Battle Assessment
"Akime!" I heard a friendly meow behind me. I lifted my head and turned around, then smiled and thumped my tail loudly on the stone floor. "Kumo! Raiden!" Two of my best friends in the whole of the Celestial Plains were walking up the path towards me, a tiger cub and a foal. Raiden was the child of the lightning god, a slightly overweight tiger cub with sleek crimson lines streaking up his sides, less jagged than those of his father's. His facial markings were the traditional eye-lining red marks of the gods and classic forehead circle, but on his cheeks were two bright red dots that looked like blush. However, they were slowly fading, being replaced by his adult markings- which was steadily happening for all of us. My two spirals on my sides were becoming three, while my eye markings spread out towards the front to become more of a broken curve. I'd also started developing lines coming down from the two markings on front of my legs. 'Lines, what dumb markings' I couldn't help but think.
"Hi Akime!" Raiden mewed in response, and Kumo neighed a hello as well. Kumo was not the foal-god's real name. We younger gods just called him that because of his fluffy, cloud-like mane. He also had long spindly legs, that make him resemble a gangly spider. They were always bowing outwards, and he continually struggled to keep them under control. He had markings nearly identical to his father's, a short tufty mane, and wide, seemingly always nervous eyes. Out of all of us, he was always the one who was the conscience on our shoulders, warning us not to do things that might be dangerous. But I didn't care about danger. I was filled with the urge to go on adventures, face all the foes and rescue a mortal in distress. It was good that Kumo was so cautious, he was a good influence on my over-courageous spirit.
"Akime, are you up for a bout?" Raiden asked, lowering his front half down into a playful crouch. "As always!" I laughed. "Are you going to join in this time Kumo?" I asked the foal. "No. I'm going to referee!" The colt said proudly. "And I'm going to beat you this time!" The tiger cub said confidently and puffed out his chest. "Good luck with that!" I told him. "I don't need it!" The tiger cub mrowed. We pranced off through the lush green grass of the plains that was spattered with flowers. I sprinted, loving the feel of wind racing by my ears. Raiden soon caught up, and we raced to the fighting hollow, which wasn't too far away. It was where Amaterasu and the other gods brought their children to learn to fight. We often met up here to compete and show off our skills. There was a big tournament coming up soon between some of the gods' children, -so we could show off our combat skills- and I wanted to be at the top of my game; more practice was all I needed. I poked at one of Raiden's paws while we ran, flashing it in and out, and he pounced at me. We tumbled in the grass and rolled into the hollow. It was an open-faced temple with a patch of fresh grass outside. There were dummies all around the place, some sliced open with stuffing pouring out, and others with lightning-arrows sticking out of them. Inside the temple itself were even more things to arm yourself with or to practice with- but we were going to practice outside that day.
"Get ready!" The tiger cub mewed and sprinted to the opposite side of the field. I took a deep breath and tried to focus. We squared off, and I sunk down into a fighting crouch like my mother had taught me, readied for battle. My paws splayed out in the grass, and I tried to keep my weight equally balanced. They were in the right spot- which was a great achievement considering their abnormally large size. I'd still yet to grow into them. I smiled excitedly, then the cub-god roared and took a flying leap at me. A brave move, but I dodged it easily by diving to the left, 'This battle is going to be a piece of cake if he decides to act like this the whole time.' The tiger cub turned around, slowly enough for me to take advantage. I leaped forward, and pounced on the cub's head, grabbing his ear with my teeth and biting down, but not too hard. He yowled as he toppled over sideways, the weight of me on his head was too much for his body to handle. He hit the ground and I leaped off instantly. He sprang to his feet quickly, but instead of leaping into battle, this time he pulled out a lightning arrow from his quiver and set it on the string of the bow on his back. As the child of the god of onslaught, his father had granted him his own miniature weapons. The lightning bolts equipped weren't enough to kill anything larger than a mouse, but they could provide a mighty shock. He readied his bow, squinting his eye and sticking his tiny pink tongue out one side of his mouth. When he was ready, he let it fly. I just barely dodged it. 'His aim is getting better.' I thought to myself, happy for my friend, but that wasn't so good for me in that instance. I was unprepared when he let loose another three arrows consecutively. I spun out of the way of each, but he took the chance while I was recovering to launch himself at me again. This time he landed on my back. He seemed stunned that he'd actually succeeded, and for half a second he just lay there while I trembled under his weight. Then he tried to kick my sides with his back legs, but I crouched down and sprung up with all the force I could muster. He went flying, but being a cat, he landed on all fours. We both panted, fur ruffled and the wind blew around us. "You should just give in now Rai." I teased, and he smirked, cat-lips parting in a cleaved grin. "You wish!" With that, we leaped at each other again. His paws landed on my chest, but I got the upper paw, and pushed down on his shoulders, pushing up higher. He dove towards the ground, and I landed on his back. Not gracefully, more like a belly-flop, but it pinned him down. "Got ya!" I declared, tail wagging, and the cub pouted. "Fine, fine I give!" I got off him, and he also bounced to his feet.
"Why didn't you call a foul when she bit my ear, Kumo?" The tiger cub lashed his tail, staring at the foal with a raised brow. "It happened too fast…" The foal tried to make an excuse, shifting from one leg to another. "Poor refereeing!" The cub sniffed. "This battle didn't count! We need to do a rematch!"
"Oh yeah?" I questioned. "What about when you shot arrows at me? You cheated too, so we're even!" I barked, puffing up my chest. "I win fair and square!" Raiden rolled his eyes.
Just then, three small white figures appeared over the rise. I recognized them immediately, it was Kabegami's trio of kittens, the most troublesome of all the young gods, including the three of us. I didn't like them too much, they were just too… Catty. Ichigo was the oldest, he was the solid foundation of the group, he sheltered the others. Itsuko, the middle one, was a female kitten with a very energetic personality, always running everywhere and never staying in the same place. Last was Izumo, the smallest of the three, was the most curious and prone to daydreaming, but still as devious as the rest.
"Hey guys." Ichigo smiled, waving his tail in the air, and we mumbled a reply. "Hey Ichigo, Itsuko, Izumo. How are you guys?" I smiled politely. "Oh, we're great!" He purred. "You'll never guess what happened earlier. We were exploring in the rafters of our mother's temple when Great Mother Amaterasu came in!" Izumo meowed, which made me tilt my head and share a look with the others in surprise. "My mother?"
"That's what we said, silly!" Itsuko giggled, and I puffed out my cheeks indignantly. "Why was she there?" I snapped, tail sticking out in irritation. "She said she might need our mother's help in knocking down and scaling some of the caves by the waterfall!" Ichigo drawled. The kittens' eyes lit up, seeing our ignorance. "You don't know?" Itsuko purred. "Apparently Ookami Amaterasu thinks there might be some 'lingering shadows' in there!" Now my eyes lit up. "Really?" I asked, and they grinned. "That's right!" Izumo meowed. "We're going there now to see if the rumors are true." The kittens said, nodding at each other. "Lingering shadows… There might be a demon or two in there!" My eyes widened. "Come on! Let's go check it out!" I barked, jumping to my feet and started racing towards the mountain. I was followed closely by the kittens, Rai, and a few strides behind was Kumo.
The great mountain rose before us, getting bigger with every step. The training grounds weren't far from its base, as sometimes we went inside the caves to train in different tasks. I caught sight of the waterfall and sped up. The waterfall provided a jet of water that cascaded out of the side of the cliff. The water fell into a tranquil pool that trickled into a creek that led away from the mountain. Spray from the waterfall wet our faces as we looked around.
"Here it is!" We heard Ichigo meow and raced over. The kitten was standing in front of a wide chasm in the side of the mountain. We stared at the huge mouth of the cave, inside it was completely dark inside, my eyes widened with excitement. My ears perked forward, I could hear wind echoing inside, and little drops coming from within, it was very thrilling. "Come on, let's go!" I said, wagging my tail and jumping towards the entrance.
"Don't tell us you're actually going in there?" Itsuko meowed in disbelief. "Of course! Aren't you?" I barked. "Canines." She shook her head derisively, and Raiden's fur stood on end. "Hey! I'm no canine, but I'm definitely braver than all three of you fraidy-cats!" He said and walked to stand by me in front of the entrance. Kumo sighed and also went to stand by us. "Suit yourselves." Izumo shrugged. "See you guys later!" They waved in farewell, and padded off together. "Have fun wandering around in the dark, wet cave!" The kittens laughed. Raiden shook his head. "They can be real hairballs sometimes." He muttered, but I was too preoccupied to be annoyed. "They might have been lying…" Kumo said uncertainly, shifting weight from one hoof to another. "Nah. They might be annoying, but they're not liars." Raiden's tail twitched, and mine wagged; but Kumo flattened his ears against his head and quivered, long legs trembling so much I thought they'd collapse. "But Akime, i-it's so dark in there." He said in a low whinny. "What if there is a demon in there?" I rolled my eyes. "That's the point! That's why we're going in there, to have an adventure!" My eyes gleamed. "Don't you want to have an adventure?" I said as I came right up to the colt's face, smiling in anticipation. "Well, yeah…" The colt said, shifting from one spindly leg to another. Though he'd hate to admit it, he was just as inspired by Chibi's stories as I was. "But-" He tried to warn us again. "That's what I thought, now come on! I'll take care of any demon!" I barked brightly as I bounded into the mouth of the cave. My wolf eyes could see little in the darkness, but I could make out shapes and the sides of the cave, and that was all that I needed. I looked back into the light and gestured with my tail for the others to follow. Raiden came after me, encouraged by my fearless spirit, but Kumo followed cautiously- as always. I would always charge headfirst into battle, whether it be off the plains or into the biggest danger our young lives had seen yet, and he was the only one who thought of the consequences of our actions.
The shadows of the cave loomed, not like how I remembered. Feeling at once very small, my pace slowed. Out of the dark appeared two crimson eyes, causing me to freeze in my tracks. The shadowy creature's stare fixed me in place, and the creature lunged towards me.
(AN: Yep, this was another dream chapter. I hope it wasn't too confusing, lol. Next is something BIG! A burning town comes to the ground! A city once united falls into disrepair! Two kings will battle to decide who's the ruler, once and for all! MUAHAHAHA)