remained motionless, with only his golden eyes in motion.

'There!'

His eyes suddenly caught sight of a gray object standing on a rooftop a good mile or two away. The metal ninja seemed to be moving slowly, heading westward. Shin stood up, but didn't pursue immediately. He realized that he wouldn't be able to reach Kohryu in time before losing him amid the throng of buildings. And Shin had no intention of losing his prey.

"Hraahh!"

Crossing his arms, Shin let lose a burst of energy and triggering his transformation. Dark-blue feathers sprouted from his body and his hands stretched. His face changed totally, stretching out and forming into a beak while his hand formed the wings. His feet split apart and curved downward, becoming hooked talons. His metamorphosis complete, Shin spread his wings and took to the air.

'Now you're mine.'

Long strode down from the library in deep thought. There was much to work on and he didn't really know where to start. Actually he did, but he didn't know how to proceed. He had to find the oracle, the nine-tailed white fox. He had only seen her once after which she had disappeared, so he didn't have much to work with. He just hoped that she would find him again. He wasn't sure, but he guessed that her appearance was one of search; that she was searching for someone. The worldwide occurrences couldn't have been intentional. She was looking for help. He just hoped he would be able to provide it when the time came. If the time came... As continued on, he nearly bumped into a man that was just turning the corner of backed-up alley. Long was ready to apologize when he saw just who it was.

"You?"

The tiger zoanthrope (the second one) cracked a dark grin. "Well, well, will the wonders never cease?"

"What are you doing here, Shenlong?" Long questioned. It had been some time since he saw his twin (Calling him clone results in seriously pissing him off) in the battle within the Tylon stronghold. Even though he wasn't the same person as before, he was still quite unpredictable.

Shenlong let out a short snort. "Well that's no business of yours, but I was just in the area. Although now, I wish I wasn't."

"Why do you say that?"

Shenlong turned his head off to the side. "Some little girl came up to me asking for help. Something about the berserkers lately and a seal."

Long could scarcely believe his ears and if not for the fact that they were so sharp, he would have thought he imagined it. "A little girl...? A fox?"

"It figures." Shenlong replied, turning to him. "She must have been looking for you instead."

"Where did she go?" Long asked immediately.

"What's it to you?"

Our lives may depend on it." Long didn't like sounding rude, but this was of vital importance.

Unfortunately, Shenlong didn't see it that way. Or didn't care. Probably both. Still... "Well, I don't care much for your life, but mine is a different story. She..."

"Uh, oh."

The two tiger were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of another figure, who stumbled into the walkway after tripping over a nearby trashcan. The figure lifted himself up, revealing a set of beady eyes and loud colored clothing.

"Busuzima!" Long snarled. "You still live."

The mad scientist grinned. "Of course I do. No one can stop the great Busuzima! Not even you two."

Long's fingers began to curl, but he was halted when Shenlong tapped his shoulder and pointed behind him.

"That way."

"Huh?"

"Your fox-girl went that way." Shenlong repeated.

Busuzima's eyes lit up. "Fox-girl? So I'm on the right track. I deal with you two later once I have my prize."

"There you go again." Shenlong retorted. "Running your mouth and getting on my nerves. Well, now you're going to get it."

"What?"

Shenlong took a step toward him, cracking his neck as he approached. "Besides, you've had this coming for a long while." His eyes narrowed and he looked back a Long, who was still standing nearby. "What are you still doing here? Get going already." He turned back and let out a feral grin. "This is going to get bloody."

Long blinked, but he seeing that he didn't have time to waste, he turned around and went the direction Shenlong directed. Busuzima looked around for a way to get by, but Shenlong blocked his path. Now upset, Busuzima growled.

"You think you can stop me, furball? I'll squash you and get my prize."

"Fool." he grinned, eyes beginning to narrow into the feline form he is known with. "You have much to learn."

"Kenji...?"

"Uriko, what happened?" At the sight of seeing Uriko in Kenji's bed, he had feared that the two youths had...well, you know. But he picked up no trace scents that would have depicted such and Kenji's scent was distant in the room, indicating that he had been gone for a good while. Uriko sat up; rubbing her head from the sudden hangover she was feeling in her brain.

"Kenji. He...knocked me out."

Her pause in response was because she still was in a daze at what Kenji did. He kissed her... She still couldn't believe it, but that was clear in her mind, more or less. Alice moved around and stared at her little 'sister'.

"Why? What's going on?"

Uriko went on to explain the whole thing. Kenji's encounter with Kohryu, Shin arriving after finding out that Kenji knew about it, and Kenji preparation for battle (Still leaving out the kiss though).

Alice shook her head in disbelief. "Kohryu, Xion, that crow zoanthrope..." Things just kept going from bad to worse. It was becoming more than they could handle. Suddenly, a serious Yugo stood up and made his way for the door.

"That's it. Things are beginning to get out of control here and I'm not standing for it any longer."

Alice immediately followed him in the hall, confused. "Where are you going?"

Yugo grabbed his jacket and put it on. "I'm going to find my brother and find my own answers."

Alice had only seen that look on his face when he went out to settle things himself. She saw it when they first met and again when Kenji was kidnapped and once more when she followed him to destroy the Tabula. It was the I've-had-enough-of-this-and-it-ends-now look. Her own face became determined and she grabbed her own jacket.

"Let's go."

Yugo whirled around, ready to say that she wasn't going. But he saw the determine look in her face. It was her I'm-going and-nothing-you-say-or-do-is-going-to-change-my-mind look. He sighed beside himself. "I know you'll just say no if I asked you to stay, so I'll ask this. Are you sure?"

Alice blinked. She didn't expect that. It wasn't until then that she realized that he was genuinely worried about her. She had just come out of a fight and he wanted to be sure she would be okay in case they were thrust into another one. But she knew she could just let him go alone, as he had many times in the past. 'I'm your wife after all.'

"You can't do this alone." she replied. Then with a light smile, she added. "I won't let you."

Yugo returned the smile and gave her a light kiss, to which she embrace for a deeper, but short, one.

"I'm going too."

They had completely forgotten that Uriko was standing nearby. Uriko flushed at their earlier embrace, but made her bold declaration. Yugo shook his head.

"No. You better head home, Uriko."

Uriko blinked. "But..."

"No buts." Alice agreed. "Mitsuko is probably worried about you now. Please."

Uriko lowered her head, recognizing the light plea of her sister and she muttered. "Alright."

Alice placed an assuring hand on her shoulder a moment before she and Yugo exited the house. Uriko walked out and looked in the direction of her house, but then a mischievieos grin etched across her face.

'I didn't say I'd go straight home. Just a quick detour or two.'

The moon was full over his head as Xion looked on from the rooftops. His eyes held a look of disdain as he gazed upon the people walking abroad. 'See them go about their frivolous activities. Nothing but animals, worthy only to serve…or die.' Looking up, he allowed himself to bask in the light of the moon. 'Soon, everything will come to fruition. Soon by brethren, you will be free, and Gaia will pay dearly. Hehehehe'. With these thoughts, the silver-haired man began to make his way to the opposite edge of the roof. But his senses suddenly told him of something and he stopped.

"Hm? You want something from me?"

"I've finally found you."

Turning around to the feminine voice, he looked over at the brunette that had intruded on him. Nagi...

"What is this?" he replied with disdain. "I'm in a hurry. Get out of my way."

Oh, I know who you are." Nagi retorted, clenching her fists. "You're the white zoanthrope that stabbed me."

Xion's eyes widened and he turned around fully to examine her. His memory soon kicked in and he shrieked. "You...! That woman! I thought I dealt you a fatal blow, but..." His eyes narrowed in a realization. "Oh I see. I didn't know you were a zoanthrope as well. Strange that I didn't sense you along with your dog friend."

Nagi's glare turned deadly after hearing about her friend. "Yes." She sneered. The burning sensation was now aflare on her arm, but due to her current anger, she didn't feel or even notice it. "Thanks to you, I changed...into this!"

With a cry, her arms shot to the side, releasing a blast of light. Xion blinked as Nagi transformed before his eyes. His eyes widened when the light cleared and her form came revealed. Half her body remained normal, while the other half was etched in crimson scales, with her right eye being blood red in color. Her right arm bore a long, wicked, looking blade that stretched out and nearly touched the ground.

"What!" Xion exclaimed. "What kind of energy..." He stopped talking for a moment and then his eyes narrowed in realization. "Gaia?" He snarled and crossed his arms low. "If that's the way you want it... then I'll finish the job this time!"

A white burst shot out from his body, igniting his own transformation. Silvery armored skin covered his body and claw grew from his hands and feet. His eyes turned yellow and his head resembled a strange insect. Waving his arms around, he growled upward and swung them downward, extending a set of razor-sharp blades on each wrist. Nagi seemed to watch with disinterest and suddenly charged. Xion watch her come and in the same second charged as well. The fight had begun.

The Unborn against The Spurious...