Chapter 18: Forming A Camaraderie
Meanwhile in Purgatory...
Mizuwani smiled lightly as Pichigaru was tending his injuries and wounds, he was genuinely worrying about Kazeryu's well-being as he was fighting the Bighorner Oni, luckily and fortunately, Pichigaru is amazing when it comes to healing so Mizuwani's mood lit up when he saw the Purple Dragon Oni in his usual mood, the only difference here is that he wearing a blindfold, most likely to protect his eyes from dust or anything that will damage the Dragon Boy's optics even further...
"Everyone Doing Okay?" Pichigaru asked for she was the only one of the Legendary Four that wasn't hurt in the slightest, but then again she wasn't tagged in by any of them which is understandable for she was the only one who could heal.
"I'm fine...Kazeryu is okay...But the true question is...Who was the two other Oni that helped us during our time in need?" Shirokuma asked as he tried his best to fix his broken armor, Pichigaru answered with a shrug.
"I'm guessing they were Oni that we missed back when we had permanent physical forms..." Mizuwani answered with a light shrug, not having any real clue.
'That's probably the most likely answer, Mizuwani, the most important thing is however...Is that they helped us and it seems like those two Blonde Twins are their keepers.' Theresa chimed in, using the Oni Keeper terminology that Shirokuma made up to sum what Cassie and Lyra are.
"Their names are Vega and Deneb right?" Shirokuma asked the whole, it was the blindfolded Kazeryu that quickly answered.
"Yes Kuma-sama! Kabuki-looking Oni is Deneb-shi, and Harp-using Oni is Vega-shi!" Kazeryu said as he spun around freely and energetically, almost as if he was never struck by a massive warhammer or had venom splashing his eyes.
"They seem like good Oni...Only time will tell if they hold the same ideals and intentions as we do..." Shirokuma inquired with a quiet tone but it wasn't quiet enough for Pichigaru to hear his words.
"They Saved Our Lives And Helped Fought Against The Rattlesnake Oni, I'm Pretty Sure Their Most Likely Goodies..." Pichigaru said as she turned to Shirokuma and gave him a small smile, Shirokuma only huffed in response as he folded his arms.
"Goodies? Is that a new nickname you just came up for them?" Mizuwani said to the nickname-giving Red Peach Girl Oni, she smiled sheepishly at the Blue Alligator Oni and without a hint of sarcasm said.
"Let Me Do My Work Please!" She said as she went back to healing Mizuwani, Mizuwani sighed as he didn't want to question Pichigaru's constant nicknaming to everyone except strangely Theresa.
"Yeah Wani-san! Let Momo-sama do her work!" Kazeryu chimed in energetically, causing the Blue Alligator Oni to grimace.
Norrisville High Lunchroom.
Deneb and Vega stood side-by-side silently, after several seconds of this silent idling, they both disappeared in puffs of smoke, Vega disappearing in a puff of bronze smoke and Deneb disappearing in a puff of green smoke respectively, what appeared after the smoke dissipated, Cassie and Lyra appeared with rather surprised faces and shocked expressions, a different reaction compared to Theresa's first time in being possessed by an Oni.
Theresa quickly stood up from the spot she was lying on, she stared at the two blonde twins with a intrigued look, Randy who was still dressed up as the Ninja slowly regained consciousness as he quickly stood behind Theresa.
"Do you know what just happened to you two?" Theresa said as she walked up to Cassie and Lyra who were still a bit taken aback by the sudden turn of events, Lyra responded with a shake of the head but it was Cassie that spoke.
"Mom and Dad were right all along!...It wasn't some stupid metaphor...The necklaces literally protected them from danger...By the spirits of Deneb and Vega..." Cassie said as he looked at her emerald necklace with a new form of importance.
"Told you Cassie, should have listened to Mom's words when Norrisville is the home of monsters and Ninjas.." Lyra said, Cassie glared at her twin sister in response, clearly not wanting her sister's comments especially in a time like this.
"You were just possessed by those spirits...Can you hear them in your thoughts?" Theresa asked, clearly bewilder by the fact that their is such thing as other Oni Keepers.
''She seems like a nice young lady, its quite important to make friends...Cassandra...'' The Kabuki Oni named Deneb said as he was Cassie's Purgatory, Cassie quickly heard the Kabuki Oni's words
'How do you know my name?' Cassie retorted to the calm and collected Deneb, he lightly laughed in response to Cassie's words before saying.
''Let me say this to start...I was your mother's protector for quite some time, before she lend me to you as an extra guardian, she would occasionally want advice from me in how to treat you properly, I was the one who always recommend mushrooms in your diet.'' Deneb said, this immediately made the already flustered Cassie even more mad.
'You mean your the one who ruins every single school lunch I ever had since middle-school!?' She internally exclaimed, Deneb was taken aback by this sudden outburst, Cassie quickly interrupted the Kabuki Oni by speaking to Theresa.
"Yeah I can hear the Lunch-ruiner loud and clear..." Theresa gave the hot-headed blonde a cocked eyebrow, not even wanting questioning Cassie Theresa quickly turned to her sister with pigtails.
"What about you...Lyra is it?" Theresa asked the more reserved blonde twin.
'-This girl is quite different...But then again...Your linked to me so we're quite different as well.-' The Lyre-playing Oni named Vega said as he was Lyra's personal Purgatory.
'Did you really protected my dad from bad guys and monsters too?' Lyra asked the Song Oni, Vega responded with a light laugh and spoke in a somber but calming tone.
'-Of course Lyra...Your father was kind and trusting enough to lend me to you as a guardian...Like Father like Daughter I will protect you as well. For I am Vega...Oni of Song, Oni of Music, either of these titles will do just fine.-' Vega said, Lyra smiled lightly to the Lyre-playing Oni's words
"Yeah, I can hear mine too, he's very nice as well." Lyra said with a nod, Vega laughed lightly in response.
"Okay...So those spirits are called Oni, their just like me and Shirokuma, you know the Golden Samurai that seems to out-show the Ninja whenever they both appear? That's Shirokuma." Theresa as she realized that the four weapons of the Four Legendary Oni's were all still strapped to her back, instinctively she pulled out Shirokuma's axe and showed it to Cassie and Lyra.
"So that Rattlesnake monster that Vega and Deneb fought, are they Oni too?" Lyra asked, Theresa responded with a nod as she went to go get her duffel bag to she won't have to carry four weapons on her back.
"Yours and Ours are like the only good ones right?" Cassie said after she seemed to calm down after being told that her lunches were all intentionally ruined by an Oni's advice.
"Seems to be, Shirokuma and the other four used to help out the Ninja." Theresa finished as she quickly notice that the Ninja wasn't here in the Lunchroom, he must have smoke bombed away while the trio were talking to one another about the subject of possession and Oni's.
"Well, nevertheless...We should meet again at like three at Greg's Game hole and talk some more...I can give you some pointers in how to keep your mind safe from exploding into chunks when you have to listen to a new voice in your head." Theresa said as she chuckled lightly at her own joke, the blonde twins did not laugh at all, something that made the whole situation awkward.
"Sooo...See you two later, Cassie and Lyra...Name's Theresa if you didn't already knew." Theresa said as she awkwardly walked away from the two blonde Oni Keepers, most likely to go home for school is most likely closed after this wild and crazy monster attack, Theresa left the two blonde twins with more questions rather than answers.
"Are we actually going to Greg's Game Hole?" Cassie asked Lyra, She responded with a light shrug.
"Well, we probably should, I mean we don't have any friends...And she seems to accepting of us...And Vega is insisting on it..." Lyra said, Cassie sighed loudly in response as she folded her arms.
"Okay fine! Since all we have is each other, we might as well have another person who gets possessed by a spirit as our only other friend!" Cassie said as she huffed loudly, clearly just wanting to go home and confront her mother.
''Cassandra, are you okay?'' Deneb asked, clearly worried in his current master known as Cassie and her current mood of agitated based on her constant wrathful sighs and huffs.
''I understand why your angry...You never wanted me to begin with...You were simply given the necklace that my spirit lingers in...You never asked for this burden...I'm sorry...'' Deneb said honestly, something that actually made the hot-headed Cassie to feel slightly guilty due to Deneb having to apologize for something he couldn't really control.
"No Deneb...I'm sorry for my overblown angry fit over the fact that you inject mushrooms into my daily diet...You were just keeping me healthy...Thank you for that."
"And you saved my life when you possessed me..." Cassie finished quietly as she looked down to the ground, somewhat disappointed in herself for not thinking things through.
"Talk about not wanting you as my protector...I do want you as my personal bodyguard, its kind of nice to having something like that especially in a town like this." Cassie said, The Kabuki Oni smiled lightly in response.
Some Time Later...
Theresa was rather surprised that Cassie and Lyra actually did came to Greg's Game Hole so they can talk some more about their current situation of suddenly being an Oni Keeper or whatever what Shirokuma calls her, so instead of just wasting time on playing videogames they decided to go to the food hole part of Greg's Game Hole so they can at least have their stomachs filled while they discuss about the subject of Oni's and possession.
They ordered some food, well more like Cassie ordered the food for she made extra their wasn't any mushrooms or anything of the sort, Cassie was given a raised eyebrow from Theresa due to her hatred of mushrooms but Cassie quickly ignored the Violet-haired Oni Keeper by saying that she'll pay for the food as a trade-off, Cassie was then heard a compliment from Deneb, something that Cassie somewhat cared about if she was being honest.
"So you two got any questions or anything you want to get off of your chest?" Theresa asked with a kind and friendly smile as the three Oni Keeper's waited for their food to arrive.
"Yeah, I got one, Is there anyway to control the possession process?" Lyra asked, Theresa was silent for a moment to answer.
"Not really...Only the Oni has the power to possess you, so that means they will possess you when they think its right...Well...In my case I can somewhat control it because I need to grab one of the weapons in order to be possess-able." Theresa answered along with a quick nod as she glanced at her bag that contained the four weapons of the four Legendary Oni's
"Also, they can partially possess you...Which means..." Theresa paused, having some trouble explaining to the two blonde twins about partial possession, that is until Shirokuma in particular partially possessed the Violet-haired girl, causing Theresa to suddenly be wearing a golden kimono with a pattern of cherry blossoms, suddenly having her ponytail grow long in length and causing her highlights to become yellow instead of magenta, and suddenly bearing a traditional Japanese parasol.
"What!? How and why did you change-"
"Partial possession is when an Oni possesses you from a short distance, not needing to hold their possession weapon...Because of this, I control Theresa's body, while changing her appearance in the process." Shirokuma said in his usual gruff and strong voice as he was partially possessing Theresa.
"So the person I'm talking to right now is Shirokuma?" Lyra asked, the partially possessed Theresa nodded in response right before Shirokuma stopped partially possessing Theresa, causing Theresa to lose the long ponytail, parasol and kimono, before Theresa could speak, another Oni partially possessed her, causing Theresa's Highlight to suddenly dye blue in color and causing the highlight to be longer than the rest of hair, she suddenly had black-rimmed glasses and was suddenly wearing a blue dress shirt and tight blue jeans.
"Of course our voices don't change...Breaking the immersive factor, this is Mizuwani speaking by the way if you can't tell by the random attire change and the voice deepening..." the Mizuwani partially possessed Theresa said right before Theresa quickly went back to her original and usual attire.
"And now your talking to the real me." Theresa said somewhat annoyed that both Mizuwani and Shirokuma decided to partially possess her without warning. Lyra looked at Theresa with this form of awe as she quickly grabbed her necklace and looked at the ruby gemstone.
"Vega can do that too right?" Theresa nodded in response, Cassie on the other hand didn't seem to interested in the subject of partial possession.
"Of course, only if he wants to...Remember that girls...Their not weapons...Their not pets...Their real people that so happens to have their spirits inside of objects." Theresa said as she gave Cassie and Lyra another friendly smile, Lyra nodded to Theresa clearly listening to the Violet-haired Oni keepers words, Cassie on the other hand wasn't listening as much but she nodded as well.
The three Oni Keepers kept their conversation going until their food arrive, while they ate, they talked about normal things such as news or school, after they ate and after Cassie paid for the food, the three Oni Keepers went downstairs to Greg's Game Hole to play some arcade games, despite Theresa's reluctance to do so given her natural distaste of the arcade.
They had fun and bonded with one another as they spent the afternoon playing arcade games all in the while Kazeryu 'forcefully' partially possessed Theresa so he can spare her the pain of having to do something she doesn't like if it means making some friends with two other Oni keeper's.
Authors note: Alright lets get this out of the way in how the Oni's dialogue are worded.
"Shirokuma is always in bold, being the strongest and gruffest Oni around you his dialogue needs to pop out whenever he wants to speak."
"Kazeryu is always worded in italic, contrasting Shirokuma's bold and strong words with italic and light ones."
"Underlining is around whenever Mizuwani speaks, as a balance between light and strong, pretty much showcasing Mizuwani's middle of the road stats."
"Pichigaru Always Have Her Words Start With Capital Letters...No Matter What."
"This Is What Happens When The Four Legendary Oni's All Possess Theresa At The Same Time And Combine Together... Or The More Plausible Reason Of When Their All Talking At The Same Time."
'''Deneb has three quotations whenever he speaks...''' ''However when he thinks or speaks in Cassie's Purgatory its only two quotations instead.''
"-Vega always have a dash at the start of any sentence and the end due to being interrupted countless times by his brother Oni Deneb.-"
"Kurushimi has half of every sentence start in bold while the other half of the sentence being italic."