I'M FEELIN' TWENTY-TWO

Dojo Entrance

I trotted down the length of the beach, the sun rising over the sea and splashing bright colors across the sky and water. "Hey Akime!" Hiraku said suddenly, shaking me out of my thoughts. "Isn't that a dojo?" I looked to left where he was pointing. Yes! Out on a little island off the coast, there was a dojo! "Let's go check it out!" Hiraku said, I nodded in response and jumped into the water, the ocean cool and refreshing.

My energy goes away slower in water than my mother's, so I can swim for a longer period of time without worry. Using lily pads from time to time, I eventually hauled myself out of the water onto the island. I shook, my thick fur sending water drops flying in every direction, then I took off up the hill. When I turned the corner, I got a good look at the building. There was a giant platform-thing that was rotted and old off to the side, and the ground around the dojo was littered with trash and burned. When I walked up to the door, I saw a note. I looked in closer and I saw it read: "com back hear tonite for the big fite! Demons onlee!" The message was scrawled out messily on the paper, and several words were crossed out and re-written, so I knew it had to be an imp's hand writing. I took a few steps back, then I sat down and drew a semicircle in the sky. The water from my tail left the ink streaky and wet in the sky, before it slowly transitioned into a radiant crescent moon. It suddenly grew dark, and a light came on inside the dojo. I heard drunken imp singing coming from inside, and other ruckus. I rose to my feet, and started to walk towards the door, but Hiraku stopped me. "Hold it furball! Didn't you see the sign on the door? If you go in there now, you'll be swarmed! You need a disguise!" He pulled out a piece of full-sized paper from his miniature knapsack. 'Of course! I could make a mask like a imp's to fool them!'

I then decorated it with the celestial brush, 'just like my mother and Issun when they snuck into the moon cave,' I thought to myself and smiled. Hiraku helped me put it on, then I walked into the imp's dojo.

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It was bright in the dojo, and imp talk came from tables around me, each of them had a candle in the middle, and the walls, -though heavily scratched- had hanging lights on them. The doors had been torn down and you could clearly see the fighting platform from the entrance. "Hey there beautiful." One green imp slurred from a nearby table. "Fancy a little *hic* evildoing?" The other drunk imps at the table laughed and my hackles went up, but I kept my head and walked past him with ears and tail firmly held high. I was on a mission, I had no time for drunks… But when the boss was taken care of I would chase the others away no problem, starting with that one.

A red imp sat in a corner of the fighting hall, playing music on its shamisen, but passed out after a few seconds, then woke up and started playing again, and the cycle repeated itself over and over. Loud grunting drew my attention to the right side of the room. "Come on Brute! Finish him!" An imp cheered, and one humongous imp slammed another smaller imp's hand into the table, broke the wood and the smaller imp fell to the ground with a yelp. The huge imp flexed his muscles and roared. "Let's go gents!" The huge imp bellowed after taking the victory shout. "To the fighting hall!" He said, throwing his fists in the air. I was pushed and shoved with the crowd to the hall, where the large, dark red imp jumped onto the platform and turned to face the crowd. "Lift your hand if you wanna battle!" All hands flew into the air, and I put my paw up. Several whoops echoed from the crowd. "Ok, now lift your hands if you really want TO battle!" All the imps kept their hands up, unaware of the change in meaning, and their lack of change in response went over Brute's head. The giant imp roared in laughter. "All right then, that's what I like to see! You'll all have your turn! But um, let's see… You, you… You, you… And… You." He said, pointing at us in turn, a purple imp, a yellow imp, a fellow red imp, two green ones, and me. "Come up here!" He bellowed, and the imps cheered. 'Imps… Really aren't smart,' I thought to myself as I holy-eagled gracefully onto the platform. I stood next to my fellow competitors and tried to size them up. The blue imp appeared ragged and had a sneaky look about him, the red imp next to him was having a hard time staying upright given how drunk he was, the yellow imp stood proudly with his hands on his drum, and the two green imps standing side by side looked equally ready. "Let's get things started!" Brute leaned against his own instrument, a large shamisen. "But first, rules, rules! You all should know 'em by now, but the winner of this fight gets to be the boss of the dojo!" The crowd cheered. "That means you have to beat me, but what's the chance of that happening?" He laughed. "Losers… Well. Their flowers get thrown out in the morning with all the other trash." None of the competitors seemed to care about the prospect of losing, although one was way too drunk to look like he cared much about anything. "Who first?" Brute looked the competitors up and down. "You two!" He roared, pointing at the yellow imp and then the red imp, the former of which stepped forward eagerly, while the other staggered and almost fell over.

"What are your names, gents?"
"Masaru." The yellow monster said, puffing up his chest while the red imp swayed. "It's….Uh…*hic* I don't remember…" Brute laughed. "It doesn't matter, just give us a show!" Brute backed up, giving the fighters space. The larger imp beat on his drums impressively, rousing up the crowd. The red imp put up his fists bravely, bouncing on his feet, his mask starting to slip off. He threw a punch at the giant imp, which bounced off his enemy's stomach and ended up almost knocking himself over. With a smug grin, the yellow monster raised his sticks high in the air and brought them slamming down onto his instrument so it delivered a shockwave so powerful that it knocked his opponent off the platform. The red imp slumped against the wall, out for the count. The winning demon beat on his drum victoriously as the crowd cheered. "Too easy!" The yellow imp boasted, and Brute smiled. "We have a first victor of the evening! Now, he has the right to take on me. 100-day champion of this competition." He crouched down, cracking his knuckles and brandished his instrument. Brute's shamisen broke apart, yielding a club and a scythe from the two pieces. The two giant imps circled each other, surprisingly the yellow one not diving underground- his kind's key move. Perhaps he was too prideful to hide. Masaru lifted his drum and fired a missile at the red monster, Brute swung his club and hit the yellow imp's shoulder in retaliation before he could recover from the recoil. The yellow imp stepped forward and hammered his opponent with his sticks, until Brute took a step back and raised his club high. The yellow imp blocked the club by crossing his drumsticks and creating a barrier, Brute could not reach him. Brute rested all his weight on his club so the yellow imp couldn't pull away without being clobbered. The crimson-colored imp smiled, he swung his scythe around his opponent and sliced through his back. Brute grinned maliciously as Masaru's breath seized and he faded into an array of flora. The crowd roared with approval, no sympathy for their fallen brethren. I was stunned, but I didn't know what I expected- of course a monster like him would play dirty, and to have been the ruler for so long he must have played many dirty tricks.

Brute turned back to the last three fighters, clipping his guitar back together. "What's your name, friend?"

"Haru." The dodgy-looking blue imp muttered. "Give me an intimidating impression, would you?" I whispered to Hiraku, and he nodded. "How about you, four-legs? What's your name?" Brute moved on to me.

"Uh, Ak- A-kill, me. That's me. Killer." Hiraku said in a deep voice. "Cool name." Brute complimented, before turning his attention to the green demons. "We are the Tsuin twins." One of them started, and the other finished. "Ah, I've heard of you two. This is going to be a good fight!" Brute clapped his hands together. I assumed a fighting stance, as did the twins and the blue imp immediately summoned his glider and took to the air, flying above our heads. One green imp stood on the other's shoulder, trying to knock Haru out of the air. The blue imp flew at the two greens, dipping down like a great kite to smash them apart. Haru smiled devilishly and let loose an array of heavy objects and I danced out of the way of the falling projectiles while the green imps covered their heads. A few of the objects broke through the platform floor. I sliced through the gliding imp's paper, hoping none of the monsters would find it suspicious. The crowd cheered as the blue imp fell from the sky. At once, the twins started beating the fallen monster with their flutes. He burst apart, and they both turned their attention to me in unison. Thinking fast, I hurriedly covered one of the twins head to toe in ink, which blinded him. Confused, he started swinging wildly and his brother was caught in the path of his blows. The demon audience laughed. "Hey! Watch it!" The imp being attacked shrieked, and started to slap back. While they were distracted I wrapped my rosary around them both, running in a great circle, and pulled it taut. The already weakened demons were cut neatly in half by the beads. Once again the crowd broke out into applause, no scrap of remorse or mercy for the fallen. "Not even a scratch on you! I'm impressed." Brute said, examining my coat. "Now, you get to face me." There were several whoops and cheers of bloodlust as Brute drew his weapons. I growled, whipping my tail back and forth. He leapt forward, swinging his club downwards and I jumped out of the way. It broke through the already beaten floor and got stuck, I took the opportunity to lash my rosary at him a few times, which did nothing. It only proceeded to make him angry, and he yanked his weapon out of the ground with a roar, turning again to face me. Using the same tactic he had with the yellow imp, he swung towards me so that I was forced to parry using my reflector. As he reached around with his scythe I drew two lines in the air. Time slowed, and I had time to move before I would have been stabbed in the back, and in fact move behind the giant imp. I couldn't see Brute's shocked face, but I was sure it was priceless. With one stroke, I power-slashed both his perfectly aligned weapons and they split apart again in his hands, useless. Time returned to normal, and the blood-red imp advanced towards me with bare fists, fueled by rage at being thwarted. I drew a cherry bomb in front of him and his massive arms swung up to protect his face as it exploded. I had an idea. When his arms lowered I aimed my rosary his face, and he took damage. I realized that his little head was his weak spot. I drew another cherry bomb, this time right on top of him, and he barely had time to look up before it exploded. He was blown off his feet and turned gray, the color knocked out of him. I took the chance to place well-aimed blows to his little head, until before he could get to his feet again he turned into a gigantic red flower. I howled victoriously and the sea of imps joined in, then I turned to address them. "Everyone! I'm sorry, but the dojo is now officially closed for business!" I removed my mask, monsters around the building yelled in anger and shock. "I am hereby evicting everyone from the premises. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way." I pulled out a slip of paper from my bag and held it up. "Exorcism slip!" The lewd imp who'd commented at me before screeched in panic, and all the imps began to scramble over each other in an attempt to reach the door. "Begone!" I cried as the last monster funneled out the door.

"I didn't know we had one of those." Hiraku said curiously. "We don't." I replied, and showed him the paper. "It's just the price list Kabe gave us."

"Clever wolf." Hiraku said, a smile spreading on his face. "Looks like visiting that cat was worth it after all."

"It's a little bit faster and easier than clearing them out one by one. Although a little less fun." I barked, stowing away the paper. "Besides, I needed to save my ink to use it all for rejuvenation." I said, looking over the mess the monsters left behind. I blew out a long breath through my nose; taking care of demons is the easy part, cleaning up is a truly difficult task that even gods are unequipped for.

(AN: Surprise! It's a late holiday miracle, but given Winter Break I've had a lot of time to write and work on projects I didn't have the time to during the rest of the year. So my present to you all is not one, not two, but FOUR new chapters! To the next chapter!)