Summary: With Lady Shade defeated, her headquarters destroyed, and the Shadow in disarray, Rafaela heads out to spend her alone time, only to be thrust into a solo adventure helping a kitsune child against ruthless yokais.
In the Crete Fortress, the Lotus Ninjas sat on the floor in their mediated position as they prepared to start their training lesson.
"Today's lesson will be one on one sparring. Last kunoichi standing wins." Saldana announced.
The Lotus Ninjas jumped on their feet and summoned their elemental magic as they faced each other with determined faces. Ellie summoned a swirling gust of wind around her. Lee surrounded herself with streams of water. A pair of rose vines encircled Donna in a snake-like manner. Ella's hands were engulfed by blazing flames.
"Hajime!" Saldana said.
Ella made the first move and darted forward in Ellie's direction.
"Good choice, sis." Ellie grinned, charging towards her second oldest sister.
Ellie delivered a strong blast of wind at Ella, who backflipped away to avoid her youngest sister's attack. Ella then created four fireballs and fired them at Ellie altogether. With a cocky smile, Ellie quickly jumped in the air and evaded the fireballs. She then spun herself with fast speed and became a whirling tornado. Ella darted forward and released a rapid barrage of fireballs at Ellie, who immediately threw out a large wave of wind to extinguish the flames. Ellie then began running around Ella with swift speed.
"Can't fight a kunoichi who's quick on her feet!" Ellie said with a confident smirk.
Ella growled. She knows that her fire magic can't work against her little sister's air magic. Then, she released a smirk. She sprang high in the air above Ellie, causing her little sister to stop running. Ellie looked up and began firing strong blasts of wind.
Ella swiftly dodged the wind blasts and sped forward, raising her flaming knee straight into Ellie's stomach. Ellie backed away for a minute and then collapsed to the ground in pain.
"I win." Ella grinned.
"Yeah...whatever." Ellie groaned.
Donna and Lee stared intensely at each other in their fighting stances.
"Ready when you are, sis." Lee said.
"Here I come." Donna replied.
Donna swiftly moved her hands, causing her rose vines to suddenly grow huge and aimed for her oldest sister. Lee released a smile on her face. She easily dodged the rose vines that kept coming at her from every direction over and over again. Donna then slammed her boot to the ground and summoned a long earth pillar that knocked Lee into the air. In a flash, Lee aimed her right arm and trapped Donna inside a large sphere of water. While holding her breath, Donna banged the water sphere and looked back up at her oldest sister with a shock look on her face. When Lee snapped her fingers, the water sphere launched Donna to the air with great force as a strong water blast, sending the purple mystic kunoichi to fall hard on the ground.
"Okay...I'm out." Donna admitted.
Donna and Ellie walked on opposite sides of Saldana as they began watching the match between two older mystic kunoichis.
"The usual. You and me." Ella smirked.
"Pretty much." Lee smirked back.
Lee and Ella charged and clashed forward. They began delivering rapid punches, kicks, and elemental-based attacks at each other. Their enhanced strength, speed, agility, and reflexes made them move around the dojo to strike and block each other's magic attacks. But the match didn't take long when Lee enhanced her magic and created a powerful whirlpool of water straight into Ella, engulfing her wholly and knocking her hard to the wall.
"Lee wins. Again." Donna said.
Lee bowed and moved away from Ella. As Lee walked towards Saldana, Ella looked at her older sister with glowing red eyes. Her face glazed with a heat of rage. She got herself back on her feet, which Ellie quickly caught with wide eyes.
"Oh no." Ellie said. She quickly turned to Lee. "Lee, look out!"
Lee turned around, but she didn't have time to react.
With a dangerous growl, Ella charged forward and delivered a barrage of lightning quick flaming punches right in the gut before knocking Lee into the air and hard onto the ground with a powerful punch to the face.
Donna and Ellie ran over to help Lee on her feet.
"Lee, are you okay?" Donna asked.
"Seriously, Ella! You took it too far!" Ellie snapped.
"Rafaela, we've talked about this time and time again." Saldana said firmly as she walked over to Ella. "Anger can cloud your judgment and mind without proper control."
"But I wasn't angry this time." Ella said.
Ellie, Donna, and Lee gave Ella unconvinced looks as they weren't buying her words.
"Oh, what's next? It was an accident? And you didn't mean to hurt her?" Ellie said.
"We've heard those excuses before and it's getting old." Donna added. "Training lessons or not, you always try to be better and stronger than Lee every chance you get."
Ella turned to Lee as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Lee..." Ella spoke.
"They're right, Lee. And you know it." Lee said. "Like mother said, you've gotta control your temper. Because if you don't, we can't trust you."
Ella looked at her sisters for a moment and turned away while crossing her arms over her chest. Saldana was about to place her gentle hand on Ella's shoulder, but Ella began walking away.
"I'm going out, mom." Ella said. "Rather be outside than with these headaches of kunoichis anyway."
Ella angrily stomped out of the dojo.
Saldana looked at her hotheaded daughter with a worried look while Lee, Ellie, and Donna exchanged concerned faces.
Outside, Ella stared at the luminescent city on the edge of the building rooftop in her civilian attire.
"Control my temper? So what!" Ella complained. "My temper makes me a better fighter in the group!"
Ella sighed heavily.
"Oh, who am I kidding. My family will never understand me." Ella muttered. She stood up on the rooftop edge. "Maybe some food will cheer me up. I haven't eaten anything for a while."
A small mythical fox-like creature sped over the building rooftops. It was covered in thick gray fur with a silver belly and paws. It has greenish-blue eyes and long nine tails with dark indigo tips. It turned its head and saw four female anthropomorphic rabbits running and leaping from behind. The fox creature tried to avoid them as fast as it could. But that didn't stop the four anthro rabbits from chasing after it.
"Come back here!" The four anthro rabbits called out.
One anthro rabbit jumped in front of the fox creature and blocked its path. She has a tall and slender figure with pale faintly blue fur, large blue hair pulled back into a ponytail and light blue eyes. She wore a black collared-leotard shirt, black shorts with a dark blue belt, and black high-heeled shin-high boots.
"Now, why are you running away?" The blue-furred rabbit questioned as she placed her hands on her hips.
Another anthro rabbit crouched behind the fox creature to her knees. She has a tall and slender figure with pale faintly pink fur, large pink hair pulled back into two curly pigtails, and light pink eyes. She wore a black collared-leotard shirt, black shorts with a dark pink belt, and black high-heeled shin-high boots.
"We'll take very good care of you." The pink-haired mystic said with a childlike smile. "We promise."
Without hesitation, the fox creature zoomed away from the anthro rabbits in an opposite direction at fast speed.
The third mystic huntress flew next to the fox creature. She has a tall and slender figure with pale faintly green fur, large long green wavy hair and light green eyes. She wore a black collared-leotard shirt, black shorts with a dark green belt, and black high-heeled shin-high boots.
"Run, run, run as fast as you can. But we will catch you, little fox." The green-furred rabbit said with a giggle.
The fox creature sped even faster to avoid the anthro rabbits, but it wasn't aware of the last one coming out of nowhere in its direction. She has a tall and slender figure with pale faintly red fur, large shoulder-length red hair in a curved bob cut, and light red eyes. She wore a black collared-leotard shirt, black shorts with a dark red belt, and black high-heeled shin-high boots.
"You better pay attention, little fox!" The red-furred rabbit spoke.
The last anthro rabbit sprang out of nowhere and fired a large sphere of bright red energy from her right hand that damaged the fox creature at full strike.
The fox creature crashed into the ground as the four anthro rabbits surrounded it. Before they could make a move, the fox creature's eyes glowed. A gust of smoke started swirling around into a tornado that made the anthro rabbits cover their eyes from the rapid wind.
With that, the fox creature darted away from the anthro rabbits at fast speed.
Meanwhile, Ella exited out of the restaurant with a large brown bag in her left hand. She reached inside and held out a Jamaican fried dumpling as she took a delicious bite out of it.
"Irma's right. These are the best dumplings I have ever tasted!" Ella smiled.
As Ella walked past the alleyway, her eyes immediately spotted the fox creature hiding inside an open wood box. She halted as she could tell that the mythical creature was shivering with tears in its eyes.
Ella darted forward to the open wood box. She knelt down on her knee to see the shaking fox creature, who looked up at her in fear.
"Hey, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt ya." Ella said. She magically levitated the brown bag in midair and held her hands out to pick up the fox creature. "But it's dangerous to be out here all by myself."
Ella held the fox creature in her arms. The fox creature sniffed Ella and nuzzled onto her chest, knowing that it could trust her.
"You must be cold and hungry." Ella said as she gently patted the fox creature. "Well, don't you worry. I'll take care of you."
Ella darted upward onto the building rooftop and moved forward towards the billboard. She levitated the brown bag next to her and took out a fried dumpling. She handed over to the fox creature, who sniffed the food and started chomping with delight.
"Man, you must be really hungry." Ella said with a chuckle. "It's a good thing I remember mom's stories on mythical creatures." She slowly placed her hand on the fox creature's head and gently rubbed it. "You must be a kitsune. A fox yokai. A baby one, that is. Normally, they are born in Japan, not America. But until then, I'm gonna keep you."
The baby kitsune looked up at Ella with a surprise expression.
"And I'm gonna call you...Izuna." Ella added.
The baby kitsune hopped onto Ella's left shoulder and licked her cheek as if she liked her new name. Ella smiled softly.
[+++]
Four anthro rabbits watched Ella with Izuna from a hiding spot. The green-furred rabbit placed a cell phone call.
"Boss, we have a problem." The green-furred rabbit spoke.
A humanoid anthro cat held her cell phone against her ear while staring at the window inside her office. She has grayish-blue skin, light gray fur, purple eyes with blue scleras, light gray cat-like ears on her head, light gray bobbed hair, and grayish-blue tail that has a blue-gray wisp at its tip. She wore a long black blazer dress with white cuffs, yellow buttons, and a grayish-blue fluffy collar.
"What is it? Tell me you found the kitsune." The anthro cat said. She began to listen about the situation. "A human? How many?"
The anthro cat listened to the anthro rabbit's response.
"Just one?" The anthro cat said firmly. "Listen, I don't care if it's just one human, just bring me that kitsune. Now that Lady Shade's out of the picture, nothing's gonna stand in my way."
[+++]
"Hey, you! Hand over the kitsune!"
Ella and Izuna turned around to see four anthro rabbits standing on the doorway. Izuna growled dangerously as Ella held onto her protectively.
"And who the heck are you? Chinchilla?" Ella snapped.
"We are yokais, human. The name's Rubi." The red-furred rabbit replied. "These are my sisters Safira, Esmeralda, and Morganita. And I'm gonna say this one more time. Hand over the fox."
Ella placed Izuna on the billboard platform and jumped down on the rooftop.
"You think you four can waltz up in there and take her? I don't think so." Ella said as she started to crack her knuckles with a grin. "If you want Izuna, you'll have to come through me."
Ella conjured her fire magic from both hands.
"So, you're a mystic." Safira spoke as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Very fascinating." Esmeralda said with a smile.
"Yay! Let's have some fun." Morganita grinned in a childlike manner.
"You may act tough." Rubi said to Ella with a smile as she cracked her knuckles. "But we're not afraid of your magic."
Rubi, Safira, Esmeralda, and Morganita radiated their hands with glowing energy.
"Alright then." Ella said with a grin. "Show me what you bunnies got."
Ella generated large fireballs and fired them towards the rabbit yokais at fast speed. But the rabbit yokais dodged away from the fireballs.
Izuna sprang in the air with fast speed from the billboard and fired a barrage of pale blue flames from her tails at the rabbit yokais that sent only Rubi, Morganita, and Esmeralda away to the ground.
Izuna levitated next to Ella with a happy expression.
"That's my girl." Ella said with a smile.
Safira kicked Ella into the air and gathered blue energy around her fists as she then propelled herself upward with a fiery energy burst before uppercutting the red mystic kunoichi to the ground. As Ella recovered, she generated flames from the palm of her hands and created a tornado-shaped blast of flames that sent Safira to the ground.
Ella turned her attention to Esmeralda. She darted forward and unleashed a barrage of large fireballs from her hands coming in Esmeralda's direction, but Esmeralda created a green energy barrier that surrounded herself against Ella's fire magic. Esmeralda dropped the energy barrier and released several green energy shockwaves from her body, but Ella moved away from the attack and surrounded her right fist with a fiery aura as she punched the green rabbit yokai that sent her flying away to the ground.
Ella turned around and released a barrage of flaming blasts from her hands at Morganita, who avoided the attack with a swift backflip. Morganite spun herself in a pink energy tornado around the red mystic kunoichi, but Ella canceled the attack by launching a large blaze of fire from her mouth that blew her away to Esmeralda and Safira.
Ella generated flames that formed in the shape of a large lotus flower and released multiple rapid fireballs at Rubi, who evaded from the fireballs with flips and splits. She then slammed her red energized fists to the ground and unleashed a powerful red energy shockwave that attacked Ella and sent her crashing hard to the doorway.
Morganita, Esmeralda, and Safira pushed themselves on their feet as they turned their heads to notice that their sister had beaten Ella.
Rubi turned her head at Izuna, who was shaking in fear.
"We've got what we came for, girls." Rubi said with a smile. Her eyes glanced at Safira. "Safira, if you don't mind."
Safira nodded her head. She took out a glass orb-like device and tossed it at Izuna, trapping the baby kitsune into a large glass globe container. Izuna growled angrily and tried to break free with its claws, but it couldn't even crack the glass.
"Mission completed." Safira said.
"Now, let's go collect our reward." Esmeralda said.
Morganita took out a pale cyan cube-shaped device from her hand. She twisted the device in 180° position and it glowed in a bright cyan light. The device began to float behind the rabbit yokais, causing it to open up a glowing square-shaped portal.
Ella slowly got back up on her feet while regaining consciousness. She turned her head just in time to see the portal from her very eyes.
"Izuna!" Ella cried.
Just after the rabbit yokai went through the portal, Ella impulsively sprinted after them. She rushed through the portal before it closed behind her.
Ella screamed within a whirlpool of glowing multicolored energy from the far end as they careened toward an unknown destination. Then, a multicolored vortex opened inside an unknown room and dumped Ella onto the ground before it closed from above.
"Man, talk about a wide ride." Ella said.
Ella stood up from the ground and looked around to observe the main room. The entire main room was heavily regal and luxurious with the imagery of a medieval style.
"Too regal for my taste." Ella commented with a scoff.
Ella quietly peeked on the balcony platform and saw the hissing Izuna lashing her tails at the glass globe, but she wasn't unable to escape.
"Izuna." Ella said.
Ella then noticed a female cat yokai stepping into the main room, where the rabbit yokais were waiting for her arrival. The cat yokai walked her way towards Izuna.
"So nice to see the quartet bring back my prize." The cat yokai said.
"It was our pleasure, Carina." Rubi said.
"You will be the key to victory for all the yokais." Carina said to the growling Izuna. "Without Lady Shade, the yokais will rise among the humans. And even they will bow in our glory."
"I don't know what they want with Izuna, but I've got to get her out of there." Ella muttered to herself. "There's five yokais here for me to kick their butt. But I can't go storming like a hothead. I've gotta think before I act."
Ella's eyes widened in surprise. She puts on a small grin.
"Oh, wow." Ella said. "If my sisters were here, I'd never hear the end of it for what I just said."
Carina and the rabbit yokais stared at the frightened Izuna with satisfied smiles.
"With the kitsune's powers, the yokais can finally conquer Lady Shade's deceased territory." Carina said.
"Not on my watch." Ella muttered.
Ella generated a small fireball in the palm of her hand and sent it flying at the center of the yokais. Carina, Rubi, Safira, Esmeralda, and Morganita looked down at the fireball in confusion. The fireball suddenly erupted into explosions, causing the yokais to scream in pain.
Ella jumped off the balcony and landed on the floor.
"Now, I'm only gonna say this one. Hand over Izuna or get a brutal beating." Ella said as she cracked her knuckles with a wicked grin.
"A mystic?" Carina said. "Very interesting." She turned to the rabbit yokais. "Take her down. You did it before, you can do it again."
The rabbit yokais leaped high in the air and started firing colorful energy beams at the red mystic kunoichi. Ella scattered away to avoid the energy beams.
"Let's do this, girls!" Rubi said to her sisters.
"Right!" Safira, Esmeralda, and Morganita nodded.
Rubi, Safira, Esmeralda, and Morganita then shot carrot-shaped blasts of red, blue, green, and pink energy out of their hands that created explosions at Ella upon contact.
Ella sprinted forward and sprang herself into the air above the rabbit yokais after avoiding the explosions. She surrounded her fist with a fiery aura and punched Rubi repeatedly that slammed her to the ground while engulfing in blazing flames. Next, Ella released a large, bullet-like stream of fire towards Safira that sent her to crash into Rubi. Then, Ella gathered her strength within her fire magic through her right fist. She charged forward towards Morganita and attacked her in an uppercut spiral fashion that sent her crashing into Rubi and Safira. Lastly, Ella took a deep breath and released a large swirling column of fire from her mouth at Esmeralda that sent her crashing towards her sisters.
Ella stood on top of the balcony as the rabbit yokais were defeated on the floor.
Ella stared back at Carina with a firm look on her face.
"Very impressive." Carina said. "You know, you could be useful to our cause if you join me."
"Not interested." Ella said. "So, let's get this over with."
Ella charged forward to strike Carina with her fire magic, but Carina fired a concentrated slash of blue-gray energy that sent the red mystic kunoichi flying to the ceiling. Ella recovered and dove down as she began spinning around and erupted fiery energy all over her body before charging herself to attack Carina as a tornado of flames at high speed that sent the cat yokai to land on the ground with a painful groan. With a hissing growl, Carina rushed towards Ella and jumped into the air. She started to rotate and attacked her with their black energized claws that sent Ella flying to the ground.
Ella recovered again and put on a smirk on her face. She charged forward close to Carina's shocked face and pummeled her with fiery blasts. Then, she generated multiple fireballs all around her at once and proceeded to launch a rapid barrage at Carina, hitting the cat yokai with large, continuous explosions upon contact.
All five yokai groaned as Ella laughed triumphantly.
Outside, Ella stared at the full moon on the rooftop. Izuna hopped onto Ella's shoulder and nuzzled her cheek with a happy expression.
"Come on, Izuna. Let's go home." Ella said with a smile.
Ella held Izuna in her arms and sped across building rooftops. She then twisted her hand into a fist and opened her magic in the air that opened up a swirling portal before jumping through it.
Enjoy and Review.