Disclaimer: See previous chapter
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Chap. 32
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GRRRRROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!
With a blast of energy and wind, the dragon revived from its beaten position. An earthshaking roar erupted from its jaws and its wings shot outward, knocking away both Xion and Nagi. While Nagi managed to save herself from the brunt of the dragon's attack, Xion wasn't as fortunate as was caught off-guard and hurled into the wall of the shrine.
"Grah…!"
As Xion's limp body hit the ground, Nagi rolled across the ground and back to her feet. The dragon glared at her through fiery eyes and snarled at her. Nagi held her blade forward.
"I guess you're not leaving me much choice huh?"
As in answer, the dragon lashed out with a claw swipe. Nagi jumped back and away, readying her blade once again before charging back. The dragon turned from his first attack as Nagi took to the air and slashed downward. A resounding clash was heard as blade met with claw. Nagi was stunned.
'How did it move so fast?'
Due to the massive size of the creature, its blow flung Nagi higher up into the air. Nagi spiraled out of control and began to plummet to the ground. Despite her new powers, she wouldn't be able to save herself from the fall. She crossed her arms and braced herself for what was to be a very painful crash.
And was surprised to find that it didn't come…
She uncrossed her arms to find that she was still falling, but with a strong arm around her waist. As they touched down, she rose up and turned to her rescuer who released her.
"Kenji?"
The ninja turned back to the advancing dragon, who was roaring in rage at the two. Kenji set himself to fight, with Nagi alongside him. However, Nagi's gaze shifted over to the still fallen Shin and then at her blade. The very blade that had wounded and may possibly have killed him.
"Why did you save me?"
Kenji turned a solemn eye to her for a minute. "Because…we know how it feels."
Looking forward again, Kenji jumped high right at the dragon. The beast stopped in its tracks and swiped at him, but Kenji spun through the air and exploded in a blast of energy, transforming into his mole form. Because of his spinning, Kenji became a living drill flying straight at the dragon. The dragon flapped its wings, causing it to hover back and for Kenji to miss and hit the ground, but that didn't stop Kenji as he continued on through the ground, disappearing underneath.
Nagi meanwhile rushed in low after Kenji had jumped up into the air. Due to the dust that flew up once Kenji drilled into the ground, Nagi was able to get in close and slash out at the dragon. Her blade made contact with the dragon's scales and it razed across, shattering a few of the scales on the creature's chest. The beast roared in pain and Nagi shot upward, ramming her shoulder into the beast's jaw. The dragon's head snapped up, but in a flash, it came back down and grabbed her arm with its jaws. Sharp teeth bit into her arm, causing her to scream in pain.
"Ahhhh!"
The dragon began to crane it neck upward in order to slam her down, but as it did, the ground exploded underneath, with Kenji's body shooting up like a missile. But the dragon's speed surprised them once again as it tossed its head aside to avoid it, although it released Nagi in the process and let her drop. Kenji flipped to the floor and next to Nagi, who landed on her feet safely. But her arm was bloody and partly mangled from the teeth of the dragon. And it was still coming at them.
'This is bad…'
Just outside, the two girls rushed up toward the shrine, with the entrance in view. Despite the loud roars and explosion that came from inside, they ventured on. Rei was in the lead, followed closely by Uriko. They finally reached the entrance and went inside, only to witness the horrible battle inside.
"What the…!"
At that time, Kenji and Nagi continued their combined assault on the dragon, but with Nagi's arm being injured, they were on a largely one-sided battle. Especially since they were fighting a dragon. Uriko didn't hesitate in charging in, but did stop when Rei didn't follow.
"Rei, what are you waiting for? Come on."
But Rei didn't move; her gaze focused elsewhere. Uriko followed the path of her eyes and saw what kept her in place.
"Oh my god…"
On the floor, scattered around the shrine were the unconscious bodies of those that had fallen in battle. Long was down by the wall and Alice and Yugo were both still in the debris. But most of all, Shin's body was face-first on the ground. But what was different with him was that there was a small pool of blood near his side.
"Shin! No!"
Without thinking, Rei dashed toward the body of her guardian, not noticing the glare of the dragon that had shifted toward her direction. The jaws of the creature began to simmer and burn as Rei ran on and with a snarl; the dragon unleashed a ball of fire at her.
"Rei!" Uriko cries out. Rei stops and sees the ball of fire coming at her. With a gasp, she raised her arms up instinctively to defend, but she was suddenly pushed aside…by Kenji.
"Get down!"
Rei hits the ground hard while Kenji jumps back to avoid the blast himself. However, the fireball was too fast for the young ninja to avoid completely and his legs were caught in the blast.
"Gah!"
Kenji's body spiraled over the ground and slams into the wall. Uriko began to rush over to him, but stopped when the beast turned its attention toward her.
And its mouth was ablaze once again…
Streets
Amid the destruction of the earthquakes, a single figure slowly strode through the wreckage heading toward the source. Several ambulances came in to help people who were injured while fire trucks and police cars came to help those in need. But the figure seemed to move as though none of it existed.
"Hey miss, are you okay? Do you need any help?"
The dark-haired woman smiled. "Not yet, I hope."
The officer gave her a strange look as Saori continued walking on toward the shrine. After meeting with Rei and Uriko, she found herself deep in though. She didn't know if telling them the truth about herself was wise, but she knew she had to since she would no longer be staying here. Her entire reason for coming to Japan in the first place was about to end. Her plans had already been set and she was on her way to get him.
To hopefully save him…
It had been her most powerful feeling since the beginning and she had worked hard to find him. She knew he would come here; he had before. It was how she met him before. She had chosen to wait for him to appear, creating a life for herself to pass the time. She even learned to conceal her features and her powers so that she wouldn't be recognized by anyone. It seemed extreme, which is why it took her some time after meeting with the two girls, to reassure herself that this is what she wanted. But this was what it was all about for her.
Destiny…
As her steps began to quicken, both her eyes and her hair shifted color. Her eyes turned into a bright gold and her formerly midnight black hair brightened and became azure. Her body seemed to crackle with energy and in a split second, she had vanished.
'I'm coming…'
Uriko was faced with the blazing fury of the dragon's mouth. Behind her, Kenji lay groaning from the fire blast from earlier and didn't see what was about to happen to Uriko. The flames of the dragon began to spew out, but the flames soon erupted into a pained roar and the beast's head snapped aside. Uriko blinked as she saw Nagi kicking the dragon from underneath, not because of her strength, but because of her unusual appearance.
"Nagi?"
But Nagi had other worries at the moment. Her attack had succeeded in gaining the dragon's attention and it was now barreling down on her, jaws snapping. Nagi had to hop back several times, trying to find another opening. Her arm was beginning to bleed more, but she pushed past the pain in her efforts to survive.
By the sidelines, Uriko had reached Kenji, whose face was twisted in pain from the dragon's attack. Bending down, she saw Kenji's legs horribly burned, with smoke still coming up from them. Kenji growled lightly as he tried to rise up, but Uriko held him still.
"Don't move."
Kenji raised his eyes to her and it seemed as if he was going to say something, but instead, he stayed silent while Uriko examined his injury. But her lack of medical skills only caused her to panic inwardly. So much so that she didn't notice a limp figure moving up behind her, drawing close to the two.
"Uriko."
The girl gave a yelp and swung around in attack, but her punch was caught by soft hands.
"Sis!"
Alice nodded painfully; her body still wounded from her earlier fight and her arm wrapped in shreds of her jacket to keep the blood in.
"Kenji!" Her eyes quickly roved over his body and saw the burns on his legs. She moved over to his legs and peeled off some of the garbs, causing Kenji to wince lightly.
"These look bad, but I think the wounds are superficial."
"Can you help him?"
This came from Rei and upon turning, Alice gasped in shock. Rei was holding a now freely bleeding Shin, who was barely conscious himself. Rei's hand was stained with blood as she had her hand placed over the wound to hold it in. Alice stood up and quickly placed him down on the ground.
"Oh no." Alice took off her jacket and tore in up further to place over the wound. But she shook her head. "This won't last. He needs medical attention. Immediately."
"Nrrrrrraaaaaahhhhhhh!"
The group turned their attention back to the battle between the dragon and Nagi. Despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to attack the dragon again. 'Guess I really ticked him off.' Nagi hopped back and leaped up to an overhead as the dragon fired another blast. From her position, she jumped off, cartwheeled through the air and landed on the dragon's back. The creature roared and thrashed about in order to get the Spurious off his back, but Nagi held fast, struggling with the dragon's efforts and the pain in her arm as she held on.
"Rooooooaaarrrrrhhhh!"
The dragon continued to thrash about, eventually rushing into a wall and crashing through. Nagi clutched tightly as the debris hit her, but the wood pieces smashed onto her arm, causing her to let go. The dragon then reared back and Nagi was thrown off. Nagi landed hard on the ground and the dragon pulled itself out of the wall. Its crimson eyes glared upon its equally crimson opponent and it unleashed another blast of fire. Nagi rolled away, but the aftershock caught up to her and she was smashed down to the ground. She tried to rise up, but she had been hurt more than she could bear and pretty soon, she fell back down, with the dragon's roar of triumph in her ears. With the Spurious down, the dragon returned its attention to the group. Its low growl caught their attention
"Oh great. Him again."
Rei seemed to struggle with herself as she stood up before the dragon. Uriko saw her trembling figure and stood up beside her.
"Rei. You have to calm down."
"No."
Rei's eyes became narrow slits and her nails began to grow. She had every reason to be cowering in fear before the dragon and trying to escape. But Shin's bleeding body was the only reason she remained in place.
'You've protected me all this time, Shin. Now it's my turn to protect you.'
With a snarl/growl, Rei exploded in a flash of energy, causing both Uriko and Alice to cover their eyes briefly. Uriko was the first to see and was half surprised by what she saw. True, she expected that Rei would change into a feline form; she didn't quite expect it to be this particular cat. She was similar to Uriko, except with gray fur with spots and long pointed ears. The savageness of her eyes was more than enough for Uriko to know that this wasn't just a regular housecat.
Rei, the Lynx…