CHAPTER NINETEEN

Terror! Old Man and Granny Tongue-Cutter

"Akime, we have to find some way to get out of here!" Hiraku said, struggling at the bars of his cage. My heart beat so loudly that it filled my ears. The pressure on my neck choked and pained me. I relaxed my pulling, but that trapped, suffocating feeling remained. My tender throat was encased in solid metal, but it still felt wreathed in danger and pain, the same as if there were open jaws hovering above it. One thought ran through my head: 'I can't breathe.'

"Akime, we have to stay calm. We have to come up with a plan." Hiraku said steadily, he was probably scared I might hurt myself. 'Calm... right. Think of a way out of this. every monster has its weakness.' I noticed a crimp of folded, imperfect metal at the top of Hiraku's cage. 'and every cage has a weakest point." I swallowed with difficulty, trying to steady myself. I told myself the discomfort was all in my head- there was plenty of space in between the collar and my neck -mostly taken by fur- for me to breathe. 'Think, Akime think!' I berated myself. I was suddenly distracted from my worry when another crow tengu opened the doors and walked in carrying a pile of dirty robes.

"Hey Suke, just to remind you it's your turn to wash the boss's robes when you're off-duty. Don't forget. Again."
"Nuh-uh!" The tengu, who was apparently Suke, protested. "It's not my turn! I washed 'em last week!"

"Really, it was only a week ago?" Hiraku muttered, and despite ourselves we snickered. The giant bird's cloak was in horrible shape. "No, Sho washed them last week! It's your turn this time!" The first tengu broke in, and Suke puffed up. "Is not!"

"Is too, you liar!" Said the third tengu, who I guessed was probably Sho. "Not!"

"Too!"

"Shut up!" Screeched the first monster, and Suke deflated. "Fine, fine! I'll wash his stupid robes!" The monster cawed. "And be careful with them!" Said the first tengu, who was heading back out of the room. "If you put a hole in these like with the master's special vanishing robes, he'll have your head!" He slammed the door, making the room darker. "Wait, what was that?" I barked aloud. "Vanishing robes..." My mind snapped back to the battle when Sojobo had vanished for a few seconds before reappearing. That's how he did it! There was some sort of power imbued in his cloak, so that when he'd put the hood on, he'd vanished. Without it, he would be easily defeated!

I looked around, searching for something to use, and spotted a large stone statuette on a shelf behind Hiraku's cage. I gestured to it with my nose, and Hiraku caught onto my idea. We grinned at each other, minds synchronized in that moment. Suke was still grumbling in low crow-like croaks about the unfairness of the chore, and Hiraku took advantage to distract them.

"I don't know, it sounds like Suke should get this week off to me." He proclaimed loudly. "See? See?" The one bird-demon shrieked. "Even the prisoners agree with me!"

"Now just a minute!" Sho puffed himself up. "He don't know all the facts, and I know for a fact that I did it last time!" While the monsters were busy arguing, I drew a large gale-mark up by the shelf, which blew over the lighter objects, and made the figurine lean back and forth. "Hey! What're you doing, Okami?" One of the tengu said, snapping out of the argument and striding towards us with his weapon pointed at me. "I'm not doing anything." I barked innocently, sitting down, and watched as the giant statue wobbled and tipped over. The heavy statuette fell and landed right on the cage, crushing the top of it and breaking the locks and hinges on the door. Hiraku squeezed through the gap and launched himself at the crow tengu.

"AAAGHH! Get it off! Get it off!" Suke shrieked and flapped around wildly, while Sho tried to help him. "Ouch! He got me!" Sho yelped, jerking backwards, nursing a small wound on his wingtip. I began to paint tiny inferno marks on the golden chain. Once, twice, and on the third time, it caught fire and the metal began to move downwards as it liquified. I pulled at the chains, and they ripped apart where it was melting, sending golden drops flying. I whipped it in the direction of the tengu, and the molten metal hit them straight in the face, sending them to the floor. "Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Hiraku cheered, and bounced over to me. I cracked my neck and stretched my limbs, flexing them. 'Dait-Tengu thought I was weak and stupid. He thought I was easily contained, that chains alone could stop me, but he was wrong, oh so very wrong, and now he's going to pay for his mistake.'

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We had to work our way back up the bathhouse to Dait-Tengu's personal floor, he'd put us on a level just above the lobby. It was some sort of purification room slash brig. We wanted to stay secretive as before, so he wouldn't know of our escape. This proved difficult, as on the very next floor we ran into a powerful demon that wouldn't let us pass without a fight. The third floor was a giant kitchen, which was mainly one big room, with a couple side-rooms such as the storage room, the tool cabinet and the doors leading to the serving hall. When we pushed the doors into the main cooking area, standing at the counter was another tengu, a female one; not quite as huge as Sojobo, but she was still a large demon. The monster chopped something on the counter with a giant butcher's cleaver, which looked like it might have been a small animal once. The door closed behind us, making an abrupt, loud sound. She snapped her head suddenly towards us much like an owl. Her face was contorted grotesquely, she had long ears, a lengthy pointed nose, and dark, matted hair. All in all her appearance was even more monstrous than Dait-Tengu's. Her yellow bird's eyes narrowed in fury when she caught sight of us. "What's this? A God? In MY kitchen!?" She stopped cutting, and raised herself into the air, screeching. "How dare you enter here? This kitchen is MINE! No deities shall foul it up; I will not allow it! My husband Sojobo may have wanted you alive, but now you're in Amanozako's domain, and I'll deal with you, -filthy God- myself!" She screamed, holding a giant knife in her talons. The demon bared her fangs, smiling maniacally at us. "I'll serve you for dinner!" Dait-Tengu's wife screeched, swinging it at us.

The battle with her husband had been difficult, but Amanozako was twice as ferocious of a fighter. While Sojobo had been playing with us, she was actively trying to kill us. I had to hurriedly dodge her rapid swipes, plus there wasn't a lot of space in the kitchen to maneuver. She seemed to have some sort of telekinetic control over the plentiful weapons in the kitchen; she made them fly out of their drawers and hurtle towards us. I had to duck behind cupboard doors to avoid being stabbed by the flying blades. The kitchen was a whir of feathers, knives, and fur. I managed to slice several knives back at her, which made the monster-wife shriek in pain and fury. Her huge, witchy face was contorted in rage, horrible and terrifying to behold. She bent her head down and plucked one of the blades out of her chest with her teeth, and stared at us in fury as she bit clean through the metal with her terrible fangs. Amanozako dived at us, and I ducked, but she grabbed the chain of my collar and tried to heave me into the air. I made a choking sound as my airway closed and dug my paws into the ground. My resistance caught her off guard as she tried to lift me into the air to be strangled. I clamped my jaws onto the chain and held on tight to pull back. I yanked my head in an arc, rearing up on my back feet, which pulled her momentum to the side, and she started flying in a giant circle, held by the chain. She harped insults at us as she tried to regain control but I kept swinging her in giant circles. I swung her into the wall, which dazed her. She was so oily, her dark feathers were shiny with it, they might have been smoothed down with grease, but that gave me an idea. I stood in front of the giant oven, and she swooped down towards me, one foot with talons extended to grab me, a giant knife brandished in the other. I ducked at the last second and she soared right over me with a shriek. A burst of heat and light radiated from the oven and nearly knocked me off my feet, singing my tail.

There was no sign of the monstrous bird-creature in the flames, she'd combusted instantly and completely vanished. Except for one thing she'd dropped when she'd smacked into the wall. I saw it gleaming on the floor and trotted up to it, it was a golden key! Hiraku picked it up and slipped it into the keyhole on my collar, twisting it and making it pop apart and fall to the ground. I took a deep breath and stretched my neck, enjoying the free feeling. "What do we do with it now?" The poncle mused, kicking at the chain. "Melt it down? Throw it away?"
"No, I have a better idea for this." I said, thinking about my tug-of-war with Dait-Tengu's wife. "I think it can still come in handy yet." I barked, but just then the floor shook. "Whoah! What was that?" I exclaimed, trying to keep my footing on the trembling tiles. "I think that Amanozako's magic must have been helping keep this place up too. Now she's gone, the spells are weakening. They'll vanish completely when Dait-Tengu is defeated."

"Then let's not waste any more time. We can't have been the only ones to have felt that tremor." I said, pulling the lever on the wall and ran towards the elevator doors. "Right. It's time to kick some more old, feathery, bird butt!"

(AN: A second boss fight in the same dungeon? Whaaaat? But now it's time to really show Sojobo what they're made of!)