Disclaimer: See previous chapters

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Chap. 26

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RROOAAAHHHHHHRRRRRRR!

With a mad lunge, Shina leaped high into the air and dove straight at the Kenpo warrior. Long blinked as Shina dove at him. But it was out of surprise, for the roar, though feline, was not Shina's; not a leopard's.

It was a lion's…

Moments later, a golden form flew overhead and collided into Shina while in mid-air. They rolled around until finally crashing into the ground where the leopard was propelled back into the air after being flipped by the lion, which had landed on the floor bottom. The lion soon flipped up onto its feet and clapped its paws together, reverting to his human form.

"Gado?"

The elder zoanthrope turned an eye to him (the scarred one). "Go on. I'll deal with her."

Long looked over at Shina, seeing that she was beginning to rise and focus her rage on her new target. He didn't want to leave her like this, but Gado was right. He had to continue on and get to Mana in the temple. It was the only way to stop whatever it was that was affecting her.

'I'll be back, Jane. I promise…'

Quickly, Long turned around and headed toward temple, leaving behind the two felines to battle. Gado turned back to Shina, who was snarling at him and ready to pounce. Gado simply shrugged and held up his fists. A slow grin crept over his face.

"Well... this won't even be a workout!"

"Shin!"

Things seemed to move in slow motion. Kohryu, rebounding off his first attack and flying at Shin with his claws ready to impale; Shin, still holding his stance and facing the incoming blades. His eyes were stoic and sharp, without fear, though you could never see fear in the eyes of an eagle anyway. The claws inched closer and Kenji's worry grew. 'Is he going to let him just kill him?'

Suddenly, in a swift move, Shin bent forward, exposing his back and neck to the flying claws somewhat. Kenji blinked in shock, but stopped when he saw a light shimmer of energy rippling across him. The metal claws hit the shield and were instantly stopped. At that very moment, Shin disappeared and reappeared underneath Kohryu, kicking him into the air. Kohryu groaned as he was sent skyward, but Shin was far from finished and followed him up. His body slashed through the cyborg, disappeared and reappeared from another direction, repeating the act. This went on several times, each time with Shin blazing through him like a comet. Finally, Shin appeared from above and with both knees bent. Shin dove as the prone metal body and stabbed his talons in.

"Gnnnnnnuuuuahhhhhh!"

Shin, now hooked into Kohryu, finished his maneuver by diving down and slamming Kohryu into the stony ground. Shin relinquished his grip and took a step back, with Kohryu's body reverting back to his normal cyborg body, but still damaged by the talons of Shin's attack. Kenji simply stood in place, waiting to see what Shin would do now. The victory was his, but he hadn't moved away so he must not be done yet. Would he take his revenge and kill him? Given what had happened and what Kohryu had done, it would be neither surprising, nor unjustified. But still… Whatever he decided, Kenji would remain where he was. Shin's body suddenly shifted and Kenji feared the worse. But instead of slaying the cyborg, Shin planted his wing hands together in a soft clap and reverted back into his human form, his fingers held in ninja stance and his eyes closed.

"It is done."

With that, Shin strode away from Kohryu. Kenji gave his friend a light smile, but Shin didn't seem to notice and continued on past him. Kenji then looked back at the fallen cyber ninja and moved near him.

"It's just my opinion but... if you can't defeat that technique; you need to restart your training."

The cyborg simply struggled, a sign that he heard him and was probably ticked. But he wouldn't be able to move for a while after Shin's attack. Speaking of which, Kenji turned to look at his friend, who was standing by the cliff edge. Kenji joined alongside him, not saying a word and simply staring into the abyss.

"Strange…"

Kenji looked over at Shin, who was actually smiling a bit.

"We seem to communicate best in silence. But I guess for a mole, that's natural."

"And eagles?"

Shin thought about it a bit. "I'm not really sure. I guess, we're silent as long as nothing rattles us. Truthfully, there's no reason for them to make noise."

The ground shook slightly beneath them and the two ninja turned around. Kohryu was gone, but that was to be expected. However, they were more concerned with the constant trembling of the ground.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

Shin nodded. "Since the beginning. A surge of beast power that seemed to be growing from somewhere. But until now, I couldn't tell where."

Kenji looked down in thought. "That's where my nightmares kept coming from." Mysteriously, it made sense now. Logically, it didn't, but as zoanthropes they just…knew…something.

"Something is coming." Shin confirmed. "Something…powerful."

Kenji began to wonder if Shin was having the same nightmares. Probably not, considering the amount of times he's been asleep. His face hardened. "We will have to confront it. Otherwise these earthquakes will only be just the beginning."

With no more words between them, the two ninja lifted up their fingers to their faces and with a waved of their opposite arms, disappeared.

"Are you alright?"

Yugo and Alice had come out of the side of a now semi-wrecked building. When the earthquake struck, they quickly took shelter the doorway of a building. Luckily, they weren't driving in the car so they didn't crash or anything like that. But the falling debris had trashed the car (Yugo hasn't noticed yet).

"Yeah. Just rattled." Alice replied. "How about you?"

Yugo was about to answer when he turned to see what was left of his car. His jaw dropped. "Aw, my car!" He rushed over to it briefly, but stopped in helplessness. "Just great, first a brick hits my head and now this."

"Hehe…" Alice giggled, but then stopped when she saw the glare in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Hmh…" he snorted. Well, I guess walk now."

A sharp tremor soon rocked under their feet causing them almost to back away toward the building.

"Whoa."

"Aftershock?" Alice questioned.

"I don't know. But I have a feeling we better get moving." He looked around the street. "Which way?"

Alice pointed to the left. "This way, I think."

With that, the pair rushed toward the shrine, unaware of the chaos that was already happing there or that which was to come…

Long didn't have to go far. The Shinto temple was just in the next block. The gate stood before a now darkened hill and the shrine was barely lit in the background. Long walked up the path toward the shrine, taking in more of the details. He arrived at the entrance and standing before it was a white fox with multiple tails. Nine tails to be exact…

The fox let out a little bark before turning around and jogging inside. Long followed and entered inside. To his credit, it was a lot larger inside than what it seemed on the outside. A ring was centered in the middle of the room and a large dragon statue curled overhead. Within the circle, a large man in a gi awaited, his arms folded. The fox entered the ring with Long behind us. The fox leaped into the air and in a puff of smoke, a girl materialized. Mana lightly landed on the floor and bowed to Long.

"Forgive me for running off like that, but it was necessary."

"Is this the place?" Long questioned. "I feel a tremendous power here..."

Indeed it had, and it emanated from the man who stood in the middle of the ring. A dark and terrible energy…

"Mana, is this the guy?"

"Yes, Ryoho." the girl replied. "This is Long."

Ryoho looked Long over and nodded simply. Long was about to ask what was going on, but Mana beat him to it as she turned back to him and explained.

"You are aware, the earthquakes and the zoanthrope violence that have been active…unfortunately, we are the cause of it all."

Long simply nodded, recalling what he read about the oracle of the Nine-Tails. The information was sketchy, but it spoke of the very thing she had just confirmed. It spoke of more, but for the moment, he wanted to hear what she had to say.

"There was a strong seal placed on Ryoho. It came loose and that's why there's been so much disturbance and zoanthrope violence. To reseal him, it's necessary to completely remove the old seal. If not done correctly, there's a possibility that it can't be resealed. That's why I want you to fight Ryoho. I want to reseal him when his energy is at its highest."

Long lowered his head in thought. "I see." It made sense after all. There were more questions he wanted to ask, but now wasn't the time. He could still feel the tremors underneath his feet, indicating another earthquake was on the way. And then he had to stop the violence in the zoanthropes before it became unstoppable.

"If that's the way it is, let's do it." Long shifted into fighting stance, ready to fight. "You don't have to hold anything back."

Ryoho took a step closer and did the same. "Hahaha... at least you're funny. I've got plenty of fight for you, don't worry."

Pleasantries exchanged, the two went silent and focused on each other. Long scanned over his opponent. He definitely had the size advantage over him, so Long would have to use speed, which wasn't the problem. The problem was that Long didn't know much else, other that the fact that he wore a gi which would suggest a fighting style of some kind, most likely karate. He would have to see what as the battle progressed. Also, the power that was coming from him Long couldn't recognize. Was he a zoanthrope? Again, he would have to wait and see. But there was no sense in waiting for much long now.

'Let's get started.'

With a cry, Long rushed at Ryoho and soared through the air with his foot extended forward. Ryoho seemed to crouch lower at the attack and when it came, lifted his forearm in a powerful block. Ryoho soon returned the favor with a solid punch as Long settled on the floor. Long dodged his head off to the side and knocked away the incoming fist as he did. But Ryoho came in quickly with another punch. Long blinked at the speed, but managed to dodge it as well by stepping back. A third fist came in the same speed and a fourth and fifth, each aiming for different areas of Long's body. Long was barely able to deflect the attacks and after the final punch, he backflipped away, giving himself some distance.

"You're pretty spry." Ryoho commented. "But if this is going to work, you're going to have to actually fight."

Long crossed his arms briefly and resumed his stance. "You need not worry about that. I just needed to know what I was up against." His eyes narrowed. "Now let's go at it again!"

Ryoho smiled and charged as Long did the same…

AN: Sorry for the shortness of the chapter. Unfortunately, the next chapter may be shorter (unless I figure a way around), but don't worry. I'm just gearing up for later chapters.