Chapter 4: Unrequited Rivalry
Norrisville High
'So, are we going outside and fight or what?' Shirokuma's words seems to echo through Theresa's mind, after seconds of silence, she nodded, her face sporting a face of determination, her eyes were burning with spirit and diligence, for she knows that when theirs trouble, she and her Shirokuma can stop it.
"Yeah, lets show Norrisville that theirs another protector in this town!" Theresa said surprisingly enthusiastically, Shirokuma smiled at Theresa's new-found courage and excitement that was most likely gained after they first met each other and got out of the god-forsaken cave.
'Hah! I admire your spirit Theresa Fowler, reminds me of myself during my early days.' Shirokuma responded as reminisce the old days of being alive and not being a spirit in a axe that needs to possess a living creature in order to be alive.
"Well lets see if you still got that spirit!" Theresa retorted to the Oni who scoffed in response, almost as if to tell Theresa he always got that spirit. Theresa quickly locked her locker and quickly ran out to the school grounds and to her initial shock, she saw a dozen of robots of the Minotaur variety, they roared and stomped around school grounds, breaking various things and causing fear and panic in general as they huff harsh clouds of smoke through their nostrils, something that wasn't common in Norrisville High, not the robots, but the number of them wasn't common, it was usually one or maybe two on a worst day.
'What are these? They lack the essence of life yet they move and fight like something living, are they ghouls?' Shirokuma asked as Theresa looked around the entire area just in case in they were any other students running about.
"Their robots, kind of like Oni, just made of metal and have no souls." Theresa said as she nodded to herself when she realized she was the only one outside the school in the front grounds and more importantly safe to transform without any knowing that your technically a Golden Samurai Oni who's spirit is inside an axe that's concealed in a guitar case that Theresa bought with her own money yesterday.
"Anyway, are you ready Shiro?" Theresa asked as she suddenly opened the guitar case, revealing the golden-bladed axe of Shirokuma, Shirokuma scoffed loudly in response and in a loud and strong tone he said.
'Always!' The many Minotaur bots suddenly paid their attention to the Violet-haired baton-twirler and the guitar case that was opened, they huffed loudly, puffing out more smoke out of their nostrils, they roared violently as the don't see someone actually standing up to them instead of running away in fear like usual. Theresa pulled out the axe from the guitar case, dropping the guitar case on the ground in the process.
Long streams of golden energy flowed out of the axe, it quickly covered Theresa's petite body, once her whole entire body was covered in this aura of pure gold, a flash of light occurred, the Minotaur robots looked on curiously, never seeing this before in their non-life, once the flash of light dissipated, what appeared instead of the Violet-haired baton-twirler was Shirokuma, the Yellow Oni of the Legendary Four Oni's, with golden and white fur-rimmed amor and his golden axe by his side, several of the Minotaur robots tilted their heads curiously in response to the transformation and to Shirokuma's appearance.
Shirokuma scoffed loudly as he popped his neck with his free hand, making a considerably loud pop of his neck.
"My strength will make you fall..." Shirokuma said, sensing that Shirokuma was a threat, several of the Minotaur bots charged at the Golden Samurai, their horns pointing at the Oni for they can gore him. Shirokuma quickly grabbed the first Minotaur Robot's head by the horns, with one single motion, he ripped the head off of the robot, Shirokuma then threw the head to the second most closest Minotaur bot, destroying that Robot in the process, the remaining Minotaur Bot's remain unfaltered despite their easy destruction.
"Rest forever about that!" Shirokuma said defiantly as he pointed his mighty axe at the Minotaur bots, Shirokuma sliced the nearest Minotaur bot in half, two Minotaur bots charged forward, Shirokuma with a loud scoff did a wide and strong horizontal slash, destroying the two Minotaur bots with one swing strong swing. Shirokuma laughed loudly at the Minotaur's failed attempts in fighting him strongly.
"Smoke Bomb!" Shirokuma heard and what appeared right in front of him in a puff of orange and red smoke and in front of the Minotaur robots was the current Norrisville Ninja, with the Ninja suit, Ninja sword and everything.
"Hah! When theirs ever going to be a time when you guys just quit?" The Ninja of Norrisville said, his tone of voice being noticeably very cocky and confident, something that Shirokuma quickly noticed.
One of the Minotaur bots simply responded by charging at the Norrisville Ninja, its horns pointing at the Ninja, the Ninja laughed in response and quickly sliced the Minotaur bot in a single vertical swing all in the while he said loudly.
"Ninja Slice!" the rest of the remaining Minotaur bots charged at the Ninja, with an unseen smirk the Ninja pulled out multiple Ninja rings and threw them at all of the remaining Minotaur bots destroying them in the process, all in the while he shouted once more.
"Ninja ring! Ninja ring! Ninja ring!" All in the while Shirokuma studied the Ninja's movements and actions and verbal quirks, after several moments he spoke to Theresa with a very harsh tone.
"This is the Ninja that you speak highly of?" Shirokuma spoke to Theresa, clear venom is his voice, Theresa took offense to Shirokuma's tone.
'What's so bad about him?' She said defensively, clearly annoyed by Shirokuma's smart remark, the Golden Samurai Oni scoffed loudly in response.
"Unprofessional attitude, lack of humility, over-reliance of verbal signs, calling out your attacks..." Shirokuma responded, Theresa fell silent for a moment, Shirokuma smiled smugly underneath his golden handkerchief, to add more insult to injury Shirokuma spook once more.
"The Ninja that I fought with had honor, had humility, and lacked unnecessary flair." The Golden Oni continued to Theresa's silence.
"Seems like your silence hammers my point in." Shirokuma said as he folded his arms, dropping his axe in the process, making a noticeably loud thud, something that the current Norrisville Ninja heard, quickly he turned around sword raised, he cocked an eyebrow at the sight of the this new creature that he never encountered before.
"Who the juice are you?" The Norrisville ninja asked Shirokuma, somewhat intimidated by Shirokuma's armory look and the axe that he dropped right beside him, Shirokuma did not falter as he grunted loudly.
"Shirokuma, One of the Legendary Four Oni, I helped one of your former lives Ninja, and now I am back to do the same." Shirokuma responded, not bother questioning the Ninja's word play or vocabulary. The Ninja wasn't really that convinced due to Shirokuma's strong and gruff tone.
"Sure you are..." the Norrisville Ninja said as his stance did not falter that was until a loud and high-pitched voice spoke in a very annoying tone spoke to thw two fighters
"You sure should believe it Ninja!" the Ninja winced noticeably to the speaker's high-pitched and fairly squeaky voice, he quickly turned around to see an Oni, it was six feet tall, making it slightly taller than the current Norrisville Ninja, its back was hunched, its skin was blue with patches of black fur making it formerly akin to a rat, its snout was long and its teeth was ridged and crooked, its ears were circular and damaged, its eyes are pale white and lack irises, it wore tattered rags and leather armor that was barely cobbled-together using nails and rope, its claws were long and sharp and its tail was similar to that of a rat's tail except for the fact that the tail has many blacks spikes protruding out of various areas of the tail, all in the while the Oni held a large club in its right paw.
"For he's one of my kind..." the Rat Oni said proudly right before laughing hoarsely, pointing the club at the Ninja.
"In terms of race, not moral alignment, Rat." Shirokuma responded as he unfolded his arms and grabbed his axe. The Rat Oni was surprised by this, never before he had seen an Oni that lacked a desire to beat up humans or the Ninja for that matter.
"Stand back Ninja, this fight is mine..." Shirokuma said as he walked in front of the Ninja, completely blocking the Ninja's vision on the Rat Oni. The Ninja was clearly against Shirokuma's words
"What? This isn't your fight! And I'll prove it by doing this!" The Ninja said as he charged at the Rat Oni, his sword raised over his head preparing to swing down.
"Ninja Slice!" the Ninja said as he swung the blade down to the Rat Oni, over to be easily blocked by the Rat Oni's black and savage club, the Ninja was of course surprised by how durable the Rat Oni's club was for it blocked the absurdly sharp Ninja sword, the Rat Oni laughed hoarsely once more as it grabbed the Ninja's neck and threw him to some bushes nearby with relative ease.
"Is that your best Ninja!?" The Rat Oni shouted right before laughing wildly like some kind of brutal maniac, the Ninja rose up from the bushes and after shaking his head he spoke.
"That is so not bruce..." The Ninja quickly pulled out some more ninja rings and threw them once more at the Rat Oni.
"Ninja rings!" The Ninja said, the Rat Oni laughed once more and he quickly dodged all five of them making them collided to somewhere else. The Ninja groaned loudly as none of his offense are being proved fruitful against this new opponent. The Ninja quickly charged once more and before he even said Ninja Slice, he was quickly struck in the head by the Rat Oni's club, effectively knocking out the Ninja with a clean and quick swing of his club.
'Don't just stand there! Help Him!' Theresa mentally exclaimed to Shirokuma, who only stood his ground, with a extremely loud scoff that made both the Rat Oni and the Ninja noticed, he stepped up to the Rat Oni, golden-bladed axe in hand.
"You sure about fighting me brother!? We could destroy this lame excuse for a fighter instead!" The Rat Oni suggested, his tone of voice implying that he doesn't care if the Golden Oni did either choice, Shirokuma didn't wait a second to answer the Rat's suggestions and choices.
"To kill scum like you? You know that answer..." Shirokuma said, quickly he slashed the Rat Oni with his axe, unfortunately the Rat Oni quickly blocked it with his club.
"Well then, lets make this interesting!" The Rat Oni said with a loud gleeful laugh, clearly wanting a fight that actually gives it a challenge, the Rat jumped up and spun around slashing Shirokuma's right arm with the spikes on his tail, the Rat Oni spun around the opposite way slashing Shirokuma's left forearm, but before the Rat can spin again, his tail was quickly grabbed by Shirokuma's right hand. Shirokuma, with great strength he slammed the Rat Oni on the ground and quickly sliced off the tail causing the Rat Oni to scream in pain as Shirokuma threw away the sliced-off tail.
The Rat somewhat clumsily got up only to be slashed in the stomach by Shirokuma's axe, the Rat Oni screeched in pain as it retaliated with a club swing, Shirokuma parried the club swing.
The Rat swung his club once more, only to be parried once more by the axe of Shirokuma, the Rat Oni began to growl in anger, his inability to club the Golden Oni with his brutal blunt instrument caused anger to build up within the Rat Oni.
"Die!" the Rat Oni shouted as he swung his club with extra effort than ever before, Shirokuma quickly parried the club, but this time, the Club shattered, causing the Rat Oni to yelp loudly due to not expecting his club to break.
"Your own strength has made you fall..." The Rat Oni gulped loudly due to being now weaponless and tailless, all of the sudden Shirokuma's axe glowed an aura of black, causing the golden-blade to be instead dyed black instead, like any other axe. The Rat Oni tried to run away only to be held in place by the iron grip of Shirokuma's free hand.
Shirokuma raised his axe over his head and after a split second later, he swung the axe down to the ground with great speed, slicing the Rat Oni completely in half in the process, Shirokuma with a loud scoff let go of the Rat Oni and after several seconds of silence, the Rat Oni exploded in an explosion of black and gold, the colors of the Legendary Yellow Oni.
"Climax...Chop..." Shirokuma said gruffly as he rested the axe on his shoulder, scanning if they wasn't any objects around, luckily, there wasn't any objects that Shirokuma deemed as 'Good to possess'.
'So you have a problem with the Ninja calling out his attacks and yet you expect me to give you a free pass when you do it?' Theresa exclaimed, clearly pissed off that Shirokuma criticized the Ninja's way of fighting despite doing the same himself.
"That is because I said it afterwards, and I only said it once, and also that my words are clever in their names..." Shirokuma retorted somewhat smugly, Theresa sighed loudly, asking herself why is she even trying to question some demon that used to be trapped in a cave for some time.
'Hypocrite.' Theresa said, Shirokuma only scoffed loudly as he walked up to the now recovering Ninja who was still lying on the grassy ground.
"What the Juice happened?" The Ninja said as he placed a hand on his forehead, he looked up to see Shirokuma's hand, ready to pick the Ninja right back up.
"Do you believe my words now?" Shirokuma said, the Ninja however refused to take Shirokuma's words and instead got up all by himself, Shirokuma scoffed loudly in response.
"No I don't, I got my eyes on you, you may have saved the day today, but you are not stealing my thunder! You got that?" The Ninja said, clearly offended due to Shirokuma defeating the Rat Oni while the Ninja was knocked out cold on the school ground grass, Shirokuma laughed loudly to the Ninja's words and how genuinely serious he was sounding.
"Stealing your thunder? You act like a child, I do not fight for a reward, I fight to get rid of evil.." Shirokuma responded, then all of the sudden, some of the fleeing students went to the current confrontation between the Ninja and the Golden Oni.
'Yeah, just ignore them, strangely, after something like this usually happens some of the other students will usually come out to cheer for the Ninja before he disappears.' Theresa answered the Oni's confusion, he nodded in response, several of students cheered, but they did not chant the Ninja's name, this changed when the school principal confronted the two fighters
"Well seems like we got ourselves a new hero in our hands!" The School Principal said, rather enthusiastically if Shirokuma might add.
"But he didn't do anything!" The Ninja exclaimed in response, Shirokuma smiled smugly underneath his handkerchief and spoke in an arrogant tone.
"I did your job, that's a thing, Ninja..." Shirokuma said right before laughing proudly, angering the Ninja even more so.
"My name is Shirokuma, Legendary Oni, its nice to meet you Principal." Shirokuma said politely with the tip on his helmet, trying to be respectful to a principal of a educational establishment.
"Theirs no need to be formal, my name is Irving Slimovitz and thank you for repelling a monster while the Ninja slept on the Job!" Principal Slimovitz said.
"What!? I didn't do that!?" The Ninja exclaimed loudly, Shirokuma smugly laughed in response.
"You are welcome, Principal, and by the way Ninja, I suggest you should learn from your previous selves..." Shirokuma said as suddenly he disappeared in a puff of gold and black smoke, leaving the crowd and the Ninja in the dust of the Yellow Oni.
Norrisville High Lunchroom
"Why did you wonkin' do that!?" Theresa exclaimed as she shook the guitar case containing Shirokuma's axe, something that really bothered the Oni as he was now back into his axe, which admittedly got her a couple of looks from nearby tables, a couple of looks that she ignored as she was already alone at the lunch table at the far end of the lunchoom.
'To teach the Ninja some humility.' The Oni responded, his voice becoming less stoic for Theresa shaking the guitar case really does bother Golden Oni.
"By embarrassing him and giving him a bad name, and not helping him when he was fighting off that Rat Demon?" Theresa retorted as she shook the guitar case even more so.
"You know my crush is obsessed with that guy you know that right?" Theresa continued as the Golden Oni retorted with.
'You didn't tell me anything about your crush being a clinger...' Theresa glared violently to Shirokuma's insult
"Clinger!?" Theresa once again exclaimed, Shirokuma braced for the consequences of his words
Before Theresa could shake the guitar case even more so, that was until Randy Cunningham sat in her lunch table along with his best friend Howard, right across from Theresa was the boy of her dreams, he sported a face that seems quite glum and down, something that Theresa quickly took notice.
"Is there something wrong Randy?" Theresa said, her voice becoming a lot more sweet-sounding than beforehand, Randy sighed loudly as he picked at his lunchfood.
"Did you watch the fight earlier?" Randy asked, Theresa internally sighed affectionately, not believing that Randy came to her to talk instead of vice-versa.
"Yeah, what about it?" Theresa asked, Shirokuma added his two cents in.
'In fact, we saved the day...' Theresa instinctively dropped the guitar case on the lunch seat, causing Shirokuma to yelp in surprise from the sudden drop.
"What do you think about that Shirokuma guy?" Randy asked, this got Shirokuma's attention, Theresa overall mood turned somewhat sour, Randy took notice and smiled slightly.
"Hes not as bruce as the Ninja, that's for sure..." Theresa said snarkily as she casually pushed the guitar case off of the lunch seat and onto the ground, causing Shirokuma to yelp in surprise once more.