Inner Moka entered the derelict recording studio where Seiteki was taken, followed by Mizore and Kurumu, who were propping Tsukune on their shoulders.
"It's okay. I'm feeling better now. You can put me down." he whispered.
"Why are you talking so low? There's no one here." Mizore said, releasing Tsukune.
Moka pressed the elevator button up, but nothing happened. She pressed the elevator button down, and a red light went off behind the button, instead of a standard yellow. The rickety door slowly opened, but rattled and sopped about halfway.
"This is ridiculous." Moka said, using her strength to pry open the doors. The group entered, then looked at the floor numbers on the panel in front of them.
"Which should we pick?" Kurumu asked. "I think the top floor."
"Nah. Too obvious." Tsukune said.
"Well, what do you suggest?"
"Maybe somewhere in the middle? Like 17?"
"Too vague. I still think it's the top floor."
"We have to think differently than we normally would. It's like a riddle." Mizore explained. "This place is called 'H-E Double Hockey Sticks Recording Studio. The number that is consecutive with 'H' is 8, and the number that's consecutive with 'E' is 5, so the floor we need is unlucky 13."
Mizore went to press number 13 on the panel, but it had been worn out and fallen off.
"Hm. That's strange."
The arguments rose, while Moka was busy studying the key panel. She pressed a button, but it didn't light up. She tried pressing all of the buttons, but none of them worked. She squinted, then spied the screwed-in panel under the keys that was cleaner than the rest of the panel. Using her sharp nails, she carefully worked the panel off, smiling when she saw what was under it.
"SHUT UP!! You're ALL wrong!"
The elevator went silent.
"If you guys had taken the time to actually LOOK at the keys, you would've noticed the panel under it, that it looked different than the rest of the panel. And look what's under it."
Moka pointed at the Floor -1 button that was under the panel.
She pressed the button and a red light flashed behind it again. All of a sudden, the flickering white light above them turned a steady red and the elevator made a sudden drop downward. After several terror-filled seconds of falling, the elevator made a sudden stop, causing everyone in the elevator to crumple to the floor, groaning.
"Is it me, or did it get hotter?" Kurumu asked.
Once everyone regained their composure, Moka opened the elevator doors, flinching from the intense heat that slapped her in the face.
The group filed out of the elevator, looking around.
Mizore looked at herself, noticing that she was melting rapidly.
"I forgot my mints. Okay, I'm out." she said, walking back into the elevator and closing the doors. "I'll be back ASAP."
The remaining three walked through the large, red cavern, searching for Seiteki. Moka stopped them before they turned a corner, hearing voices.
"Very good, you two! I am so proud!" said a woman's voice. Moka, Kurumu, and Tsukune peeked their heads from the corner, trying their best to see what was going on. Seiteki was kneeling between the two other kitsune who captured her, still in her hybrid form. All three were standing in front of a large throne, where a woman sat in the shadows.
"I'm coming down. I've got to see my little baby with my own two eyes."
The woman stepped from the shadows and down to the ground. When she did, Tsukune's eyes widened a little.
"She looks just like Seiteki."
"She must be her mother." Moka whispered.
"W-Who are you?" Seiteki asked with definite fear in her voice.
"She's lost her memory, Mother." Kenage said.
"I know. That's why I asked you to kill the Aono boy. He's the one who caused her memory loss. Did you succeed in that?"
"We thought it'd be easy, but you left out a crucial piece of information." Rujutan said. Her mother raised an eyebrow.
"Why didn't you tell us that he was a ghoul?" Kenage demanded.
"Don't raise that tone with me, young man. You're not too old for me to take you over my knee. And when did THIS happen? Mikoto never told me he was a ghoul."
"He must've forgotten." Rujutan said.
"Mikoto is an idiot. He'd forget his head if it wasn't attached to his body." Kenage said coldly. "That's why WE completed our objective."
Seiteki stared up at the woman before her. "You're my… mother?"
"Yes I am. Megami Debiru. You're Seiteki, my oldest out of 351. I just had Yoji a couple of days ago. She's so cute! But back to the matter at hand-"
"I have to get out of here, and back to my friends." Seiteki panicked, standing to run.
Megami grabbed one of Seiteki's fox ears and she stopped in her tracks.
"W-What are you doing? Why do I feel…so hot?"
"I thought that this was the time of year. You're in heat." Megami said.
"In…what?"
"Heat: noun; the sexually receptive phase in the life of a female mammal. When female kitsune are in heat, their ears become an erogenous zone. The hotness you must be feeling in your body, especially in your lower regions, comes from sexual stimulation. The ears are an Achilles' heel in battle, however. When sexually stimulated, a girl will lose a lot of muscle strength and body control, which is what I'm taking advantage of right now."
Megami slowly caressed Seiteki's ear, causing a pleasurable whimpering noise to rise in her throat, and causing her to drop to her knees.
"Who's a good girl?" Megami asked in a cooing voice, while gently scratching behind her daughter's ear.
Seiteki began to turn red and tried her hardest to hardest to hold it in, but eventually, she couldn't hold it anymore and let out a long, congenial moan.
"Please… stop… This is…wrong."
"What's wrong with pleasuring my daughter? You used to enjoy this when you were still living with me." Megami said.
'Is this how cats feel when we scratch behind THEIR ears?' Seiteki thought.
"You can't leave, Seiteki, mainly because I won't let you. My heart ached from the moment you left 9 months ago to take over that school. And now that you're back, I never want to let you go. Maybe I'll give Kenage and Rujutan their own kingdom, and as soon as you're strong enough, you can overthrow me and take over this one."
"I…don't want a kingdom. I want…to see my friends."
"That'll change once I resurge your memories."
"No." Tsukune whispered.
"Hey, guys. I have my mints." said Mizore's voice. Tsukune yelped in surprise, jumping out in the open.
Megami glared daggers at him, growling.
"Tsukune!" Seiteki called.
"Intruder! Kenage, Rujutan! Kill him! And make sure he's dead this time!" Megami ordered.
The twins crouched to all fours and sprinted forward toward Tsukune, who was frozen with fear. Kenage reached him first and raised his claws to strike, but Moka leaped from her hiding spot and gave a jarring mid-air kick into Kenage's ribs.
"We've got you covered. Get Seiteki." Moka said.
Tsukune nodded and broke a link on his holy lock, assuming his ghoul form.
"Huh! You really are a ghoul. No matter. It won't take me any longer to snap your scrawny little neck." Megami said, standing straight up. She sprouted nine lustrous, golden tails, a pair of similar fox ears and a large, groomed tuft of chest fur.
"Just stay put." Megami said, rubbing under Seiteki's chin with one of her tails.
Megami turned back to Tsukune, who had run forward and thrown a swift punch. She caught it not a moment too soon.
"My, aren't we gallant? Luckily, I'm not one to disappoint!" Megami said, retaliating by giving Tsukune a quick belt in the stomach. He flew into the air and landed hard on the ground with a thud.
"Just give up now. I'll make sure your death is quick and painful." Megami said, flashing her claws at Tsukune's neck.
Suddenly, her eyes widened and her pupils dulled. Megami's legs began to buckle from under her. Behind her, Seiteki had grabbed onto Megami's ears.
"Grr. What…are you…doing?" she demanded weakly.
"Looks like I've turned the heat up on YOU." Seiteki said, rubbing her mother's ears. Her legs gave way and Megami fell to her knees.
***
Nearby, Moka and Kenage were trading equally harsh blows. Moka stumbled backward, spitting on the ground.
"You're pretty strong, for an inbreed."
"I'm a purebred!" Kenage said running forward and throwing his arm at Moka.
She ducked backwards, kicking her leg upward and catching Kenage square in the chin. He stumbled backward himself.
Kenage squinted, then stomped on the ground, shifting into a lunge. Moka lifted her hands to defend herself, right before the cannon shot. She flew backwards, into a stalagmite, her hand smoking and severely bruised from taking the full brunt of the attack.
Kenage lunged again.
"Kitsune-bi! Multi-Blast!"
Kenage punched the air several times consecutively, sending lightning-fast balls of green fire straight at Moka. The area where Moka was standing was engulfed in a large fan of emerald flames.
When Kenage stopped, he smiled, thinking that Moka had been scorched alive. But when the smoke cleared, Moka had disappeared.
Kenage frowned, then glanced around him. Suddenly, Moka's voice spoke behind him.
"How slow."
As soon as Kenage turned, Moka threw her knee right into Kenage's stomach, causing him to reel forward. Moka pushed him away, then planted both hands on the ground, mule-kicking Kenage into the air.
Moka bent her arms, then used them as a spring to catapult herself into the air, in front of Kenage. She wrapped her arms around his legs and her own legs around his neck. They both freefell to the ground, and Moka pile-drove Kenage's skull into the earth.
"Learn your place." Moka said, walking away.
***
Rujutan had decided to attack Kurumu and Mizore, throwing condensed balls of fox fire at them.
"Don't run! You'll only make yourselves tired!" she taunted, as Mizore and Kurumu ducked behind a jutting protrusion of rock. Grinning, Rujutan crouched to all fours and assumed her true kitsune form.
She opened her jaws and began to charge a large ball of fox fire. Behind the protrusion, Mizore gulped down several mint-flavored Tic-Tacs.
Rujutan blasted the large ball of green fire at Kurumu and Mizore's hiding spot. Suddenly, Mizore stood and turned her arms and shoulders to ice. She quickly expanded them into a U-shape and cryokinetically carved a large hole through the U-shaped tunnel.
The fox fireball flew into one hole and out of the other, redirecting its path toward Rujutan. It exploded, right in the large fox's face.
Mizore relaxed, turning her U-Turn tunnel back into her upper body. When the smoke cleared, Rujutan had melded with the fox fire that struck her, morphing into a five-tailed cat-like beast with large bowl-like eyes.
"Uh oh." Mizore said, ducking back behind the protrusion before Rujutan breathed a cloud of fox fire on her.
"She fused with her fox fire! Now she's a Nibiru!" Kurumu said with fear and panic in her voice.
"I think I can see a weakness." Mizore said, using her icy claws to reflect light at Rujutan.
"With eyes that big, just the smallest ray of concentrated light should blind it."
Mizore accurately aimed two beams of light into Rujutan's eyes. They shrunk dramatically, until the pupils could be barely distinguishable. Rujutan roared in pain, blinking several times.
"Now we've got a clear shot!" Kurumu said, leaping toward Rujutan. The large, green Nibiru squinted, then slapped Kurumu aside, into a wall.
"I may not be able to see, but I can still hear you, smell you, and feel your vibrations on the ground." Rujutan growled.
Kurumu looked back at Mizore, who was blowing ice onto the wall behind her that spelled, 'Distract her.' Kurumu nodded, then took flight again, buzzing around Rujutan.
The annoyed Nibiru blindly swatted at Kurumu, but her erratic movements made it difficult.
Behind the protrusion, Mizore had taken a pure mint leaf from her pocket and eaten it whole. Then she spit in a nearby hole, filled with lava. Once her spit hit the lava, it immediately froze over.
"Cool." she said, breathing a cloud of ice as she did.
Mizore leaped over the protrusion, sprinting toward Rujutan. The Nibiru noticed too late. Mizore leaped into the air and blew hard on Rujutan, surrounding her in a large haze of ice. When the ice cloud dissipated, Rujutan had turned from green to blue, and she was frozen solid.
"Well, that takes care of that." Mizore said, still breathing ice.
***
Megami tried vainly to raise her arms, but she had lost all muscle strength. Tsukune had reverted to his human form.
"Are you okay, Seiteki?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Flustered and hot, but fine." Seiteki said.
"You know, you're going to have to let go of my ears eventually, and once you do, I'm going to give you SUCH a whooping!" Megami said weakly.
Seiteki squinted and threw Megami into the shadowed throne behind her. She and Tsukune quickly ran after the rest of the group toward the elevator.
***
Tsukune and the girls didn't stop running until they reached Tsukune's house. They all piled into his room and collapsed onto the floor, panting.
"That was crazy." Kurumu said.
"At least we succeeded. Seiteki's back with us." Tsukune said.
"But we're still not safe. As long as SHE'S with us, nobody is safe." Moka sneered, looking at Seiteki, who stared at the floor.
"What are you implying?" Tsukune asked.
"Why can't we just give her back to her mother? It would satisfy her AND keep her cronies out of our hair."
"But what about Seiteki?"
"What about her? She still owes me. You would've lost that battle had I not come with you all, and I didn't even have to. The other Moka may think of her as a friend, but I couldn't care less."
"Then why DID you come?! If you don't like me, why help me?" Seiteki challenged, standing.
"I didn't do this for you. I did this for him." Moka said, pointing at Tsukune. "I didn't come out of this scot-free."
Moka raised her broken left hand.
"And if HE wasn't so gullible, he'd be human enough to hold a grudge. Then we wouldn't be in this situation."
"So you think it's BAD that I don't hold a grudge against people?" Tsukune asked.
"Right NOW it is. The legions of hell are on a manhunt for us! You don't think that's bad?"
Tsukune was silent.
"Exactly. You're only human, Tsukune. You can't solve every problem in the world."
Tsukune's rage grew for a quick moment.
"You're wrong! Because of you, I'm NOT only human! I'm a vampiric freak! My eyes have turned red, I'm anemic, I have to chug a gallon of water whenever I SEE blood. I'm nowhere NEAR human!"
Moka grabbed Tsukune by the collar and slammed him into the wall.
"You must've forgotten who you're talking to. Who saved your life by weakening her own body, on SEVERAL occasions?! You're lucky you're even a GHOUL! There was a 90% chance that you could've died, and if you didn't die, there'd be an additional 9.99% chance that I would've killed you! You're the luckiest man on the planet, Tsukune!"
Tsukune noticed the rosario lying on the floor beside him. He picked it up.
"You're right. You did save my life, and I thank you for that. But that's not the point. The point is, Seiteki is my friend, and I'll never abandon my friends."
Tsukune attached the rosario to the link on Moka's neck.
"I told you that you'd regret sparing her life, Tsukune. And now you're making another big mistake. I hope you're proud of yourself." Moka said before reverting to her outer form.
"W-What happened? Tsukune, you're back to normal." Moka said.
"I'll explain later. Right now, we need a plan. The constant hounding from Seiteki's mother will continue until she's defeated, once and for all." Tsukune said.
"We can't do this alone. We need some more help." Kurumu said.
"Hey, what about our parents? They'll help us for sure." Mizore suggested.
"Good idea. Contact them as soon as possible."
"We will. Bye, Tsukune." Moka said, walking out of the room, with Kurumu and Mizore following her.
Seiteki sadly sat on Tsukune's bed. "This is horrible. Your friendship with Koma is being strained because of me."
"It's not your fault, Seiteki. We'll get through this, eventually."
"Thanks. Goodnight."
"Night, Seiteki." Tsukune said, climbing into his bed and turning out his light.