Chapter 16: Working As a Team (Part 1)
Norrisville High...Lunchroom...
Cassie and Lyra were sitting alone with each other at one of the far corner tables of the lunchroom, away from the most popular students or just students altogether, they were wearing their usual school uniform which for them is the Marching Band Uniform, A blue shirt with yellow lines and buttons, blue sneakers, blue pants with yellow lines on the side, a blue and yellow band player hat and a yellow piece of cloth around the waist, luckily the hat was optional so they were at least spared from being teased and bullied due to wearing a stupid-looking hat. The only thing that was giving the twins a difference in terms of attire when your comparing them to a another band member was that they were wearing the necklaces they were given yesterday by their mother and father.
With these uniforms the two blonde twins were basically labelled as band geeks by everyone else that wasn't on the Norrisville High Marching Band, something that neither twin liked one bit, which is probably why their eating at their own empty lunch table, the other band members were simply to weird for them to eat with and everyone else would cast them out for the fear of ruining their reputation or something, like it was considered to be socially taboo to even talk to a Marching Band Member.
So the Blond Twins had each other as company whenever its lunch time, it was better than eating completely alone, that's a silver lining if there was one...
"So what did mom made for you?" Lyra asked her sister who both had bag lunches with them, the only difference is that Lyra got her lunch from her dad and Cassie got her lunch from her mom, it was strange but then again, it was always like this, its almost like they weren't expecting twins so when they did get twins they decided to see who could raise their child better. Cassie quickly opened the bag and see what was inside, she frowned in response.
"Mushroom soup, don't I always tell mom that I don't like mushrooms!?" Cassie exclaimed as she quickly took out the plastic bin containing the broth and mushrooms and plopped it down on the lunch table, frowning at the soup, guess she'll just have to, her sister opened her paper bag and she smiled, greatly contrasting her sister's reaction, something that bothered Cassie to no end, but if their parents were here they would openly complain to Cassie that she was a picky eater and compare her to Lyra.
"Guess Dad knows my tastes more than Mom knows yours, I got my favorite!" Lyra said as she pulled out a plastic container containing baked french fries and another container containing a salad.
"That's because...That's because your favorite food is healthy besides the fries!" Cassie accused her sister, Lyra looked at Cassie with a raised eyebrow.
"Isn't your favorite like chicken or something?" Lyra replied nonchalantly, Cassie eyes quickly widen but quickly thought of a good response.
"Well...Yeah...But its only when its fried! So there!" Cassie said as she folded her arms with a noticeable glare on her face that was directed to her twin sister.
"I guess..." Lyra only answered as she quickly opened up her plastic containers containing her favorite foods and quickly chowed down with a plastic fork in hand, Cassie sighed as she opened her mushroom soup that she dislikes and with some reluctance began to eat.
Meanwhile Theresa Fowler, the Keeper of the Four Legendary Oni's was getting herself a tray of school lunch for herself, beside her was Randy Cunningham and beside him was his best friend was Howard Weinerman, the two teens are currently trying to do some form of negotiations with each other for they both know their secret identities and pretty much willing to tell the whole school about their secret identities if they said something they didn't like or agree with.
Theresa Fowler grumbled loudly as Randy continually kept on staring at her duffel bag containing the four weapons of the Four Legendary Oni's, like as if Randy was planning on stealing the weapons so they won't be able to enter back into this world and steal his thunder, which is basically his own self-pride.
The two teens quickly noticed that most of the tables were already full of students, meaning that only lunch table that had good space for the three teens was the empty one at the far corner of the lunchroom which had Cassie and Lyra sitting there.
"Are we seriously going to sit with those two Bandgeeks?" Randy said, Theresa looked at him with a cocked eyebrow.
"Does it really matter Randy?" Theresa responded in a deadpan tone.
"Besides, its not like we're going to sit right next to them and they're nice when you get to know them..." Howard said.
"Exactly, thank you Howard for being reasonable..." Theresa said, it was not long until one of the Four Legendary Oni's decided to give his two cents about this whole situation at hand.
'He's reasonable? That's quite a stretch Ponytail...' Mizuwani said rather smugly, like he usually is, before he could snark and talk down to anyone further it was Pichigaru that told him to be silent.
'Theresa Is Talking With Someone That Isn't You, Please Hush Slater Gator.' Pichigaru said in a soft tone, the nickname alone made Mizuwani to be silent, Mizuwani hates that nickname to no end.
'Yeah Slater-Baka, please be quiet while Onee-chan is speaking...' Kazeryu said, Mizuwani huffed loudly in response, the nickname that Kazeryu gave to him is even worse than Pichigaru's.
The Three teens sat as far away as possible in the same lunch table from the blonde bandgeek twins who were eating their homemade lunches, from the looks of it, the twin with the pigtails seems to be enjoying her food unlike her sister who was eating her homemade lunch with a noticeable frown.
"Alright Randy and Howard, you know my secret identity and I know your's...Randy..." Theresa said, she thought for a moment on how to end this whole situation in a peaceful conclusion and a date that isn't forced.
"Lets just start with this, Shirokuma and the others told me everything while I was asleep, we're not stealing your thunder or whatever you call it, lets actually work together okay?" Theresa insisted with a small smile on her face, wanting to bury the hatchet between the Ninja and the Four Legendary Oni's
"They told you everything?" Randy asked, not wanting Theresa to know that the biggest reason why he even intrude in Theresa's household was to steal the weapons from her.
"Yeah, You going to into my house, my bedroom to be exact in your Ninja guise, Shirokuma partially possessing me and then throwing you out of the window, that explains why the window was open when I woke up, you fighting Shirokuma, then Shirokuma putting all of the pieces together, and then finally ending with Pichigaru getting me another date with you..." Theresa said, Randy nodded in response, relieved that they didn't tell Theresa his intentions of trespassing her home.
"So from now on we're working together? Don't you and the others have to agree with each other or something?" Randy asked once more.
"Don't worry Randy, the other four are agreeing with me..." Theresa responded, somewhat awkwardly as they were the ones who put this plan to go to begin with.
'Right guys?' Theresa thought as an attempt to communicate to the Legendary Four without saying aloud so she won't look like a crazy creep who was talking to herself.
'Always Oni Keeper...' Shirokuma responded along with a loud and gruff scoff.
'As long as your the leader Onee-chan.' Kazeryu followed with his usual upbeat voice that doesn't seem to falter no matter what, even through problems and bad memories
'I will agree, only for the team though, not for the romantic stuff though Ponytail.' Mizuwani said honestly, or anything close to being honest as Miuzwani can be.
'Your Choice Is Mine Theresa...' Pichigaru said with a light smile in Purgatory, her light and naturally kind voice causing the Oni around her to blush.
"So, do we got a deal, keep our identities a secret, don't spread them anymore or blackmail each other with them, and as a compromise, we work together as a team...Deal?" Theresa said as she extended a hand for Randy to shake, for a moment Randy did nothing, something that worried the Baton-twirling Oni Keeper.
"Also the remember the date after school..." Randy said with a smile as he extended a hand to shake Theresa's face, Theresa blushed as a response and smiled sheepishly back at the handsome Ninja, she couldn't believe this, was Randy actually serious in dating her? Sure it was strung together with the influences of her four friends in the duffel bag she carries but still, he seems to have a genuine desire to date her, something that her pink cheeks to flush even further than it was before.
"Okay Randy..." Theresa said, clear infatuation in her words, Randy smiled as a response, after several moments they went back to treating this day as a normal quiet day rather than a day of negotiations, they didn't question each other further, maybe out of respect for each other, or maybe it was out of fear for making the situation awkward with their rambunctious amount of questions they have for each other.
Theresa was even able to chat with Howard, although Howard was more willing to listen to Randy and he was unusually quiet when Theresa and Randy were negotiating with each other, once the whole situation died down he went back to his usual self, something that Mizuwani was quite bothered by, luckily Pichigaru pipe down the Blue Alligator Oni before he himself can become a bother.
As lunch was finished for the three teens, Randy Cunningham and his best friend Howard Weinerman began walked away from Theresa, presumably so they can have more bromance moments together, Theresa was about to leave the lunch table herself but she noticed the two blonde bandgeek Twins, she honestly forgot about the two girls, they were staring at her with widen eyes and dropped jaws, Theresa had little to no clue why are they staring at her.
'Why are they staring at me?' Theresa asked the Four Oni, their answers were heavily varied for they're just as clueless as the Oni keeper.
'Did they overheard your conversation with Randy?' Shirokuma suggested, it was a good answer for sure.
'Or maybe it's because of the fact that your the first person who was willing to sit in the same table as them and wasn't ludicrously forced to.' Mizuwani said, before snickering, admitting to the Theresa and the three other Oni that he couldn't let an opportunity go to waste.
'How About Just Ask Theresa?' Pichigaru suggested, somewhat bluntly despite her sweet voice. Theresa frowned in response.
"Why are you two staring at me?" Theresa asked the blonde twins, her voice being surprisingly tinge with venom, she wished she could have said it better instead of as harsh as it can be. Theresa sighed loudly and spoke in a way similar to Pichigaru.
"I'm sorry for putting it extremely bluntly, why are you two staring at me?" Theresa asked with a tone that's sweeter than candy, Pichigaru was incredibly impressed with Theresa's honey-coated tone. The Blonde Twins finally spoke after Theresa sweetened up.
Before the Blonde Twin could answer, out came crashing through the opposite lunchroom wall of where Theresa is standing was two Oni's, they were both seven feet tall, one was thin and had continuously shedding scales, it wore white scale-like armor that covered its long body from head to tail, it had arms but lacked any legs to speak of, it had the face of a cobra but it lacked any eyes whatsoever, making it seem like it was a Naga-like creature rather than any snake, the other Oni lacked any armor so it was clear that it used to be a ram, having huge blackened horns that completely covered its bright green eyes, it had a maw of sharp teeth and lacking any skin, in fact, it looked rather diseased, patches of skin completely missing from the Bighorner Oni's bipedal body.
They both roared loudly as they swung their weapons, a large scimitar for the Cobra Oni and a massive warhammer for the Bighorner Oni respectively, screams and chaos became the main course in this lunchroom today, Theresa stood her ground as the two Oni's quickly paid their attention to her while all of the students except strangely the Blonde Twins exited out of the lunchroom out of fear.
'Well that escalated quickly...' Mizuwani summed up, the other three Oni in Purgatory sighed in response.
"Well if isn't the Oni Bearer..." The Rattlesnake Oni said, its voice being high-pitched and squeaky, the sheer tone of its voice caused Theresa to flinch, despite how loud and how ear-bleeding the Cobra's Oni voice is, Theresa stood her ground as she quickly opened her her duffel containing the Four Legendary Oni's, that is until she noticed that the blonde twins are still here.
"What are you two doing, get out of here!" Theresa said to the Blonde Twins, they did what they were told as they ran out of the door, that was until the Cobra Oni blocked the way to the door.
"Just where do you think you two lovelies are going!?" The Cobra said loudly to the Blonde Twins, they screamed out of terror in response, the Cobra Oni raised its scimitar to the two Blonde Twins.
"Smoke Bomb!" Randy said as he appeared in a puff of red and orange smoke right alongside Theresa Fowler, the Rattlesnake Oni directed his attention on the Ninja instead of two useless citizens
"Look what we got here...Its the Ninja along with the Oni Bearer! What a very lucky day we have!" The Big Horner spoke with a deep and almost Cajun tone, despite not having any lips and only having a skinless mouth to speak with.
"Yeah, but your luck has just ran out!" Randy said, Theresa looked at him with a glare and a groan, Randy turned his head to Theresa with a confused look on his face.
"Stop making jokes in a time like this!" Theresa said as she pulled out Shirokuma's axe, she dropped the duffel bag as streams of golden energy began to course out of the axe of Shirokuma and then quickly covering Theresa's body, after several seconds of being basked in this golden glory a flash of light occurred, after the light dissipated, what appeared instead of Oni Keeper Theresa Fowler was Shirokuma, the Golden Samurai Oni.
"Ninja...Our strength will make them fall..." Shirokuma said as he pointed his axe at the Bighorner Oni, after he did this the Golden Samurai grabbed the three other weapons out of the duffel bag, strapping the crossbow underneath his belt, effectively holstering the crossbow and strapping it on his side, he strapped the sword and trident on his back.
"And they will rest forever about that!" Shirokuma said, the Rattlesnake Oni hissed loudly at Shirokuma's boastful words, Randy nodded in response, actually listening to the Golden Samurai.
"Alright! Lets waste these Shoobs!" Randy said as he pulled out his Ninja sword, the Bighorner Oni snorted in response as he charged to Shirokuma while the Ninja rushed to the Rattlesnake Oni to protect the Blonde Twins
"Ninja rings!" Randy said as he threw several razor sharp ninja disks at the Rattlesnake Oni, the Rattlesnake Oni blocked most of the disks with his scimitar, causing the Ninja rings to be deflected off of the Rattlesnake's blade, the Rattlesnake Oni roared and laughed as its opened its mouth revealing four incredibly sharp and long fangs dripping with venom and then all of the sudden out from the Rattlesnake Oni's mouth was a beam of venom-colored energy, Randy quickly dodged the beam by jumping out of the way.
"Ninja Boom Ball!" Randy said as he threw the explosive capsule at the Oni, the Rattlesnake Oni retorted by tail whipping the explosive ball back at the Ninja, Randy quickly dodged the ball avoiding being turn in a sticky little pieces.
Meanwhile, the Bighorner Oni hammer clashed with the blade of Shirokuma's axe, the two Oni's growled at each other loudly as they swung their weapons against each other, their strength being relatively pretty similar as neither of them seem to be struggling with the clashing of their weapons
Shirokuma roared loudly at the Bighorner Oni as with all his might pushed the Bighorner Oni away from him, the Bighorner Oni quickly swung his mighty hammer at the Golden Samurai Oni, Shirokuma quickly sidestepped away.
"You think you can get away with that!?" The Bighorner Oni said in response for missing his hammer swing as he turned its head to the Golden Samurai Oni, He quickly opened his massive skinless maw and then all of the sudden shot a ball of red energy at Shirokuma, the Golden Samurai wasn't fast enough to dodge the fire blast, Shirokuma fully took the blast in the chest, once again breaking his chest armor and causing his exposed chest to be furiously singed by the blast of fire.
Shirokuma growled in pain but he still retained his fighting stance, the Bighorner Oni laughed as he once again charged to the Golden Samurai with its hammer raised, the Bighorner Oni brought his hammer down to the Golden Samurai, Shirokuma quickly responded by allowing the hammer to strike his free hand shoulderpad.
"Very smart!" The Bighorner Oni said, before the Bighorner Oni could pull back his hammer, Shirokumka slashed the Bighorner Oni with his axe in a wide horizontal swing right at the Bighorner's stomach, causing the Bighorner to screech in pain.
"I know...It was!" Shirokuma responded loudly as his newly put back shoulderpad was now shattered but it luckily it protected his free hand arm from damage, the Bighorner Oni roared at Shirokuma as the Bighorner Oni covered his new large wound as it oozed blood.
"Someone tag in..." Shirokuma said with a loud pained sigh as he looked at his broken shoulderpad, slightly frowning for its going to take some time to repair this armor damage.
'I got this Kuma-sama!' Kazeryu blurted out either Mizuwani or Pichigaru could answer, Shirokuma was hesitant but he nodded as he quickly strapped his axe to his back and he quickly equipped Kazeryu's crossbow, streams of purple began to course out of the Purple Crossbow, the streams of purple began to cover Shirokuma's entire body, after a few seconds of being basked in this purple aura, a purple lighting-like flash of light occurred, after the light dissipated, what replaced the Golden Samurai was Kazeryu, the Purple Dragon Oni.
"Hello Ram-Baka!" Kazeryu said as he waved the Bighorner Oni rather energetically, the Bighorner Oni was rather confused if it was being honest, never having a greeting like that especially if it was an opponent.
"Mind if I defeat you!?" Kazeryu asked as he spun around and pointed his crossbow at the Bighorner Oni with a big hidden smile on his face.
"Of course that I mind!" The Bighorner Oni responded, clearly overwhelmed by Kazeryu's upbeat aura, Kazeryu giggled as he squeezed the trigger, causing a crossbow bolt to fly to the Bighorner Oni, the arrow hit the Bighorner Oni's wound, causing the arrow to go completely through the Bighorner, it screeched loudly in pain.
"Couldn't hear your answer!" Kazeryu said with a giggle as he charged up a bolt shot, he squeezed the trigger once more, this time the crossbow bolt being more larger than the previous one, the Bighorner Oni was more prepared for the crossbow bolt, quickly dodging out of the way by jumping out of the way, being surprisingly quite agile despite his size and wounds.
Kazeryu growled loudly as he shot a couple more crossbow bolts, only for the brutal Bighorner Oni to simply dodge the purple bolts of energy, the more Kazeryu attacked with his crossbow, the more missed shots he would have, this only angered the Purple Dragon Oni as he continued his onslaught of purple energy bolts.
"I'm done being the Baka in one's joke!" Kazeryu said with a shout as his crossbow glowed an aura of black, activating his ultimate attack, the Bighorner Oni didn't falter as he dodged most of Kazeryu's crossbow bolts
"Mind if I blow you up!?" Kazeryu asked, his voice having a strong tone of frustration, the Bighorner Oni didn't respond, waiting for Kazeryu to fire his attack.
"Couldn't hear you!" Kazeryu shouted rather angrily as he squeezed the trigger.
That is until the Rattlesnake Oni noticed that Kazeryu was charging up a potentially dangerous attack, while he was parrying the Ninja's blade, he quickly shot a sphere of venom-like liquid at Kazeryu out of his four-fanged mouth, more particularly his face, the venom sphere popping when it hit Kazeryu' head staining his dragon helm and more importantly getting in his eyes, great pain was the result, the venom being more akin to boiling hot water mixed with eye-rending ink.
"Argh!" Kazeryu screeched in pain as he quickly tried to rub his eyes with his freehand, completely not caring about firing the Storm Bolt and instead more focused on trying to wipe off the venom out of his face and eyes, the Bighorner Oni quickly capitalized on the opportunity. Before Kazeryu could react to the Bighorner Oni, the Bighorner quickly swung his hammer at Kazeryu's left thigh causing it to break in half.
Kazeryu screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, his left leg being essentially useless with his thigh bone broken, all in the while the Three Oni's and the Oni Keeper could hear the Purple Dragon Oni's pained screams and could only simply watch. The Bighorner Oni laughed as he raised his hammer over his head, wanting to crush the Purple Dragon Oni's skull this time.
'Fucking Bastard!' Mizuwani shouted, his tone being greatly angered as he watched the wounded Kazeryu, something that Theresa quickly noticed for he never heard this tone of voice coming out of Mizuwani's mouth.
'Kazeryu! You Need to grab one of our weapons!' Shirokuma said, his voice being frantic and highly worrisome, a tone that Theresa never heard from Shirokuma's mouth, which greatly surprised the Violet-haired Oni Keeper.
'Pick me! I'll teach this piece of filth what it means to hurt my family!' Mizuwani shouted rather angrily, he was a given strange look by Pichigaru, Mizuwani then disappeared in a puff of blue smoke, it was an injured Kazeryu that took Mizuwani's place after a puff of purple smoke.
'Ryu-Sama!' Pichigaru said, her tone being saddened but relieved as she immediately ran up to the injured and sobbing Kazeryu with cauterizing hands on standby, Theresa quickly ran up to Kazeryu as well.
'Kazeryu...' Was all Theresa said, her face sporting a frown as the Purple Dragon Oni only silently stared at her, not speaking a word, before Pichigaru started the cauterizing process, Theresa quickly hugged Kazeryu.
'Why did you want to fight the Oni?' Theresa asked, Kazeryu waited to answer.
'I thought I could defeat him, guess not...' Kazeryu said rather weakly with a loud sniff.
'Don't Ever Do That Again...' Theresa only said, Kazeryu hugged back before saying.
'Don't worry Onee-chan...Can you please allow Momo-san to do her thing?' Kazeryu said, Theresa broke off of the embrace and smiled at the Purple Dragon Oni.
Meanwhile back in the real world, Mizuwani quickly replaced Kazeryu in the same position he was at, Mizuwani quickly rolled out of the Bighorner Oni's way as it brought its hammer down, causing the tiles of the floor to immediately shatter in pieces, Mizuwani immediately got to his feet as he glared rather angrily at the Bighorner Oni as he held his trident with his right hand, Mizuwani growled loudly as he strapped his crossbow under his belt.
"Who the hell are you?" The Bighorner Oni said as he rested his hammer on his shoulder.
"I'm Mizuwani, And I'm different than the Purple Dragon..." Mizuwani said as he pointed his trident at the Bighorner Oni, the Oni laughed violently as a response.
"How so? Are you going to die instead of going back into your weapon or what?"
"I'm different because of the fact that I'm going to beat the ever living life out of you until you stop breathing..." Mizuwani said, his tone being dark and cold, most likely due to the Bighorner Oni breaking Kazeryu's thigh.