Call of the Moon
Chapter 3 – Training Sabotage
The next morning, Byakuren requested that Okami meet her in the temple's meeting room with her sword. Upon arriving there, she was greeted by Byakuren and Shou.
"Good morning, Okami. I trust your first night at the temple was alright?" Byakuren greeted.
"Just fine, in fact, I slept better here than I ever did at home," Okami replied cheerfully. She pulled her sword out from its holster on her back and placed it on a table in front of Byakuren. "You wanted me to bring my sword, didn't you?"
"Ah yes. Thank you, Okami," she spoke. Meanwhile, Shou leaned forward and took a closer look at the blade.
"The way the metal is forged makes it seem rather brittle," Shou remarked.
"It isn't forged of metal," Okami spoke, folding her arms. "My father told me it was forged from crystal."
"That explains it."
"So, Okami, do you want to know the legend I heard about your sword?" Byakuren asked the young wolf, who nodded in response.
"Alright. The description in the legend goes like this: 'A blade of moonlight, whose crystal blade hides an ancient and powerful secret,'" Byakuren recited.
"What's the ancient secret?" Okami asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
Byakuren's eyebrows furrowed and she brought a finger to her chin in thought. "Strange, I don't remember. It's been so long since I last heard the legend…"
"Well, can you remember anything else?" Okami asked.
After a moment of thinking, Byakuren nodded. "'The power of the blade, invoked through the heart and mind, seek after it, chosen wielder,'" she recited.
"What is that supposed to mean? Why do legends always have to be so cryptic?" Shou muttered, shaking her head.
Okami stared at her sword in thought. She can use the blade's energy waves by summoning the power within it. "I already know how to invoke its power, but I can only use one attack," Okami spoke. "I think the legend is saying I should search deeper, and try to connect my mind with the blade."
Okami picked up her sword and placed it on her back. She grinned to herself, suddenly feeling excited. "I'm going to go and try it out! Byakuren-sama, and Shou-senpai; thank you!" Okami called as she hurried down the hall and headed outside to the training grounds.
Once she was there, she stood in front of a training dummy and fixed her eyes upon it. Drawing her sword, she took a deep breath and relaxed. Okami closed her eyes and felt the power of the sword in her hands, just like when she would use the energy wave. She focused hard, and the power she felt grew in intensity. Okami opened her eyes, and the sword was surrounded by a burning white aura.
"Whoa, that's never happened before," she muttered in astonishment. However, in her surprise, she lost focus, and the aura disappeared. "Darn it!"
Okami closed her eyes and focused again. She was so intensely focused that she was unaware of the undefined youkai watching her closely.
"Look who's not paying attention…" Nue muttered, smirking to herself. Her eyes wandered to the rope trap that she carefully set up prior to Okami's arrival. The trap would activate once Okami stepped over a trip wire. Said trap was one of Murasa's anchors suspended over the trip wire. Nue smiled at her handiwork and sat back in order to watch.
After several attempts, Okami had figured out how to maintain the aura around her blade. She tentatively stepped forward and took a swing at the test dummy. The blade sliced clean through the dummy's body instead of making the loud clang noise it usually made. "This must be a protective aura that lets me hit things," Okami muttered to herself. "I need a ranged attack though."
Okami stepped further from the dummy and tripped over something behind her. She fell on her butt with a thump and an anchor fell on her head, causing her to drop the sword. "OUCH!" she shouted as her vision went fuzzy for a moment. The anchor pinned her to the ground once it fell on its side.
A pair of red ribboned shoes entered Okami's line of sight. Nue met Okami's eyes with cold satisfaction. "This is what happens when you don't pay attention, squirt," she teased.
Okami couldn't respond. Her head was hurting too much and her brain felt like jelly. She tried to push up to get the anchor off, but her arms weren't steady enough and she fell back down on her stomach.
"Why do you hate me so much?" Okami muttered, looking up at Nue, who merely scowled.
"I don't have to explain myself to you," Nue spoke coldly. "Little pampered youkai like you get on my nerves…"
Okami growled and pushed up. She got to her feet despite the anchor's weight. Standing there, she faced the undefined youkai and looked her in the eye. "I have never been pampered," she said, and with that, she lunged forward and tackled Nue, knocking her to the ground. She drew her arm back for a punch, but it was stopped when Nue kneed her in the stomach. Okami rolled off of Nue, clutching her gut and moaning in pain. She quickly got to her feet just as Nue was lunging towards her for a punch. Okami drew her arm back and the two of them punched each other in the face at the same time.
Both youkai stepped back from each other, clutching their faces. They glared at each other and words started to fly.
"You little squirt! You just had to go for the face; can't you aim anywhere else?!"
"What? I only aimed there because that's what you were doing!"
Suddenly, Okami heard footsteps. Many footsteps. The wolf saw the shapes of Byakuren, Kyouko, Murasa, and Nazrin come running around the corner. "What happened here?!" Byakuren demanded. "Are you two fighting again?!"
The color drained from Nue's face when she saw the small crowd gather around. Okami's ears lowered as she looked at her feet in shame.
"You two are in big trouble," Byakuren said.
Okami and Nue were pushed into the storage warehouse of the Myouren Temple. Byakuren stood in the doorway, scowling. "You two stay in here until you resolve your differences. No fighting; you two need to have a heart to heart chat," Byakuren said, and with that she shut the door.
