Walk me through the Valley
Disclaimer: Characters and premise are the property of Kazue Kato. I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit me through the Valley.
Notes: I've considered ending this series of stories with an epilogue where Mephisto decides it's time to let Rin in on his end game, but the end is far enough out that I don't guarantee anything. I think Mephisto is innately dishonest, but I don't write him as telling outright lies. He's too open about being a manipulative SOB. He is using the Order of the True Cross to further his own ends, they know it and are using him in return. Both sides are aware that there may come a point where their interest cease to coincide and can proceed accordingly; as opposed to Lucifer's relationship with the Illuminati. I doubt Lucifer's end game is in the best interest of any human but his followers are too blinded by him to recognize this.
I consider Albus Dumbledore and Mephisto to be similar characters in a lot of ways, but the King's Cross conversation is not something Mephisto would feel the need for. First Albus sites the 'greater good' as a motivation (and I cringe at that), I don't think Mephisto would even claim that because no one would believe him. But if Mephisto were to be completely, bluntly honest… Well there's a non-fiction book I really liked: Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma", it's a good read with a lot of interesting ideas on food and diet. There's a point where he talks about hamburgers being bad for the individual cow but good for cattle as a species; aka cattle will never be in danger of extinction as long as humans eat beef... And Mephisto is fond of humanity, as a species. Also in the King's Cross conversation Albus seems to want Harry's understanding and forgiveness. Mephisto wouldn't care about receiving absolution but alienating the Exwires over Astaroth could complicate his future plans. If Mephisto is going to apologize or ask for understanding he'd do earlier and because it served his own ends not after the fact because his conscious troubled him.
Switching to TVTrophes terms (I love their definitions but tend to have disagreements with their examples), Mephisto is "Chaotic Neutral" with shades of "Orange and Blue Morality". He cares about freedom, particularly his personal freedom, more than good or evil, partially because he's emphatically not human and has a different perspective on good and evil. One thought I've had about Mephisto in this story is that if he were present during the building of the Tower of Babel he would have been opposing God and yet humanity would have seen him as their ally.
Chapter Twenty: Exwire Exam
Shiemi woke up to find Amaimon perched on the foot of her bed, her window swinging open. She eeped and pulled her covers up to her chin. "Turn around!" she ordered sternly.
"Humans are very weird," Amaimon declared as he did what he was told.
Shiemi pulled on a robe. "Don't climb into girls' windows. The proper thing to do is knock and wait outside of their door until they let you in," she explained patiently. "You can turn around now."
Amaimon shrugged. "Just wanted to tell you I won't be around for awhile."
"What? Why?" Shiemi asked. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Nothing to do with you," Amaimon replied plainly. "Astaroth's Kin don't know he's… indisposed yet. Big Brother said it would be a good time to reclaim the stuff he took from me."
"What stuff?" Shiemi asked.
"The Kingdom of Rot is an upstart kingdom between the Kingdom of Time and Earth," Amaimon informed her. "Father and Big Brother got in one of their fights and Father smashed Samuel's domain then set up Astaroth in the part he couldn't hold. After I defeated Atum, the old Earth King, Astaroth expanded his domain by taking some of what I'd won before I could consolidate my new Kingdom. Now Big Brother wants me to take as much of Astaroth's domain as I can."
"But wasn't some of it Mephisto's to start with?" Shiemi asked, puzzled. "Why would he want you to have it?"
"Time and Rot under one king? If the Angel of Death rises again Father wouldn't like it," Amaimon explained. "But Big Brother doesn't think Father will pay too much attention if I extend my domain. Father doesn't know that Mother is restless."
"Um… Good luck. And when will you be back?" Shiemi asked.
"Don't know," Amaimon replied. "If you need me, call. I'll always hear your summons."
Shiemi smiled. "You'll let me know if I can do anything to help you too, right?"
"You can't help with Gehenna," Amaimon stated. "But I'm not done learning about Assiah yet; I will come back. You're a better teacher than Big Brother." He gestured toward the former fourth floor and Shiemi's other greenhouses. "He likes humans and their fiddly little toys. The earth and what grows from it bores him; not you."
"Come back safe," Shiemi told him, blushing
Amaimon nodded and left by the window as he'd arrived.
"It is nearly the end of the term!" Mephisto announced as he strolled into the Exwire's class at the end of the second to last week of the term.
They greeted him with wary stares.
"So I'm not yet forgive for my terribly successful little gambit?" Mephisto asked and was greeted with cold silence.
"No matter," Mephisto began. His eyes scanning over the Exwires dismissively. Then he came to Rin and paused. His smile sharpened. "But your injuries aren't why you are mad at me."
Izumo put a hand on Rin's shoulder before he could respond. "Rin's too willing to sacrifice himself, you know that. The rest of us are not okay with what you did."
"But I'm more interested in addressing Rin-kun's concerns," Mephisto replied, giving her an innocent look. "As I said before: You cannot hope to depose Satan without cost."
"And I wonder if the True Cross expects Rin to bear that cost alone," Izumo challenged.
"Would it reassure you to know that I am past the point of no return?" Mephisto asked. "If Satan still holds power when Astaroth frees himself I will not be able to explain away my transgressions."
"How do you expect us to win if we can't even deal with the least of the Hell Kings permanently?" Konekomaru asked quietly.
"We won't have to destroy Satan," Mephisto said, with a fierce grin. "Just force him from his Inner Gehenna bastion. Our rebellion shook the Heavens and Satan remains largely undiminished and wholly unrepentant; even in the aftermath of our punishment. The Elder Gods fear him and allow him to do as he would with Assiah rather than risking confrontation with him. But if he could be forced from his stronghold, made vulnerable, they would not hesitated to descend upon him."
"I believe him," Rin said, nodding to Mephisto. "And it's not like he didn't have my permission. I came here so I could kick Satan's Ass. I got a little roughed up, no big deal." Then Rin took a deep breath. "But the puppy died. And- and Shiratori is sick, but Dad tried to save him. That's what I can't forgive."
"Yes," Mephisto agreed. "Shiro exorcised Astaroth from Shiratori Reiji twice in twenty-four hours. Left to his own devices Shiratori wouldn't have lasted a week before he invited Astaroth in a third time. Out of respect for Shiro I shield him for a year and a day. Gave him time to mend his ways, should he so choose." He turned to Bon. "I even warned him that this was his last chance."
Grudgingly Bon nodded.
"Did you see any evidence that he had tried to change?" Mephisto asked Rin. "The puppy was beneath Astaroth's notice. But Shiratori Reiji knew that you would care."
"Astaroth's going to hurt him and keep on hurting him," Rin said quietly. "You're going to lock them up for the rest of Shiratori's life and Astaroth won't have anything else to do except torture him."
"What he deserves," Mephisto replied. "No less than what he would have done to you given the chance. No less than what he's done to any living thing that fell into his hands. You yourself tried to curtail his notion of amusement. His parents tried to cure him. They brought in the best doctors money could buy to try to bridge the gap in his soul and teach him empathy, to no avail. Shiro, instead of simply killing him, gave him chances he didn't deserve and Shiratori only used them to cause more harm. Now he finds himself at the mercy of another's sadistic pleasure. Perhaps his suffering in this life is what is necessary to make him understand the reality of the pain he so enjoyed inflicting. Perhaps it will rebalance his karma before his next life."
"B.S." Shima declared. "You didn't do it for Rin's dad, you did it because you needed time to set your trap."
A quick smile tugged at Mephisto's lips. "I always have more than one motive, but all of them are true. If he had changed, I would have honored Shiro's wishes and all the effort I put into this plan would have been for not. I gambled that Shiratori would not, could not change his nature, and I won."
"And now you'll take back as much of his domain as you think you can manage without Satan noticing?" Shiemi asked softly.
"Amaimon confides in you, that is excellent," Mephisto replied. "But no, I find that my current domain suits me exceedingly well. I've suggested Anubis might consider this a fortuitous time to return. There must never be a vacuum, but too much power concentrated in one place would tip our hand. It's not enough to defeat the Hell Kings, they must be either subverted or replaced."
"Why are you telling us all this?" Bon asked.
"Because one doesn't play chess with a board full of pawns," Mesphisto answered. "You have the potential to be more and you're interesting enough for me to take the time to aid your development of that potential."
"And what are your other motives?" Bon pushed.
Mephisto wagged his finger at Bon. "Your value as allies and my role as your instructor entitles you to some explanations, but you have reached your limit."
"So what brings you to our class?" Shima asked, surrendering gracefully.
"It is nearly the end of the term," Mephisto began again. "As second year Exwires this summer you will be assisting your seniors in the field."
"Your first assignment will be to help administer the Exwire Exam. While it has been our recent tradition to use the Old Dorm as the test site, you lot have rendered the building's atmosphere more homey than haunted. And so, the test will be moved to the forest. Your teachers are clearing an area of anything unduly dangerous. Your task will be to deliver the Pages to the assigned location and abandon them there without allowing them to know that this is their test. I'm sure you remember your own test last year?"
"Vividly," Izumo said shortly, thinking of Paku and Rin's injuries.
Mephisto ignored her. "Remember to make it look natural as one by one you abandon your charges. Once you have removed yourselves from the Page's sight you will report to the perimeter and provide assistance in keeping the forest's more dangerous inhabitants out of the testing area."
"This will be an exercise for both classes," Konekomaru explained to the six Pages: Godain Sei, and Kimura Mana whom Rin had recommended. Ito Sora and Maki Yoshi, recommended by Bon. And two freshmen, Ueno Michi and Suzuki Sadao both of whom came from Sendai and who had been raised as Exorcists. "We're to treat this like an escort mission, you'll be non-combatants under our protection. We'll guide you through the forest and protect you from any demons we encounter. Your task is to identify as many demons or signs of demonic occupation as possible."
"Does Okumura count?" Maki asked snidely.
Bon and Izumo glared at him, the rest of the Exwires ignored the interruption. "We will be leaving immediately and camping in the forest tonight," Konekomaru continued. "The exercise should be complete by mid-afternoon Saturday. Your teacher instructed you to bring an overnight bag to class today and we have the rest of the equipment necessary for our stay. We will be leaving in ten minutes, if you forgot anything it's too late now, do without."
"We may be escorting you, but we're not carrying all the camping gear," Shima declared pointing to a pile of bags. "So get hopping, like Koneko said, you've got ten minutes to figure out who's hauling what."
The Pages groaned while the Exwires pulled on their own packs. In spite of the general grumbling the gear had all been distributed before Bon declared, "Time's up," and started off toward the forest at a distance eating pace. Godain and Mana quickly fell into step with Rin and Izumo. Ito tried to strike up a conversation with Shiemi. "Oi, respect your seniors," Shima complained. Shiemi shook her head and asked Ito, "How are your classes going?" Maki, Ueno and Suzuki clustered together, hanging back from Rin. Konekomaru brought up the rear, as they approached the forest he started hurrying the stragglers along. "You can't allow yourself to be separated from the group," he said. "It's not safe."
"Last summer when we camped here we encountered one of the Eight Hell Kings," Izumo stated casually. "Luckily Rin was able to drive him off, but you never know what you'll find in here." She summoned her Byakko, "Scout around us, keep me informed," she ordered.
"Oh yes, mistress," Mike answered dramatically. "As you command."
Izumo drew herself up haughtily. "Your service will be rewarded."
/They're laying it on a little thick,/ Rin thought to Uke.
/Your little newbies are eating it up,/ Uke replied laughingly. The two byakko loped off.
"Hey, isn't that a bariyon?" Godain asked a few minutes later. He pointed to a moderate sized rock several feet off the trail.
"You tell us," Bon replied. "ID'ing demons is your task for this assignment, we just deal with the ones that attack us. So, how do you distinguish between a dormant bariyon and a plain old rock, without waking it up?"
"There isn't any moss growing on it, so Sei-kun is right," Mana answered.
Godain pointed to a rut leading up to the bariyon. "Those are it's tracks aren't they?"
Bon nodded, "Good eyes, both of you."
"I've got Coal Tars," Maki said.
"Boring!" Ito, Suzuki and Shima exclaimed.
They continued on their way. Ueno picked out a fairy ring, Mana heard some Reapers croaking in the distance. Godain spotted a Yamaoroshi rubbing it's spines against a protruding tree root.
Upon spotting Godain's last find Rin took off his jacket and tossed it over the little demon. "Before it got possessed this was Itamae-san's favorite vegetable grater," he said as he tucked the bundle of jacket and demon under his arm. "I've been looking everywhere for it. We can exorcise it and it'll go back to normal right?"
"I don't think you'll ever get the tree bark out of it," Konekomaru remarked.
"Yeah, you're right," Rin sighed as he released the porcupine-like demon. "It's probably not sanitary anymore."
Mike and Uke returned, the Exwires stared at them in surprise. "Something you should see," Mike reported shouldering Izumo back in the direction from which he'd come.
Izumo frowned and nodded.
"Hey! Wait up!" Konekomaru exclaimed as they started off. "Team-work remember?"
"Right," Izumo replied distractedly.
Once the four of them were away from the Pages Izumo turned to her familiars. "What's going on? You weren't supposed to pull us out until we were almost at the camp site."
"We aren't even in the cleared section of the forest yet," Konekomaru added. "We could run into actual trouble here."
"Remember the Peg Lanterns?" Uke said. "They're dead. All of the Peg Lanterns in the forest are dead."
"What?" Izumo said.
"Your seniors are already looking at one of the others," Mike reported. "They're all like this, we checked."
The forest opened up into a small clearing. At the center sat a Peg Lantern, it's stone facade was charred black and riven with cracks.
"It was burned?" Izumo wondered. "Who attacks the Kin of Iblis with fire?"
"A stronger Flame Demon," Konekomaru said. "I've been doing some research on our supplies ever since Bon realized the truth about holy water. These demons were domestic, the Academy uses them to make blessed ashes."
"They're going to blame Rin aren't they?" Izumo asked.
Konekomaru nodded. "The good news is that Rin can't draw his sword himself and hasn't been able to for months. I don't think he has the raw power to do this while sealed. Not that I trust our seniors to remember that fact without prompting. We'd better head this off before someone gets up a full head of steam." He turned to the byakko. "Thank you for bring this to our attention."
Mike shrugged. "We like Rin, he makes Little Sis smile."
"Don't you think they've been gone too long?" Shiemi asked as the Pages and Exwires set up camp for the night.
Shima dropped one of the tents near her then used untying it as an excuse to lean close. "You shouldn't sound so cheery," he whispered hiding his grin from the Pages.
Shiemi's eyes widened. "I'm terribly, terribly worried about Izumo-chan and Koneko-kun," she declared.
"Yeah, me too," Shima said. He headed over to where Bon was setting up perimeter wards for the camp. "Shiemi and I should go check on them." More quietly he added, "Before Sheimi-chan gives the game away."
"You just want to get out of here before you do your share of set up," Bon muttered.
"Take Suzuki and I along," Ueno declared. "We might be just Pages to the True Cross but we've been training since we could walk. Anyway it's better than you guys going off two by two until no one's left. If Kamiki-san and Miwa-san couldn't deal with whatever's out there what makes you think you can?"
"Because Koneko and Izumo-chan are still out there," Shima replied. "Maybe they need a little help, but they're still out there fighting. You can count on that."
"Go on, get out of here," Bon said.
"Tell 'em I brought stuff for s'mores, they don't want to miss that," Rin called.
"You didn't?" Bon said.
Rin shrugged. "We are camping." He left unspoken, 'I thought maybe we'd have a little time to enjoy it first.'
Bon turned back to the Pages, "Okay, get the tents up. I'm going to finish the wards and Rin's got dinner."
Shima twirled his staff lightly between his hands as he strolled along beside Shiemi. He curbed his normal inclination to make a crack about a pretty girl and a walk in the woods, because he didn't want to embarrass her. "So how's your garden doing? You're moving some of that stuff you started in the dorm back to the garden behind the shop right?"
Shiemi nodded eagerly. "My seedlings are outgrowing all their pots. If the weather hadn't broken I don't know what I would have done! Their poor roots were getting cramps and I didn't have the funds to buy another round of pots. I didn't leave margin for such a long winter," she said.
Shima smiled and discovered it wasn't too hard to look interested when Shiemi was so enthusiastic about the subject. Sooner than he'd liked Shima spotted the dark uniform jackets of the True Cross' Exorcists. "So where's our perimeter post?" he asked hoping the Ranked Exorcists could deliver their orders and leave.
"Change of plan," a balding man said. "We need to question you about Okumura's whereabouts during the last week."
"Why?" Shima said flatly.
"You don't need to know that," the man replied.
"No, I mean why are you bothering to ask. He's under observation. The dorm is warded so he can't leave after curfew and I'm sure you found new people to report on him after his brother went psycho and nearly killed him. The Order knows damn well where Rin is every moment of the day, so why go through this charade?" Shima challenged. Shiemi stepped closer to him, presenting a unified front.
"Hoshino, the kid has a point," the second Exorcist, a younger woman said. "We were told to question them but…"
"Look, is there any chance he's faking not being able to draw his sword?" Hoshino sighed.
Bon and Rin watched as Maki and Mana carefully shifted a pail of water away from the fire and started washing the dishes. Ito and Godain sat on the other side of the campfire comparing notes, while Ueno and Suzuki were filling lanterns with kerosene and arguing about how to trim the wicks. "So we gotta ditch 'em now," Rin said. "They aren't going to let us just walk out, not after Shiemi and Shima didn't come back."
Bon shrugged. "One of us says they're going to take a leak then screams as soon as they get out of the fire light, the other one chases after before anyone has the chance to react? Let 'em find out the hard way that my barriers'll keep them in."
"You should be the one that screams," Rin said. "More believable."
"To who?" Bon snorted.
Before their 'debate' could go any further Angel swept into the camp drawing all eyes. "Okumura, your presence has been demanded," he stated.
"You didn't see Izumo, Shiemi or the other guys?" Rin asked.
"No," Angel said shortly. "Come with me."
"Look, we're in the middle of an assignment," Bon argued. "You can't just drag him off and four of our classmates are missing. If we didn't have the Pages to look out for we'd be out searching for them now."
"Okumura's involvement in the assignment has been suspended," Angel declared. Then his voice softened. "Don't concern yourself, I will speak on Okumura's behalf about whatever it is." He frowned. "Pheles just informed me that I was to retrieve him. I don't normally receive orders through him."
"You aren't part of the assignment?" Bon asked feeling a ball of ice forming in his stomach.
"It's beneath my station," Angel replied.
"You can't just leave us here!" Maki protested.
Angel gave the Page a quelling look and the boy immediately went back to his dishes. When Angel gestured for Rin to come, the half-demon stood and quietly moved to his side.
"Look, I'm coming too," Bon insisted.
"Me too," Godain declared. "If Okumura-kun's in trouble I want to help."
"Enough!" Angel exclaimed. "Sit, stay, do your homework. You're a terrible influence Okumura, even the Pages are starting to talk back."
Rin stuck out his tongue at Angel, the Paladin rolled his eyes. "I better go," Rin said.
"I'm coming," Bon reiterated.
"We should all go," Godain said reasonably. "It wouldn't be safe to leave us with just one Exwire for protection right?"
Even the Pages who didn't care for Rin agreed with that logic.
Angel looked frustrated. "Surugo's wards are properly set," he said.
"Right," Rin agreed, deciding that it would be bad if they messed up the Exwire Exam because of him. "They'll hold 'til morning and you'll send someone back to help Bon bring 'em home then yeah?"
Angel nodded.
"Alright, you better look after him," Bon threatened, privately he resolved to ditch the Pages as quickly as possible and hopefully catch up with Rin and Angel before they made it out of the forest. He watched the two of them vanish into the shadows.
"Is it really going to be okay?" Godain asked.
Bon grimaced, "It's never good when the Gregori wants to talk to Rin."
"Yeah, 'cause he's a demon," Maki said snidely.
"What's going on?" Mana asked. "Kamiki, Miwa, Shima and Shiemi-chan all just disappear, but you're more worried about Rin."
"I trust my friends' abilities," Bon said shortly. "They can take care of themselves against most things. But Rin doesn't get the right to defend himself, when the Order decides to treat him like crap." He glared at Maki. "'Cause he's a demon. And it sucks that it works like that." He stood up and stomped off. "I'll be in my tent. Don't bug me unless someone's gonna die."
Bon let the flap fall shut, then pulled out a pocket knife and made himself a backdoor then slipped off into the night.
"I wonder what happened," Ueno said.
"Who cares, maybe they're finally going to get rid of Okumura. I mean you heard what Shiku-sensei said about him," Maki replied.
"Once I thought about, once Aiko-chan made me think, I realized it's terrible the way they treat him," Mana said. "It's like they don't want him to be a good person, like it's some sort of threat if Satan's son could be just a nice, normal person."
"I wouldn't go so far as to call Rin normal," Godain said. "But he's a good friend."
"Well, Shiku-sensei's opinion aside, that guy didn't seem like he was particularly worried about Okumura dooming the Earth or anything," Suzuki remarked.
"Would you worry about Okumura Rin if you were the Paladin?" Maki asked.
Ito shook his head. "It's more than that. I don't get Shiku at all. Okumura was in my homeroom last year and I can't imagine anyone seriously being afraid of him."
"Really?" Ueno asked. "What was he like."
"Quiet and sick," Ito replied. "Last year he came back from summer break with a broken leg and never really got healthy again for the rest of the year. When he wasn't out sick he looked like he should have been. The teachers eventually stopped waking him up when fell asleep in class, they were probably hoping it would do him some good. Then he ended up in the hospital for a month and dropped out spring term; the gossips were split between cancer and anorexia. The only person Okumura Rin scared was the room rep and that was just because she figured she was going to have to give his eulogy since no one seemed to really knew him after his twin transferred out."
"Are you sure he didn't kill his twin?" Maki asked.
The Salamander spewing fire ensured that no one answered him.
"You shouldn't worry," Angel told Rin as they left the forest. "If it were anything serious I'm certain the Grigori would have come straight to me rather than passing their orders through someone as questionable as Mephisto Pheles."
"You are quite right," Mephisto declared as he headed them off. "There were no orders. Oh there was a little fuss, but Rin-kun's fellow Exwires have already cleared up any misconceptions. Still you really should look into things."
Bon jogged up just as Angel exclaimed, "You lied to me!"
"I never," Mephisto replied looking affronted. "I told you that Rin had to be retrieved from the Exwire Test and that a troubling situation had been discovered. You assumed that the two were related all on your own."
"I loathe you," Angel informed Mephisto.
Mephisto turned to Rin, "He's a dreadful actor and I thought it would provide a more definitive test for our little Pages if we stirred up their main point of contention right before it all went to Hell." He cocked his head to the side, the sound of shouting drifted across the night. "I believe they just discovered that they are on their own against Ms. Shima's favorite salamander."
"He's gone!" Godain exclaimed after sticking his head in Bon's tent.
The Salamander was curled up in their campfire occasionally spitting flames at the Pages.
"Surugo's barrier's screwed up too," Suzuki growled. "I can't get out, but that thing didn't have any trouble getting in."
"We're going to have to drive it off," Ueno declared. She turned to Suzuki "How much holy water did you bring in your gear?"
"Not enough, but maybe we could mix something to poison the fire?" Suzuki said. The Sendai pair pulled open their bags and began comparing pharmaceutical components.
The Salamander seemed to recognize them as a threat, grudgingly it pulled itself out of the flames.
"Barricade! barricade!" Mana exclaimed. She chanted a quick phrase. The Salamander stopped, it put it's forepaw up against the invisible barrier and pushed. Mana shivered.
"She's not going to be able to hold it for long," Maki said. He dug through his bag and produced a bat, he had aspirations of becoming a knight but Pages didn't get weapons assigned unless they brought their own.
"Your Bunyip!" Ito shouted to Godain.
Godain looked doubtful.
"It's a water demon, better than a bat or anything I've got," Ito told him.
"Yeah, okay," Godain pulled out one of his summoning papers, he bit his thumb and smeared the blood on the paper. A small creature, like a misshapen cross between a dog and a starfish appeared on his shoulder.
The salamander breathed fire on Mana's barrier, burning it away. The girl fell to her knees as the backlash hit her.
"Okay Yips, it up to you," Godain said. The Bunyip produced a small stream of water that failed to come anywhere close to the Salamander.
"We're doomed," Maki announced as he raised his bat.
"My bag; balloons from Aiko-chan's going-away party," Mana gasped.
Godain dove for the bag. He dug out the leftover balloons and held one to Yips' mouth. The little bunyip filled it with water.
"Now we're talking," Ito said. He pulled a sling-shot out of his jacket pocket. "Give it here." Godain handed over the water balloon and a moment later it spattered against the salamander's snout. The creature snarled but drew back and buried it's injured nose in the fire for a moment.
"Good shot," Maki said, sounding surprised.
"I'm doing my best to have a misspent youth to look back on when I'm old and boring," Ito replied loading a second water balloon in his sling-shot. "Surprising what skills come in handy for more than egging things."
Godain started filling a third balloon. "We're holding it off but we still need to get it out of the camp," he said.
"We're working on it!" Suzuki exclaimed irritably.
The Salamander withdrew from the fire, it's injuries completely healed, and snarled at them. Ito let fly with the second water balloon. It smashed on the creature's nose again.
This time the Salamander roared and charged them. Maki swung his bat, targeting the Salamander's leg. It did little more than catch it's attention. Ito drew it back to him with a third water balloon.
"I've only got two more balloons," Godain shouted.
Ito flipped him a small packet, "Try this." Godain caught it, took a look at what he was holding, glanced at Mana and blushed.
"Hey! A little help here?" Maki shouted holding his bat up defensively as he scrambled away from the Salamander.
"Oh come on," Ito said, as he launched the last balloon. "A guy has to at least hope he's going to get luck right?"
"It'll work," Godain said, turning even more red as he unwrapped the condom.
"Here," Ueno grabbed Suzuki's bag and tossed Godain a whole box. "Sadao-kun has a very high opinion of his luck, but he's had the same box since he was thirteen."
Between the three of them, Ito, Maki and Godain kept the Salamander occupied for several minutes longer until Suzuki gave a triumphant cry, Ueno was holding up a smoking vial and the two future doctors were grinning. Mana took the vial then created another barrier to shield herself as she ran for the fire. She tossed it in and a thick, orangish smoke began billowing out. The Salamander's nose wrinkled in disgust. Another water balloon smacked it and it turned and slowly ambled out of the clearing.
The Pages had a moment to grin at each other in relief then the campsite was swarming with Exorcists. Rin bounded over. "You guys did great!" he exclaimed slapping Godain on the back gleefully.
The Pages stared around themselves in befuddlement. Shima and a girl in an Exorcist's coat with similar features were cooing over the salamander, rubbing ashes onto the wounds made by their attacks. Shiemi hugged Mana, "You did so well, better than we did," she said.
"Tsuzo was holding her familiar back a lot more than that lunatic who tested us," Bon argued.
About a dozen Exorcists and the headmaster were standing around grinning, "You pass!" Mephisto exclaimed. "You're all Exwires now!"
Notes:
Atum - an Egyptian god, a primordial creative force, also the 'complete one', the finisher of the world, which he returns to watery chaos at the end of the creative cycle.
Anubis - an Egyptian god, guardian of tombs and the scale for weight hearts,embalmer, guide of souls.