The Loonatics and Inuyasha: A Feudal Fairy Tale

by pinkstoryteller

This is a tale of a girl from the present and a group of heroes from the future who venture into the past to defeat a fearsome enemy. To do so, they have to learn to work together with an unlikely ally and along the way learn more about themselves, each other, and gain new powers. [If you know "Inuyasha", you know what to expect; hence the rating.]

3. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Hi, all. Yeah, I'm not dead. I know a lot of you have been wondering when I would get back to this considering it's been a long time and all, but attentions do waver and thus I may not get back to certain things for a while. Plus, I've been at school and this semester really hit me hard. I haven't seen my final grades yet, but I hope that they all turn out decent. I'm also currently on a Godzilla kick and I'm going to be dedicating most of my attention to finishing up "The Energy Beast" and redoing a chapter I put out for my Digimon story; turns out first-person is not going to work for the story I want to tell. …And in regard to the chapter after this, I've kinda hit writer's block. Because of this, don't expect immediate results concerning the chapter after this one. Hopefully, this may be enough to tide you over until I get the next one done because it is…quite long. 73 pages on Microsoft Word, to be exact, and that's counting the Author's Notes at the beginning and end.

Anyway, one thing I do want to mention at the get-go is that while browsing for Inuyasha fanfics, I came upon a rewritten version of the anime done by Author XFangHeartX that has certain episodes of the anime set in a different order as according to the manga, such as putting an episode regarding an evil Noh Mask before Shippo's debut. Last semester, I bought some combined volumes of the manga to discover that that was indeed the case, so I'll be following their lead in putting the chapters up in the order they were in the manga, though I'll be following the anime when it comes to the events depicted in said chapters. Don't worry, when I get there, I'll explain things a bit better. In the meantime, please take your time reading this, you may end up missing something important or a reference I threw in here and there.

And, before I forget again, we're going to get another Navajo phrase in here besides the one introduced last chapter which was "Mąʼiísh óolyé", which is "What the" The new phrase being introduced here is "Bits'qqji' ana'i", which is "Away from him, enemy!" in Navajo. There are also three other Navajo words in this chapter: One of them being "Ma'ii Deeshgiizhinii" which means "Coyote Pass", the other being "shik'is" which is apparently the Navajo word meaning "my friend", and the third is "'acheii" which is a term for one's maternal grandfather. For reference as to where I'm getting all this, I'm getting the translations from a Navajo-to-English dictionary on Internet Archive titled "The Navaho Language: Robert W Young; William Morgan". Frankly, I'm not a linguist, so if any of these words and phrases are not true—and, again, I'd really welcome the help of an expert on the Navajo language—please let me know and supply the proper word/phrase and its meaning. As for the name of Nastas, which is the name of Tech's maternal grandfather, I believe I found that on the site 20000-names and it means "curve like foxtail grass" in Navajo, and I guess I may as well tell you that he got the name because of his tail, well, the way he holds it up, actually (if you've seen pictures of foxtail grass and how Tech's tail is often held up in "Loonatics Unleashed", you get the idea).

Oh-kay, I think that's enough rambling for now, so here's the disclaimer: I don't own the Loonatics, Warner Bros. does, same with Godzooky, although he's actually from a Hanna-Barbera and Toho cartoon series. I also don't own the characters associated with the anime "Inuyasha"; they are owned by Sunrise and Viz Media and are based on characters from the manga by Rumiko Takahashi.

Recap: While Inuyasha has been getting pinned to a tree by a Sacred Arrow and Kikyo dies from an mortal injury back in the Warring-States Era, Godzooky and the Loonatics—Ace Bunny, Lexi Bunny, Danger "Daniel" Duck, Slam Tasmanian, Tech E. Coyote, and Rev Runner—are doing their last-minute preparations for a trip to Japan; other preparations for said trip were revealed to have included parkour exercises and reading manga. However, once the group arrives at Shibuya, it is revealed that a doorway to an anime world had been detected opening in the area, and it isn't long before they are dragged into it. Upon arrival, the Acme Heroes find that their designs have been changed to match the anime world and, needless to say the reactions end up being a mix of impressed and embarrassed (the latter due to some half-dressed anthros). After an invigorating run through Yoyogi Park that puts their learned skills to the test and a walk through the Meiji Shrine Inner Garden, the group of seven decides to do some shrine visiting. However, that same day in another part of Tokyo…

---

Chapter 1: "The Girl and the Loonatics Who Overcame Time…and the Boy Who Was Just Overcome"

"Shikon No wha…?"

In a suburban-like area just outside the city, up a long flight of stairs between two torii gates, was a place called Higurashi Shrine. The grounds of the area consisted of the shrine itself, a 1,000-year-old tree, a storeroom, a well-house, and a more modern, two-story building where the family lived. It was one of those more secluded, local places to visit, not really something to put on a brochure, although the patriarch of the family, who was the head keeper of the shrine, would never hesitate to advertise the shrine's greatest legend, which was what a young, 14-year-old girl with long, black hair and brown eyes named Kagome Higurashi was being told by the family patriarch, who was her grandfather.

"Shikon No Tama, my girl; the Jewel of Four Souls," Kagome's grandfather said as she held up what looked like a keychain with a blue marble hanging from it.

"You don't actually think tourists are gonna buy these dumb keychains, do you?" Kagome asked, her tone practically skeptical.

Kagome and her grandfather were apparently unpacking some boxes that were full of those sorts of items to be given to tourists who would come by when the latter apparently sat her down and began to tell his granddaughter about the Jewel of Four Souls. Or, at least, was trying to.

"That is not just a keychain," her grandfather said, holding another one similar to what Kagome was holding, the only difference being that it had a pink marble hanging at the end of it. "That crystal there at the end is a replica of an ancient jewel which-Hmm?" He had cut himself off when he had heard a jingling sound, which turned out to be the Higurashi family's pet cat, Buyo, pawing at the crystal on the end of the keychain Kagome was holding, grabbing the girl's attention.

Kagome moved the small item away from the curious feline, who just kept trying to stretch out his paw to play with it, thinking it was a toy, before returning her attention to her grandfather, who, after a moment of quietly and intently staring at his granddaughter, cleared his throat and prepared to try again:

"As I was saying, that crystal is a replica of an ancient jewel which-" Kagome's grandfather began, not noticing that Kagome's attention was lost again as she held the keychain further away from Buyo until he opened his eyes to the cat now on Kagome's lap still trying to play with the keychain, eventually falling down when Kagome moved it away. With a groan, he went for a third try, this time deciding to get right to the point: "An ancient jewel-"

And once again, he was interrupted, this time by Kagome, who had gasped happily as she remembered something. "You do remember it's my birthday tomorrow, right?" she asked, a smile on her face.

The old man dropped the keychain and groaned slightly; just once could he tell his granddaughter one of the ancient legends without her attention wandering? However, he recovered himself as he remembered the special present he had for her and let out a chuckle.

"I'd planned to wait another day, but…" Kagome's grandfather trailed with a smile.

Kagome gasped excitedly. "So you did get something! Hand it over!" she demanded eagerly…only to have her excitement replaced with disappointed shock when she opened the box and pulled out what looked like a webbed hand with claws.

"That, my dear, is an authentic mummified hand of a water imp, which-" her grandfather began to say.

"Here, Buyo. Eat," Kagome sighed apathetically, holding out the mummified hand to the cat, who happily took it.

"Ooh-aah! That's an antique!" Kagome's grandfather panicked, trying to reach for it, but ending up falling flat on his front and had to watch the family cat walk away with its prize.

Sadly, no matter how hard her grandfather tried to educate her about the ancient legends of demons and the Jewel of Four Souls, Kagome never listened; she never really believed any of that stuff, anyway.

But all that was about to change, and, unbeknownst to her and everyone else, it had started on that very day, when seven strangers arrived from another world. And tomorrow, on her 15th birthday, Kagome's life, and the lives of those seven strangers, were fated to cross…

---

The next morning, Kagome was dressed in her school uniform—a sailor fuku—with long, white socks and brown loafers.

"I'm leaving!" she called over her shoulder before running off, not wanting to be late for school.

"Be careful, Kagome!" her mother called back.

---

At around the same time, a group of seven people clad in brightly-colored and rather large sweatshirts came walking on the sidewalk at the bottom of the staircase that led to the top of the hill.

"So where does dis lead?" the being in the sunshine-yellow sweatshirt asked in a strange accent, addressing the being in the forest-green sweatshirt.

The latter withdrew a paper map of the area, his olive-green eyes scanning it and their surroundings. A staircase going up a hill between two torii gates… he thought, looking back at the map and finding the corresponding marking on the map as well as the name. "If I'm reading this right," he said aloud, his voice sounding scratchy but not from a cold, "this should be the way to the Higurashi Shrine."

The being in the fiery-red sweatshirt looked over the other's shoulder at the map and proceeded to confirm his findings in a reedy-sounding, fast-paced voice, "Yep,-that-is-absolutely-what-the-map-says;-no-doubt-about-it."

"Man, how can one country have stho many shrinesth?" asked the being in the bright-orange sweatshirt, who was the shortest out of the group, his words coming out like he had a lisp.

"Japan is a very spiritual country, Duck," replied a throaty voice that came from the being in the ocean-blue sweatshirt. "Despite the big cities and modern sights, Japan still clings to its roots, as evidenced by the shrines and gardens we have seen so far. This country has a lot of history," he continued seriously, "and it has endured so much."

"You mean like what happened back in da Sengoku period, and da bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki back near de end of da Second World War?" the yellow-sweatshirt-clad being offered.

"But it's not just those," said a female voice from a being in a rose-pink sweatshirt. "There was also Gojira's attack on Tokyo in 1954, and all the other kaiju attacks that followed. Frankly, I'm amazed that all these shrines were able to survive all that."

"They-also-have-a-lot-of-castles-and-they've-stood-up-pretty-well-thanks-to-restoration-efforts-although-if-I-remember-correctly-Osaka-Castle's-had-it-pretty-rough," rambled the being in the fiery-red sweatshirt.

A being in a plum-colored sweatshirt, who was more burly than the rest and just beating the being in the fiery-red sweatshirt in terms of height, uttered a curious-sounding grunt, his voice the deepest out of the others.

"Ooh, that was a long, long time ago, before my Uncle Goji's time," said the being in the ocean-blue sweatshirt, smiling and shaking his head. He then began walking toward the staircase, looking back at his six companions and called, "Well, come on, let's go take a look."

The short one in the bright-orange sweatshirt bounded ahead, trying to reach the top first. He did, but then stopped dead in his tracks, causing his friend in the fiery-red sweatshirt to bump into him from behind, followed by the one in the forest-green sweatshirt, the one in the rose-pink sweatshirt, the one in the sunshine-yellow sweatshirt (which made the girl ahead of him blush slightly), the one in the ocean-blue sweatshirt, and finally the big one in the plum-colored sweatshirt, whose impact nearly sent everyone falling on their faces.

"Whoops," said the big fellow in the back. "You OK, Zooky?" he then grunted.

"Well, that was nostalgic," commented Zooky before turning around to look at his friend. "Yeah, I'm OK, Slam. How about you?"

Slam nodded, "I'm good."

"Sorry-about-that,-Tech," apologized the being in the fiery-red sweatshirt to his friend behind him.

"It's OK, Rev; it wasn't your fault," Tech told his friend.

"You OK, Lexi?"

Tech turned his head to look behind him and saw that the girl, Lexi, was looking a bit flushed under the hood of her coat. "Are you feeling OK?" he asked in concern.

"Hm? Oh, I'm fine, Tech, Ace," Lexi said, stirring herself out of her slight stupor and addressing Tech, who was in front of her, and Ace, who was behind her.

"What's da hold-up?" Ace asked.

"Ask Duck," Rev replied. "He's the one who stopped."

All eyes were on the short being in the bright-orange sweatshirt, who just gestured with his head to something-more specifically, someone-just ahead. It was a 15-year-old girl with long, wavy black hair with a noticeable blue outline around it, her brown eyes similarly styled to Lexi's, although the lashes were a bit smaller and the color was different and she was dressed in a long-sleeved white blouse and a red ribbon around the neck that reminded Zooky of a sailor's shirt, a short, green skirt, long, white socks that came halfway up her calves, and brown loafers. She also had a backpack on her back, which also told Zooky that this girl was likely on her way to school, and the direction that she was coming from also told him that she apparently lived here.

"C-th-ivilian alert," Duck muttered.

Zooky sighed patiently, tugging his hood down a bit more over his face and began moving to the front of the line. "All right, gang, you know the drill," he said.

"Yep, keep our hoods up, our tails still, our hands in our pockets, and leave da talkin' to you," Ace said, also tugging on his hood.

"And Tech and Rev can transthlate," Duck added, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt.

"You really haven't been paying attention, have you?" Rev asked Duck disappointedly.

"Apparently not," Tech chimed in as him and Rev began following Zooky.

"What do you mean? What did I forget?" Duck asked in a confused tone before having to make a bounding stride to catch up with the others.

"Hello, Miss!" Zooky called to the girl, who turned to see them.

Kagome was a bit surprised to see the group of seven approaching, she had never seen anyone, even the occasional tourists that had come by, wear such big sweatshirts…or look as big as one of those wrestlers one saw on television…or look like they had big feet. Not to mention green, clawed feet that looked like they belonged on a dragon or something, or a bird's feet. And speaking of birds, were those guys in the orange and red sweatshirts wearing bird beaks? And that guy in the green sweatshirt, was that a dog's muzzle under that hood? The one in the ocean-blue sweatshirt didn't seem completely normal, either.

However, not wishing to be rude, she returned the greeting with a cheerful, "Oh, hello"…which came out to the visitors' ears in plain English.

Duck's jaw almost dropped, but then he remembered that Zooky and Tech had explained that this anime world apparently had a Universal Translator Rule, which was pretty much the equivalent of someone watching a dubbed anime, so everyone here spoke in English instead of Japanese, although there would be a few terms that would remain untranslated whether by the design of the UT Rule of this world or by someone's own volition. Duck was about to give himself a facepalm, but that would mean the girl would see his black-feathered hands, so he had to settle for giving himself a mental one.

"Can I help you?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, we're here to visit the Higurashi Shrine. Do you live here?" Zooky asked.

"Well, you're in the right place," Kagome said. "And yes, I do. I'm Kagome Higurashi," she introduced herself with a greeting bow.

"Nice to meet you," Zooky said, doing a greeting bow as well, his six friends following suit. "We were hoping someone could show us around. I mean, we would ask you, but it looks like you have to be somewhere," he added, looking at the backpack the girl wore.

Kagome nodded and said, "Yeah, I have to get to school."

"Oh, I see," Zooky said, getting a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry for holding you up."

Kagome was a bit touched by the genuinely contrite tone in this person's voice; he felt like a sincere man…if he was a man. Well, she still had a bit of time, so maybe she could give them some general directions.

"Oh, it's OK, really," Kagome said, putting up a hand in a placating gesture. "How about I give you some directions and point out a few things you and your friends might like to see before I go?"

The group was amazed at the offer; this girl had to get to school before she was late and yet she was offering to take the time to show them around?

Zooky smiled under his hood and said, "Sure."

Man, of all the things to do on my 15th birthday, Kagome thought, still trying to figure out just who this tourist group was. Well, at least the one in the blue sweatshirt seems nice. "Well, back that way is the shrine," she said aloud, pointing to the structure. "If you guys want to learn about the shrine itself, you can find my grandpa at the house, which is a bit further back. Just be careful, 'cause once he starts talking about the legends, it's kinda hard to get him to stop," she warned, a sweatdrop appearing next to her head.

Sounds like she's had experience, Zooky thought. "We'll keep that in mind," he said.

An "a-hem" sounded off from behind, which Zooky recognized as Tech's voice. He turned to see that Tech was gesturing his hooded head at Rev, who was looking over at a large tree that stood a few feet away. Zooky got the message: Rev had seen it and got curious.

Following the visitor's gaze, Kagome saw what they were looking at. "Oh, that? That's just the Sacred Tree," she said.

Sacred Tree, huh? Zooky thought, feeling a strange vibration in the air at the sight of it.

The six others also got chills, but it was a bit more intense with Tech and Rev, making their fur and feathers stand up a bit.

Just like at Kiyomasa's Well, Tech noticed. What is going on here?

"Anyway," Kagome continued, bringing everyone back to reality, "there's also a storeroom, but you'd have to ask my grandpa for permission to see anything in it. Oh, and to your left is the well-house; you'll also have to ask for permission to see inside it, not that there's much to look at in there."

"Does dat kid have permission?" Ace spoke up.

Zooky's eyes widened; he had told the others to be quiet! He then turned his head to see that Ace was right; there was a small boy with black hair wearing a light-blue, long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, and black shoes. Like Kagome, he was also wearing a backpack. He appeared to be carrying something, which Zooky recognized by sight and scent as a bowl of cat food. The boy was standing at the door of the well-house, which was open.

Kagome also noticed the boy. "Oh, that's my little brother. Hey, Sōta," she called. "What are you doing over there?"

The boy, Sōta, turned to see his sister and the seven colorfully-clad visitors that she had been talking to and answered nervously, "N…Nothing."

"You're not supposed to play in there," Kagome lightly scolded her little brother, taking off her backpack as she came over.

"I'm not," Sōta said, looking back inside the well-house, which was pretty dark.

"Problem?" Zooky asked, slightly startling the siblings. "Maybe we can help," he offered.

"Uh…" Sōta trailed nervously, looking to his sister for what to do.

"It's OK, they're nice people," Kagome reassured him, despite the jury still being out on just who-or what-they were.

"Well…it's the cat," Sōta said.

"Cat?" Zooky queried.

"Our family cat, Buyo," Kagome explained. "Did he go down to the well?" she asked Sōta.

Zooky's ears picked up a sniff from behind and turned his head to see that it was Tech. Yep, definitely a cat, he thought.

"Is your friend all right?" Kagome asked, apparently also having heard Tech sniffling. "Does he have an allergy?"

"Well, it's not an allergy, but cat hair does make his nose act up slightly," Zooky explained. "He'll be all right. My friends and I are pretty good with cats; maybe we could help," he offered.

It was true; in America, back in 1952, Zooky had had the privilege of meeting a new star on the Warner lot: A black-and-white, blue-eyed kitten named Pussyfoot. As with herself and her friend, a burly, brown-furred bulldog named Marc Antony, Pussyfoot hit it off with Zooky, and the feeling quickly became mutual. So much so, that at the end of Pussyfoot's sporadic and too-brief tenure at Warner Bros, Zooky offered to adopt her from her handler, which not only did the Looney Tunes themselves, but also Marc Antony, approved of. Ever since then, he had been taking care of her and, when she (amazingly) grew up, her kittens as well. When Zooky had brought Ace, Lexi, Duck, Slam, Tech, and Rev to stay at Bugs' house, where he himself had been staying along with his wife Zia and fellow co-star Daffy Duck, the six of them also became fellow cat-sitters, Rev having bonded with a red-and-gold-furred kitten he had named Cora.

"Are you sure?" Kagome asked.

"We'll be all right," Zooky answered, the others nodding in agreement.

With that out of the way, Kagome and Sōta stepped inside the dark well-house, Zooky immediately behind them. Once he was in, he scanned the small room; a wooden walkway with a fence at the edge surrounded the well itself, which was just down some stairs in the center. What caught Zooky's dark-colored eyes was what appeared to be some leaves wrapped in paper laying on the well cover.

Is that a charm of some sort? Tech and Rev asked themselves quietly as they slipped in from behind Zooky, the wrapped plant having caught their attention as well.

"Buyo~!" Sōta called nervously.

"Buyo~!" Zooky called. "Here kitty-kitty-kitty!"

"Here, Buyo! C'mere Buyo!" Lexi called.

"Ya sure he's down dere?" Ace queried as he came in, his strange accent making the Higurashi siblings look at him in confusion.

"I dunno where else he could be," Sōta said, getting on his hands and knees.

There was a loud sniff from Tech. "Oh, he's in here, all right," he said.

"So go down," Kagome told her younger sibling, getting down so that she was on the balls of her feet.

"But why do I gotta be the one?" Sōta whimpered.

"Because you're the one who's looking for him," Kagome pointed out.

Duck came in and began leaning over the railing. "I can't sthee hide nor hair of a cat in here," he lisped.

"Hey, be careful!" Lexi warned.

"What? I'm justht lookin'," Duck said defensively, standing back up. "Don't worry, Lexth; I'm not gonna fall over."

"Hey!" Zooky said sharply, his sensitive ears having heard something.

The long ears of Ace, Lexi, and Tech began to slightly perk up under their hoods, having heard something as well. Likewise, Slam's ears had perked up, but they were so short, the twitch under his hood was barely noticeable. That, and he was standing behind everyone else.

Where's that scratching coming from? Zooky wondered, stretching his hearing range.

It sounded loud, almost like it was just coming from a few feet away. Was it coming from…?

"AAH!" Sōta screamed, getting up and hiding behind his big sister. "Something's down there!"

"Uh, yeah, the cat," Kagome said in a "duh" tone.

"Yeah, exthactly; th-there'sth n…nothin' to get s-sthcared over," Duck said nervously, Sōta's sudden shout having startled him.

Kagome blew out a short, exasperated exhale, stood back up, and began walking down the steps. Zooky began to follow her, but had to wait to let Tech and Rev pass by before doing so. As the four walked toward the well, and the other four visitors began to gather at the top of the steps near Sōta, the scratching sound started up again.

"Whaddya think, Lex?" Ace whispered.

"It didn't sound like it came from under the walkway," Lexi whispered back. "It sounds like it's in a single place, like a cat trying to claw its way out of a box."

"Out of a box?" Ace parroted.

"But there aren't any boxthesth in here," Duck pointed out.

Scratch-scratch! Their eyes soon turned to the only thing that even remotely resembled a box, looks of fear and perspiration appearing on their faces. Slam let out a low, protective growl and came completely inside the well-house, his large frame blocking the doorway.

Scratch-scratch-scratch!

"Uhh~!" Tech and Rev uttered as another, stronger shiver coursed through their bodies.

"Hey, you guys OK there?" Kagome asked in concern.

"Y-Yeah, we're fine," Rev said, hiding his blue-feathered hands as best he could so that he could rub his arms.

That's odd; it's not exactly cold in here, so why are those two shivering? Kagome wondered.

Zooky was wondering almost the same thing…then the scratching sounded off again and he got a shiver down his spine; a signal from his sixth sense.

There's no doubt about it; that sound is coming from the well, Zooky thought, looking intently at it. There's something in there, something that's making my sixth sense go off. Another shiver went through him, making him visibly shake this time and reach for his upper left arm. Ooh… I haven't felt something this strong since…since…

Some memories started coming to Zooky's mind associated with his feeling: This was like the feeling he got around the Great Spirits he and his family had encountered on their journey with Kenai, or being in Aslan's presence, but it was the complete opposite; not quite like being around the Ark of the Covenant, but pretty close. It was more like the White Witch's presence…but in actuality, it was much more close to the presence of the Nazgûl, the undead phantoms who used to be Men until they were corrupted by Sauron and whose leader had given him the scar on his upper left arm…or, even worse, Destroyah.

For Tech, the feeling brought to his mind a time when he was much younger: The time his maternal grandfather, Nastas Coyote, who had been medicine-man for the Coyote Pass Chapter, or, as it was called in Navajo, Ma'ii Deeshgiizhinii, first told him and his older brother the legend of the Skinwalkers, malevolent witches who could turn into, possess, or disguise themselves as animals; spiritual people who had turned to the dark. That same night, Tech had been walking around when he felt a chill go down his spine…and thought he saw a Skinwalker in the distance. The story and the experience had scared Tech so bad he barely slept for three weeks. A couple days later, he had ended up scaring a young Rev with the story; the poor kid became jumpy and didn't sleep a wink for a month, which was what Rev was thinking about in the present.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud and a panicked shriek from Kagome, making everyone else cry out in alarm. By the time the initial panic had cleared, Sōta had fallen backwards in his fright, bumping into Slam-whom Duck had gone behind-and was now sitting down, Ace and Lexi were on the stairs leading down to the well, and Kagome…looked down to see Buyo rubbing against her leg. Ace, Lexi, and Slam relaxed, now that they knew what had happened to make Kagome scream.

"It's just da cat," Ace said as Kagome picked the overweight-looking cat up.

Duck came out from behind Slam to see that Ace was right. "Huh, whaddya know," he commented, feeling a bit sheepish for having gotten himself worked up over nothing.

"You make fun of me 'cause I'm scared, and then you're all: 'AAH-AH!'" Sōta said in a childish tone, mimicking his sister's scared cry in a similar manner.

"Look who's talking, Mr. 'Why-Do-I-Have-To-Go?'" Kagome retorted.

"Hey, we all got sthpooked 'causthe of all that noisthe," Duck pointed out.

"He's right," Lexi agreed. "Speaking of which, you guys can let go of each other now," she then called to some people on Kagome's left.

The junior high-schooler turned to see that the people in the green and red sweatshirts were hugging each other; a bit tightly, too.

"Man, talk about gettin' a hold of yerselves," Ace commented, practically voicing Kagome's own thought.

"Not my idea! His!" Tech gasped, Rev apparently squeezing him in his fright. "Rev! Rev! Need to breathe!" he rasped, patting the other's back insistently.

It took a couple seconds, but Tech was released and began the process of calming Rev down through some soothing words and a forehead touch; something he and his friends had picked up from Zooky.

"Are you guys OK?" Kagome asked. "Is he gonna be all right?" The hyperventilating was making her worried.

"Ha…Ha…I'll…(cough)…I'll-I'll be fine," Rev answered breathily, trying to recover his wits and get his already-accelerated heartrate under control before something bad happened.

Speaking of which, there was soon another cry from Kagome, a short squeak this time. The others looked to the girl, then turned to see what made her panic…and the six sweatshirt-clad visitors soon had looks of alarm on their faces similar to Kagome's.

Zooky blinked, bringing himself out of his "battle-ready" state, although his adrenaline was still going a bit. When he managed to come to, he saw Kagome in front of him, a scared look on her face, the cat in her arms also looking a bit stunned. He then glanced around to see the worried looks of his six friends.

What the matter with them? Zooky asked himself, referring to his friends. Looks like we found the cat, so- It was right about then that Zooky spotted his own right fist pointed ahead of himself, medium charcoal-gray green-colored scales, claws, and all. He then realized that he must have gone into a battle-ready stance when Kagome had screamed, revealing his hand.

Oh, he noticed.

Well, it was nothing that he couldn't explain away…until he felt something moving around behind him. Something that was attached to him. Literally. It was then he realized that he had let go of his tail and it had come out from under the coat…and realized the extent of the damage that had now been caused.

Oh, NO! Godzooky cried out in thought, a look of panic coming onto his face. I completely forgot about my tail! Oh, I don't believe it! I blew my cover! I let my nerves get the better of me and I gave myself away! What am I gonna do?!

He then got himself back into a relaxed standing pose and gave a prompt bow of apology to the scared girl in front of him, who flinched.

"Gomen nasai! I'm sorry!" Zooky said in Japanese, then English before straightening up, his hood almost flipping off. "I am so sorry! I'm not gonna hurt you, Kagome! Honest!" he pleaded.

At the moment, Kagome wasn't sure what to do; she had come out of being scared accidentally by Buyo only to have the living daylights scared out of her to see that one of the visitors apparently had claws…and a tail. A real tail! And she couldn't be sure, but she thought she had seen what looked like a lizard under the hood of that coat.

What was going on around here?! Why was all this happening?! Who were these people?!

Unfortunately, the answers to those questions were going to have to wait because just as Zooky was about to continue, his ears picked up the sound of scratching from inside the sealed well again. The others, except for apparently Kagome at the moment, heard the sound as well. Zooky, Tech, and Rev got shivers going through their bodies again, all three of them sensing something.

Suddenly, a blue light that appeared to be coming from inside the well appeared, starting at the wrapped leaves and traveling along the cracks in the wood before disappearing. The minute that happened, the battle reflexes of Zooky and his six friends shifted into high gear.

Sōta stood up and called amidst the sound of more intense scratching of wood, "Sis, behind you!"

Ace felt his ears go up, making his hood fall. Kagome and Sōta let out cries of surprise at seeing that one of the visitors looked like a humanoid rabbit.

"ACE!" Lexi shrieked in alarm.

"Oh, hang it all! We were gonna get found out anyway!" Zooky shouted, tossing his hood back with a more forceful throw-back of his head, revealing his rather young-for-his-age saurian countenance; dark-colored eyes that were either coal-black or chocolate-brown, his face and slightly long neck colored the same as his hand, four dorsal plates starting at the top of his head and going down the back of his neck that was a shade darker than his face and neck color, and all.

At that moment, Rev let out a cry of alarm, as a white glow this time began to peek out from the cracks of the covered well and the area began to shake. Ace and Lexi soon reached the bottom of the stairs…just in time for the wooden cover of the well to be blown apart by some wind that accompanied the white light that was now surging out of the well. The force of the wind blew Tech, Rev, and Lexi's hoods off as well showing that they were a coyote, a roadrunner, and a female rabbit.

As their eyes got adjusted to the light, they soon noticed that the light wasn't light as much as it-they were glowing, tattered ribbon things being blown about. At least, they thought they looked like ribbons…until some of them actually reached down and grabbed Kagome from behind, the cat jumping out of her arms!

"Kagome!" Zooky shouted as the girl gasped and screamed.

"Mąʼiísh óolyé-?! What is that?!" Tech shouted, inadvertently slipping into Navajo in his surprise.

"Whatever it is, it's got Kagome!" Rev gasped, his emerald-green eyes wide in surprise and fear.

Suddenly, some of those tattered-ribbon things came in the now-revealed anthro roadrunner and anthro coyote's direction…wrapping themselves around the former's wrist!

Rev shrieked in alarm; those things were COLD! As in, DEAD COLD!

"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-H-H-H! NOW IT'S GOT ME! HE-E-E-E-E-E-ELP!" the blue-feathered roadrunner practically screamed as he was lifted off his feet and about to be pulled into the well, just like Kagome was about to be!

"Rev! Hang on, shik'is! Bits'qqji' ana'i!" Tech yelled, once again slipping into Navajo and grabbing Rev's ankles in an attempt to weigh the things down, but soon found himself being dragged upward as well.

When the ribbon-like things-which he began to suspect were arms and hands-grabbed him, Godzooky began yelling/roaring epithets and demands for whatever this was to let him go in a combined flurry of kaiju-tongue, Japanese, and even throwing in a Klingon word or two that just came out of memory from his time in Starfleet as he struggled.

Ace was about to withdraw his Guardian Strike Sword when Lexi called out, "Ace, no! You'll hit Kagome or one of the others!"

A split second later, Lexi herself was being carried up and away with a scream.

"LEXI!" Ace screamed, grabbing her ankles.

"ACTHE! LEXTHI! HANG ON! I'M COMING!" Duck shouted, leaping over the railing and landing on the floor. "All right, you…whatever you are, put my friendsth down or fac-th-e the wrath of-AAH!" Before he could even finish or do anything, Duck was soon grabbed and him, along with Zooky, Ace, Tech, Lexi, Rev, and Kagome were dragged down into the well.

"SOTA-A-A-A-A!" Kagome screamed.

"Slam! Help!" Ace called to the burly Tasmanian devil.

After moving a stunned Sōta, Slam jumped to the well, grabbed someone's legs, and tried to pull them out.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OW! STHLAM, YOU'RE GONNA PULL MY LEGSTH OFF!" Duck screamed.

Slam groaned from the effort and managed to say "Sorry" before the pull soon became too much for even him, and Slam soon joined his friends and the young girl in the well.

The last thing Sōta heard was the one named Ace call "KID! GET HELP! HURRY!" before he ran out of the well-house screaming for his grandfather and his mother.

---

Kagome couldn't believe what was happening as she watched a bright, white square start to get smaller and smaller and walls of dark blue and bright lights like stars surrounded her as she-as well as seven clothed animals-were dragged down, down into the well. At least, it had seemed like she was being dragged into the well, now she was becoming unsure. She glanced toward her feet to see that there was a gray-furred rabbit, what looked like a brown-furred wolf with long, straight ears, and a medium charcoal-gray green-colored lizard as well as a large, brown-furred, burly animal with sharp teeth; the latter three she could not identify. Looking to her left was another rabbit, a cream-colored one with eyelashes and wearing a green ribbon around her ears, whose ankles were being held by the gray-furred rabbit, and further left was a black-feathered duck, whose legs were being gripped by the big, burly animal. To her right was a freaked-out blue-feathered tall bird with a purple, backward-facing crest on his head; his ankles were being held by the brown-furred wolf.

"Um, Tech?! What's goin' on here?!" shouted the gray-furred rabbit.

"Uh! I don't know!" the brown-furred coyote, Tech, answered, trying to keep his grip.

Kagome soon felt another hand on her left cheek and she was soon being turned around to look downward. Noticing this, with effort, Lexi turned her own head around to follow…and let out a cry in succession to Kagome's gasp at what she saw: A woman with long, flowing black hair, narrow-looking eyes, and six arms. And as if that wasn't enough, what had made Lexi scream was that this strange woman was naked, her breasts bare for her captives to see!

"Lexi, what's-?!" Ace began to say, starting to turn his head to look down.

Thankfully, Lexi spotted him in time and shouted, "NO! Don't look! Guys, close your eyes! Don't look! I mean it!"

"Why not, for Pete'sth sthake?!" Duck demanded, his eyes squeezed shut anyway because he didn't want to risk getting the female rabbit's usual wordless reprimand.

"Trust me! You'd better do what she says!" Kagome called.

"Uh, considering I caught a glimpse of a bare arm, I think I can guess what the problem is!" Zooky called, his eyes averted as well.

"Alive," said the monstrous woman in a somewhat raspy-sounding voice. "Oh, to be alive once more!"

"What was that?!" Rev whimpered, his eyes squeezed shut.

"No, don't look!" Lexi warned.

"How will we know what we're dealin' with if we can't see it?!" Ace yelled.

"Well, how about instead of looking where Lexi is looking, how about we look at the walls…more specifically, AT THAT!" Tech yelped, his eyes open but looking at the dark walls of wherever this was, having seen something disturbing that caught his attention.

The male abductees opened their eyes to look at their surroundings and soon gasped in horror at what looked like a long spine with bony legs…which soon had flesh growing on it as the strange woman continued, "Already my strength returns."

"Ew!" Duck exclaimed in disgust. "Isth that a bug?!"

"Judging by the length and body configuration, not to mention the number of appendages, I'm going to have to say centipede," Tech said.

Wait, she's a woman and a centipede?! Lexi gasped in terror. What is this; an anime world or a horror film?!

"Hold on, so we're being abducted by a female centipede with bare arms?!" Ace questioned, not quite believing what everything he was hearing was adding up to.

"What?!" Slam cried out in disbelief.

"Um, not quite!" Zooky called uneasily.

"Who caresth?! How do we get away from her?!" Duck panicked as he tried to pull his arm loose, but the grip was tight.

"Kagome?!" Lexi cried out, hearing the human girl whimper.

"Lexi, what's going on?!" Ace called, needing to look in the female bunny's direction NOW.

"No! Keep your eyes shut! All of you!" Lexi barked before returning her attention to the distressed Kagome, who was trying to be held closer by the human woman-centipede hybrid.

"You have it, don't you?" the centipede woman asked eagerly as she held Kagome's head with one hand. "Give it to me!" she demanded, before opening her mouth to reveal a long tongue, about 12 inches long, which she used to lick Kagome's left cheek!

Lexi let out a shriek of disgusted horror at the sight.

"Lexi?!" Ace called again, more worried than before.

"What-What are you doing?!" Kagome whimpered as she felt the wet, slimy thing trail up her face.

"Lexi?!" Rev called this time, knowing that something was very wrong and he was closest to do something about it, so, without another thought, he turned his head-

"No, DON'T!" Lexi cried out futilely.

-and opened his eyes…to see a six-armed, black-haired woman with bare breasts who was attached to that long centipede body, her long tongue still out, having finished licking Kagome, her evil eyes now on him; a hungry look in them, and in the smile she gave him.

The centipede woman chuckled darkly at the sight of the strange, humanoid bird staring at her, his eyes wide in panic and for some reason unable to shut them. He whimpered as another sound formed in his throat, one that couldn't be held in long. Soon the panic building inside him and the sight of this scary, bare-chested thing got to be too much and Rev released a scream of absolute terror.

Hearing the scream and unable to comply with the order not to look any longer, the others soon opened their eyes and let out their own gasps and cries of horror and disgust at what they saw.

"Of all the indec-th-ent…!" Duck gasped, closing his eyes and shielding them with an arm.

Slam let out a "bleh!", averting his eyes once more as well.

"I told you guys not to-!" Lexi started.

"We know, Lex! We know!" Ace shouted, feeling very frightened.

Meanwhile, Rev had stopped screaming and had gone into whimpering and hyperventilating. This seemed to only amuse the monster, who gave another dark chuckle.

Sensing her intentions before she even began to use her only free hand to hold Kagome's head, Lexi gasped and tried to struggle out of the grip of the centipede woman, even trying to use her own free hand to pry the fingers off.

The fur on Tech's back stood on end underneath his clothing, his long ears were flat against his head, and, with his teeth bared, he let out a growl; he had also sensed the ill will this thing was intending to inflict upon his friend and brother, and he would not stand for it! Giving silent apologies, the angered coyote began climbing to Rev's head.

Ace also sensed what was happening and began reaching for his Guardian Strike Sword and Zooky began tugging on the arm that held him; he was going to get free, even if he had to tear the limb off!

While all that was occurring, though, the centipede woman was much closer, and Rev soon felt her hand behind his head, a shiver of disgust coursing through him. But that wasn't the end of it; oh, no. Her tongue was now closer to him than ever. He turned his head away and tried to pull himself back, but it was for naught. The wet mouth muscle made contact with his right cheek, making him gasp, then give a long, drawn-out whimper that turned into a scream as it slid up his face. It was getting hard to breathe and he seemed to be getting hot; his fast-paced mind was suddenly being flooded with unpleasant memories. Terrible memories that made his whole being tremble. Memories shrouded in terrible highs and nightmarish lows. Had someone done something like this to him before? Or-No! Did he-?! No! No!

Rev's wailing screams were like the fuel for Tech's burning rage. How dare that monster violate his friend and brother! And not just him, but apparently Kagome-and Lexi, for all he knew-as well! His low growls becoming snarls, Tech finally made it, wrapping his arms around Rev protectively and forced the centipede woman's hands away.

Rev's cries had not only made Tech and the others angry, but Kagome as well; despite only being with him-incognito and not-for only a short time, she felt that he was as nice as the other one-what was his name; Zooky?-not to mention he looked to be the youngest out of the group. What this monstrous woman had done to her and him was inexcusable!

"You…" Kagome and Tech growled.

"Let GO…!" Kagome shouted.

"BITS'QQJI ANA'I!" Tech howled angrily in Navajo.

Once Kagome and Tech had freed and pushed themselves, and Rev, away from the centipede woman, something unbelievable happened: A bright pink light flashed from Kagome's palm, while a bright green one flashed from Tech's; both lights pushing the monster back and making her release everyone else. Needless to say, everyone was caught by surprise.

"Whoa!" Ace yelped, shielding his eyes from the brightness of the lights.

Kagome and Lexi gasped in surprise, the former moreso in fear because one of the arms of the monster came off and still clung to her blouse sleeve.

Tech was pulled out of his anger by his surprise at the turn of events, and even Rev forgot his fear for a moment as the light from his friend and brother-figure's hand caught his attention.

Zooky (who now also had one of the monster's arms clutched onto him), Duck, and Slam used their arms to shield their eyes, but the former recovered quickly and took Duck's hand, who in turn took Slam's hand. Using his free hand, Zooky propelled himself as best he could to Ace, who grabbed his hand, then reached for Lexi.

"Take my hand!" Lexi called to Kagome, who had a pink glow on her.

Though still a bit stunned, the 15-year-old junior high-schooler accepted the female rabbit's outstretched hand. She then spotted Tech, who was still looking stunned by the green light emanating from his hand and still holding Rev close, the roadrunner clinging to the coyote like a frightened child. Kagome reached her hand to them, expecting Tech to take it, but to her surprise it was Rev who did so.

"Hey, it's OK, all right?" Kagome told the scared roadrunner in a comforting tone. "We're all here. You're gonna be OK."

Rev's fear-ridden emerald-green eyes found Kagome's brown, calming ones and he managed a small smile and a nod to her.

There was then a raspy cry from below them, making Rev whimper in fear and clutch Kagome's hand tightly, Tech also slightly tightening his embrace around the roadrunner. All but Rev looked down to see the centipede woman disappear into the dark depths below, but not without a few last words: "Wretched children! I must have the Sacred Jewel!"

"The…Sacred…Jewel?" Kagome asked slowly as the pink and green lights finally disappeared from her and Tech, pretty much voicing the question all of them had had in mind.

The eight of them floated down for another minute or so-during which the dismembered arms detached themselves from Kagome and Zooky-before they all finally hit bottom. Once they did, they all released each other's hands, although Kagome gave Rev's one more reassuring squeeze before doing so and Tech and Rev still hung on to each other, and just sat, kneeled, or laid there for a few minutes, breathing hard to calm themselves down after the rather horrific experience they had all gone through.

---

Needless to say, such a thing was easier said than done.

"Man… Of all de things I've seen…and never wanna see again…" Ace gasped, still breathing hard and fear and shock still etched on his face. "Dat just went to da top of my list!"

"Mine too," Duck put in. "We've stheen sthome weird sthtuff before, but nothing asth weird asth that. Not to mention totally indecthent! She wasthn't wearin' a thing!"

Slam made his displeasure known with a disgusted growl.

"Bet you've never stheen anythin' like that in any of your adventuresth, huh?" Duck asked Zooky, who was sitting down with his back against the wall.

"A creature like that? Nope," Zooky answered simply.

"And…?" Duck prodded.

Zooky looked at Duck. "'And' what?" he asked back.

"Um, usually there'sth two partsth to that kind of ex-th-change," Duck said. "It'sth 'yes' to one detail but 'no' to another." There was a moment of quiet before Duck remembered something. "Oh. You mean that adventure where your aunt and that mermaid friend of hersth became-Right. Never mind. Sthorry."

The young adult kaiju let out a sigh before turning his attention to two figures close together, one embracing the other in comfort. He narrowed his eyes; he could still smell the soul-chilling scent of that terrible creature on him and his friends, mostly on Rev, which was the other meaning to Tech holding his brother-figure so close; not only was it for comfort, but it was also to remove as much of the stench of the enemy as he could. Of course, that latter thought was probably him applying the practices of his own family to the situation, but it felt right to him.

Before Zooky could even think about moving toward the coyote and the roadrunner, Lexi moved first, reaching for something on her sweatshirt.

"Guess it's a good thing I picked a sweatshirt that has pockets with zippers," the female rabbit commented, moving the slider so that the pocket opened. "And it's a good thing I decided to carry these around today," she added, withdrawing a small, green, plastic bag.

Grabbing a tab on one of the flat sides of the bag, she pulled it back before pulling out a wet wipe; normally, she would just use these for removing makeup, but there was a bigger emergency to deal with.

"Here," Lexi said, offering the wipe to the still-quite shaken Rev.

"Oh…th…thanks, Lexi," Rev said slowly and softly as he accepted the item, a small smile appearing.

He put it to the spot where he had been licked and began rubbing it gently, although a squeeze on his free hand from Tech silently told his wandering mind to come back and to stop rubbing the area so hard. This was met with a frightened and apologetic look.

There was the crinkle of more plastic and the anthro coyote and roadrunner looked to see that Lexi was now offering a pack of tissues.

"To dry your eyes," Lexi explained gently.

The second item was accepted gratefully.

"What about you?" Tech then asked.

"What about me?" Lexi repeated.

"Did you…?" Tech trailed.

Lexi then realized that Tech thought she had gotten the same treatment from that human woman/centipede hybrid and she said, "Oh. Oh, no, she didn't get me. I was just scared, really scared."

Rev looked at Lexi with a gentle expression that said, "I don't blame you".

Lexi then reached out with a comforting hand…and wisely put it on the young adult anthro roadrunner's back instead of the back of his head; any touch there at this point would only make things worse.

Rev sighed, relaxing at the touch of another of his friends. He then looked around to see the others giving supporting smiles. They knew to give him some breathing room but show that he wasn't alone; this was also because what had happened had riled up Tech's instinct to protect his pack, so they were giving him some space as well until he was fully calmed down.

"So…where are we now?" Rev asked, his voice finally coming back to him, but the usual head-spinning speed not present.

The others looked around to find that the dark, night sky-like backdrop that they had been falling through seconds ago had been replaced by stone walls on all four sides of them. There was only one light source, and that was above them, out a large, square-shaped hole.

"Hang on, if this is… What did we fall through?" Ace queried, now looking confused.

"Well, if we're to go by what we're seeing now, then I'd say we're at the bottom of the well," Tech said.

"But what about the…?" Ace asked.

Tech had to put on his metaphorical thinking cap for that one. "That's pretty much the weird part about this, Chief; I know that what we were pulled through…was the top of the well at the Higurashi Shrine, but if I were to apply previous experience, what we went through on the way down was like a portal of some kind."

"Portal?" Slam queried.

"A portal?" Lexi asked. "But to where?"

Zooky looked back up, realizing something about the sudden new light source. It was dark in that well-house, he thought. It didn't have a skylight, so where is all that sun coming from?

Ace blew out a breath and said, "Well, dis is quite a problem."

"Uh, actually, that'sth not our only problem," Duck said in a tone of correcting someone.

The others looked at the anthro mallard in confusion, until it occurred to Zooky that there was one more scent amongst them. A human one.

Duck counted down, "Three…two…one…"

"AAH!" a girl screamed, making everyone tense up and turn their attention to Kagome, whom they had completely forgotten about until that moment.

"No! Kagome, wait a minute!" Zooky gasped, holding up his hands.

"Hey, hey, easy; we're de good guys," Ace said.

"The…good guys?" Kagome repeated slowly. Well, they did help me in getting away from that thing, she thought. But then-Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa, wait a minute; aren't you forgetting something here?! "Just who and what are you?!" she demanded, still feeling frightened. "Where are you all from, anyway?!"

It was then Zooky stepped in as the spokesperson for the group. "In all honesty, we're just a group of visitors from another country," he said.

That was a partial truth; they were from another country, but as with every other adventure he had ever been on, Zooky followed the precaution of never revealing that he and anyone else who was with him were from another world. A rather futile habit, considering sooner or later, they would be found out, but it was a piece of protocol that the saurian kaiju wasn't just going to throw away because of that.

"We're from the United States, just across the Pacific," Zooky continued. "To be more specific, the state of California."

"So, you're all American?" Kagome asked, starting to realize something about some of her new companions the more she looked at their now-fully revealed faces. "But you spoke Japanese a few minutes ago," she said to Zooky.

"Well, actually, I'm originally from around here. But, uh, not from Japan directly; I was born and spent my early childhood on one of the islands nearby," Zooky said.

"So, you're an islander? When did you move to California?" Kagome asked.

"Oh, a couple months after I graduated college," Zooky stated honestly. "And, yes, I did; came in third at the College X-Games there, too," he said to the human girl's rather surprised look. "A friend of mine came in second and my then-girlfriend-now-wife came in first."

"Oh, you're married?" Kagome asked, smiling. "For how long now?"

"About 8 years now," Zooky replied without missing a beat, showing his left hand that had two rings: His wedding band and the mood ring he had worn at the college where the College X-Games had taken place.

"Congratulations," Kagome said, finally feeling a bit more at ease.

"Thanks. Say, uh, Kagome, right?" Zooky asked. The girl nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

Zooky wasn't entirely sure about something in this world, so he decided to check. "Have you ever heard of…of kaiju?"

"'Kaiju'? You mean like those movie monsters? 'Cause those are the only ones I know."

Ah, so in other words, kaiju don't exist in this world, Zooky realized. Well, that answers that.

"Though, you do kinda look like one of them," Kagome admitted.

"Oh, you're probably thinking of Gojira then," the young adult saurian said.

"Yeah, him. But I do have to say you look a lot nicer than he does in the movies. *Gasp* Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, it's OK; this wouldn't be the first time I've been compared to a guy in a rubber monster suit," Zooky said with a good-natured smile.

"So, what's your name, then?" Kagome asked.

"Well, my name is Godzooky Gojo, but everyone usually calls me Zooky for short."

"Zooky, huh? Nice to meet you. How about your friends?" the 15-year-old girl asked, looking back at the anthros. "I think I heard some of their names. Which one's…Ace?"

"Dat would be me," the gray-furred, male anthro rabbit spoke up.

"I don't blame ya for being confused, Kagome; one doesn't hear a Brooklyn accent every day in Tokyo," Zooky said.

"Well, I suppose not. But he does look kinda familiar."

"Ah, now you're thinkin' of Bugs Bunny. But that ain't me," Ace said.

"Of course. I think I also heard the name Lexi?"

"Right here," Lexi said, raising her hand.

Saving her a guess, Duck spoke up next, using his civilian name. "The name'sth Daniel Duck, but everyone justht callsth me 'Duck'."

A little obvious, but nice, Kagome thought. "I think I heard someone being called 'Slam'." she said.

"Oh, that would be him," Duck said, pointing a thumb over at the burly, brown-furred anthro.

"Hello," Slam smiled.

"Uh, hi," Kagome said, a little nervous due to his size. "If you don't mind my asking, what is he? He kinda reminds me of a character that had something to do with…who was it…Bugs Bunny, but he was a lot smaller and had a bit of a-"

"Ah, dat would be the Tasmanian Devil; dat's his species. But don't worry, Slam's a real gentle giant," Ace reassured her.

To try to help prove Ace's point, Slam just grinned and waved in a friendly manner.

"So, who's Tech and Rev?" Kagome then asked.

"That would be us," Tech spoke up after clearing his throat. "I'm Tech, and he's Rev," he said, pointing to the roadrunner next to him.

Upon seeing them, Kagome suddenly remembered that Rev had been the one who had gotten a similar treatment from the multi-armed creature as she did and Tech had had a glow come out of his palm just like what happened to her.

Kagome gasped, moving over to the two, looking concerned. "How are you feeling? Any better?" she asked Rev gently.

"I'm doing a bit better. Thanks," Rev said. "Guess I'm still a bit jumpy from what happened, though."

"Yeah, I can hardly wrap my mind around it myself," Kagome admitted. "Maybe I bumped my head, or-"

"Uh, don't think stho," Duck said nervously, glancing over at something.

The others turned to see what Duck was looking at and gasped-and Rev gave a yelp-in fright, for there were two dismembered arms that had to have come from the centipede woman lying on the ground. Zooky immediately leaped into action by covering the severed limbs with a heaping helping of dirt.

Tech gave a relieved sigh once the two arms were buried. "Read my mind."

…Then Zooky began pounding the spots where the two arms were covered in dirt.

"That's a bit overboard, though," Tech added, looking concerned.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Whoa! Easy dere, Zuke, easy!" Ace called, going over and putting his hands on the saurian kaiju's shoulders. "Easy! What's come over ya?" he asked as his friend calmed down.

"Sor…Sorry about that," Zooky panted, grabbing his upper left arm with his right hand.

The Loonatics widened their eyes at the action; that meant their friend had been reminded of the sword wound he had got when he was younger that acted up every October 6th, incapacitating him for the whole day.

Kagome didn't know that, so she just asked, "Are you all right?"

"Just some…bad memories, that's all," the saurian answered. "I'll be fine."

There was some quiet before Ace slowly asked, "So…what did ya pick up? Was it like one of those black-cloaked phantoms dat gave ya yer scar?"

"Or…(gulp)…wasth it sthomethin' worsthe, like that Des-th-troyah thing?" Duck asked nervously.

Kagome looked from the gray rabbit and the black duck to Zooky, wondering just what had this poor guy gone through.

"Well, it was a bit like those; not quite as strong, but still in that area," Zooky answered. "If there was a scale for 'evil', it'd be a level away from 'devil'."

"All right, so what's something a level away from 'devil'?" Lexi asked aloud.

There was another moment of quiet before Tech got a shocked look on his face and gasped, "Zooky, if you're saying-You can't be implying what I think you're implying!"

"What? What'sth he implying?" Duck asked, the others looking on the edge of their seats as well.

"Wait, a being of evil that a level away from a devil is a…" Kagome trailed.

"That thing…was a demon," Zooky said seriously.

There were gasps and gulps all around.

"Whoa, wait a minute; that was a real demon?!" Lexi gasped.

"Sure looked a lot different than what I expected one to look like," Ace remarked.

"Well, demons are depicted differently across various countries and religions, Ace," Tech pointed out.

"That's true enough," Kagome said. "Here in Japan, demons are mostly called yōkai."

"Right, but they're not literally demons in the Western sense of the word; yōkai are actually spirits and entities in Japanese folklore whose behavior ranges from malevolent and mischievous to helpful and friendly to humans, a lot of them having animal characteristics, like kappa or kitsune," Tech added.

"But I've never believed in any of that stuff," Kagome said, more to herself than to anyone else.

"Oh great, chalk up another problem for usth," Duck groaned.

"Well, I know one t'ing," Ace said as he got to his feet. "We ain't gonna solve any of our problems by sittin' down here."

"On that, I think we're all in agreement," Kagome said, standing up herself and the others standing as well. The girl then looked up and called, "Hey, Sōta? Get Grandpa!"

There was no response.

He probably took off, little… Kagome trailed in thought.

"He's prob'ly already gone for help," Ace guessed. "I managed to say somethin' to that effect 'fore we all got dragged down."

"But then why hasn't anyone shown up yet?" Lexi asked, not hearing anything from the top of the well except the wind.

"Looks like we'll have to climb outta here," Zooky said.

"And how do we do that? It'sth not like there'sth a ladder in here," Duck pointed out.

"What's up, Tech?" Ace asked when he heard his friend give a confused sound and turned to see said coyote holding what looked like vines that hung on the wall.

"I could be wrong, but I'm certain that there weren't any vines hanging down in the well," Tech said, a bit perplexed.

"Well, it-was-sealed-up," Rev said, cutting himself off to make the sentence as short as possible so that he didn't confuse Kagome with the speed of his voice and to keep himself from going down an unpleasant train of thought.

Zooky then took hold of the vines, tugged them, then began scaling the wall!

"Whoa! What are you doing?!" Kagome yelped.

"It's OK, these vines are pretty strong," Godzooky said, grunting in effort as he kept climbing, only pausing a moment to look back down and give the others instructions. "All right, I'm gonna go up first and take a look around. Once I'm up and out, then you six come up after me; remember, lightest first, heaviest last. Kagome, you'll bring up the rear once the guys are out."

"But-" Kagome tried to say, but Ace interjected:

"Look, I know you don't wanna stay down here any longer than ya have to, but we wanna make sure that you're gonna be safe. Trust me, we've had some experience with weird stuff."

Based on what she had heard minutes ago, Kagome really had no choice but to take the anthro, gray rabbit's word for it, but there were definitely going be questions asked once this was all over.

Meanwhile, Godzooky was almost at the top of the well; the sunlight was getting brighter and he was able to smell the breeze…and it was a familiar one.

It's the same scent as the wind that blew through Shibuya Station back in our world before we ended up in this one, he remembered. Does that mean…?

The six Loonatics and Kagome watched Godzooky climb up and out of the well, disappearing from view. A few seconds of quiet ticked by before Zooky called: "OK guys! The coast is clear! Come on up!"

"All righty den," Ace declared. "You hoird da kaiju; lightest foist."

"That'sth usth, Rev," Duck said, approaching the vines on the wall. "OK, now, we justht need to…"

As Duck was about to test the vines and start what was going to be a slow climb up, Rev already started up, but after an inch or two, one of his feet slipped and accidentally hit Duck on the head.

BONK! "Ow-ow-ooh!" Duck groaned.

"Whoops! Sorry, Duck!" Rev said sheepishly, an embarrassed smile on his face as he glanced down at the anthro water fowl.

"Ya could've waited!" Duck said as he rubbed the sore spot on his head. "I wasth gonna go up!"

"Yeah, but, well,-you-know-me;-I'm-not-really-one-for-going-slow," Rev shrugged before continuing his climb.

Duck was about to argue back, but he let it go and started his climb; considering what had happened to the kid, he couldn't blame the roadrunner for wanting to get out of the well ASAP.

"All right, up I go," Tech then said once Duck and Rev were high up enough, then started climbing up as well.

Lexi was next, but she barely got anywhere before there was a slight hold-up.

"Yo, you guys all right up dere?" Ace called.

"We're fine, Acthe!" Duck called back, although he sounded a bit annoyed. "Rev, c'mon! We don't have time to look at any more insthects! In fact, I don't think I ever wanna look at one again!"

Rev had gotten intrigued by a white butterfly that seemed to have a soft glow, and it seemed that the gentle insect was likewise intrigued by him, as it had landed on the tip of his beak, making him cross his eyes a little.

"Sorry, but this little thing is honestly unlike any species of Lepidoptera I've ever seen and it's a rather pretty one at that," the young adult roadrunner anthro said before lightly shaking his head to get the insect off and continuing to climb.

"Leopard-what?" Duck mumbled in confusion.

"That's the name for the scientific classification order that encompasses butterflies and moths," Tech explained, also pausing a bit to watch it flutter by his head before continuing to follow the two birds.

After Lexi went Ace, and after him came Slam; the vines stretched and creaked a bit under his weight, but him and the others managed to climb out of the well.

"Whoa-OOF!" Slam cried out as he hauled himself out, a loud thud heard from above, followed by a few snickers and giggles that carried down.

"Everything all right up there?" Kagome called, the loud noise making her concerned.

"Everything's OK, K-agome," Zooky called back, a giggle in his voice. "Slam just took a slight tumble when he pulled himself up; he's all right, though."

"I'm good!" Slam added.

Kagome sighed in relief and waited a bit more for the all-clear signal, which was soon given. Once she soon climbed out, though, she was greeted with a surprise: Instead of the inside of the well-house, as well as the familiar area of the shrine and her home, she saw a vast forest with grass and flowers on the ground, and more of those butterflies that she had heard Rev talk about.

I could be wrong, but…Toto, I think we're not in Tokyo anymore, Kagome remarked to herself as she looked around at her new, unfamiliar surroundings.

"Ya all right, Kagome?" asked the familiar voice of Ace Bunny from behind her.

The young middle-schooler turned and began, "Yeah, I'm-"; she was then greeted with another surprise: The seven visitors she had met only an hour or so ago were now out of their sweatshirts and now out in better lighting, so she was now able to get a good look at them.

Zooky stood in the middle, a bit taller than Rev and Slam but not by much. The color of his body was the same as his neck and head, and she could now see his tail and the wings under his arms. He was muscular with an ample lower body, but she could tell that he was pretty fit and strong. With the green color tone of his body, he would have blended right in with the surrounding greenery if he didn't have his ocean-blue sweatshirt tied around his neck like a child's cape. She also spotted something shining around Zooky's neck, like a necklace or something.

Rev was right next to him on his left, showing his blue-feathered head and arms, as well as the purple-feathered comb atop his head that was facing backwards, which he was working on straightening out. Kagome saw that he was wearing a red T-shirt with a flame on it, his fiery-red sweatshirt tied around his waist, blue jeans, no shoes, and, since he was standing with his body in a near three-quarter view, she was able to see his tail feathers, which were the same color as his crest, sticking up tall behind him.

Tech was next, his brown-furred tall ears and canine muzzle in full view (with the fur inside his ears and the bottom part of his face, muzzle, and the front of his neck a lighter color than the fur on his arms and legs), as well as his arms, legs, and his tail sticking out from behind him, the way it was held reminding Kagome of a high ponytail. The raven-haired girl had to admit that he looked rather striking, standing tall like that with such an intent look. With the tied sleeves of his forest-green sweatshirt hanging down the front of his green T-shirt, she couldn't see much of the design on it, although she could see the three sets of two feathers near the bottom. Tech was also wearing khaki shorts and brown boots.

Duck was the last one on the far left, also wearing his sweatshirt like a cape. Kagome could now see his black-feathered head and arms, as well as his big, orange bill that seemed to be a bit curved inward instead of a full bill like other ducks. She could also see his orange shirt-but could just make out the brighter orange stripes that went across it-his blue jeans, and his large black-and-white sneakers that surprisingly fit around his webbed feet.

Ace was the first on Zooky's right, wearing his sunshine-yellow sweatshirt around his waist, giving Kagome a full view of his gray-furred arms, which looked like the arms of someone who frequently worked out, as well as his white-colored hands. She could also see his gray-furred face with a white patch that covered the bottom part of his face, as well as his long ears. He was wearing a yellow short-sleeved T-shirt with black sleeves and a black-colored sword design, his slightly-worn blue jeans, and black sneakers.

Lexi was next, wearing her rose-pink sweatshirt around her waist as well. Like Ace, she had a white patch that covered the bottom part of her face, but her hands weren't white, her fur was cream-colored, and she had golden blonde hair. She had a lime-green ribbon tied around her ears, a pink shirt with a cherry blossom tree inside a lighter pink circle, white shorts, and white sneakers.

And last but certainly not least was Slam, who wore his sweatshirt like a cape as well, being that it was so big, wearing it around his waist would mean dragging it across the ground. Like Rev, he wore no shoes. Unlike the others, however, Slam was bigger and visibly more muscular than them, making Kagome think about those show wrestlers she had been hearing about. The fur at the bottom of his face was a lighter brown than Tech's was, but the brown fur on the rest of him was darker than the coyote's, and he was wearing a dark-purple T-shirt with a picture of a thunderstorm on it and slightly-ripped looking jeans.

"Well, we figured since you saw our faces, we might as well remove our disguises," Ace explained. "Hope yer're not too surprised."

"Well…I-I am…a little bit," Kagome admitted.

"Stho…any idea justht where we are?" Duck queried. "Asth well asth what happened to everybody? And everything, for that matter?"

Kagome then started calling for her family, wandering through the forest as she did so, Godzooky and the Loonatics following her and keeping their senses peeled for any sign of trouble, as well as taking in their new environment.

"So ya mean de air here is like what ya smelled back at Shibuya Station?" Ace asked Zooky as Kagome kept calling out for her grandfather, her mom, her little brother, even the cat.

Godzooky nodded. "There's no doubt about it; the well somehow brought us back through time to the Sengoku era."

"If-that's-the-case-then, how-far-back-in-the-era-have-we-gone?" Rev queried. "Are-we-in-the-same-year-that-you-and-the-Turtles-met-Hamato-Koji?"

The winged saurian took another sniff of the air. He soon discovered that while the scent that identified it as being from the Warring-States era of Japan was there, it actually smelled a bit older than 1583, and told this to the Loonatics.

"How much farther back have we gone, then?" Lexi asked, anxiousness in her tone.

"If I could find a familiar landmark that I've seen back in 1997 Japan, then I might be able to make a determination," Tech said. "But there's nothing but forest for miles," he added as he looked around.

Slam suddenly remembered something and was about to tell the others his findings when Kagome said, "It's like the family shrine is not even-" She then gave a gasp that brought Zooky and the Loonatics running to her.

"What is it?" Ace asked urgently.

The seven visitors then looked where she was looking and saw a large tree in the distance.

"The tree," Kagome said in relief.

Before anyone could ask "What tree?", Zooky and the Loonatics all got chills…just like what happened when they saw the Sacred Tree back at the shrine.

"That means I'm practically home," Kagome said. She then felt something a bit off and looked to see her new friends were looking a bit out of it, with Rev and Tech's feathers and fur, respectively, standing on end. "Hey, are you guys all right there?" she then asked. "Um, hello there?"

Her call brought them out of it; most of them rubbed their eyes while Tech and Rev fixed themselves up a bit.

"Sorry," Zooky said. "I don't know what came over us."

"You sure it's the same tree?" Tech asked.

"Of course!" Kagome answered. "I'd know the branches of the Sacred Tree anywhere!"

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Duck asked eagerly.

The eight of them took off towards the tree, having to get through some bushes until they finally arrived. However, they found no shrine, and Tech noticed that compared to 1997 Japan, the Sacred Tree in this time was smaller, and the determination based on the compared heights surprised him.

But that wasn't the only thing that surprised him, and the fact that there was no shrine wasn't the only thing that surprised the others, either. What did surprise them was the sight of a young boy with silver-gray hair dressed in a red haori and hakama wrapped in a root against the tree with an arrow in his chest.

Once again, Kagome voiced the group's thoughts: "Is that a…boy?"

---

"Justht when I thought I'd stheen it all…" Duck gaped.

"Err…eglahrba, is he real?" Slam asked almost in a whisper.

"Oh, he's real, all right," Zooky answered, the wind blowing through the boy's hair making it sway also answering the Tasmanian Devil's question.

"How'd he get stuck there?" Rev asked, his eyes wide and his voice slow due to his amazement. "And what's with that arrow?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Ace shrugged.

Godzooky gazed at the boy intently; he seemed to be in a state of sleep, but he wasn't picking up any sign of life. The scent though… He had to get closer.

Tech joined him, wanting to investigate the arrow and tell Zooky about his findings.

The young adult winged saurian climbed up the root that stretched back to and wrapped around the boy and was able to get a close look at him and a more thorough determination of his scent. The varied fragrances of the boy's scent caught him by surprise; they were all-too familiar ones: Sadness, loneliness, and anger. There was even betrayal in there, along with the soul-chilling fragrance that Zooky identified as a demon scent, but even that was mixed with something surprisingly familiar that made him slightly relax. He looked over the boy's clawed hands and spotted callouses and scars, even spotting small ones on his deathly peaceful face. Zooky looked to the visible scars he himself bore; the ones on his wings from when he had tried to tear them off himself years ago and the scar inflicted by the Morgul blade.

He must have been through a lot of hardship, just like me, Zooky thought, a sad look appearing in his eyes. But the only difference between us is that his lasted through a greater portion of his life, and the only person who possibly helped him is either dead, or they stabbed him in the back. Or was it they who got stabbed in the back?

Zooky had just recalled that he thought he had caught the scent of 50-year-old blood that had been spilled a few feet away. What had happened here, exactly?

Feeling someone else's eyes on him brought Zooky out of his thoughts and he saw Tech looking at him in concern.

"His scent surprised me a bit," Zooky said. He then cleared his throat and asked, "What have you found out?"

Although he felt there was more to the answer, instead of prying, Tech answered, "Well, in comparing the size of the Sacred Tree here to how large it was in 1997, I've estimated that the gap between here and '97 is 500 years."

Zooky then did some mental math and realized, "That means that this is 1497; 86 years before 1583 and only 30 years have passed since the start of the Sengoku era."

"And that's not all," Tech continued, his attention now on the arrow. "Based on the wear of the feather and the wood, this arrow is 50 years old."

Just like the blood I smelled, Zooky thought. Aloud, he said, "Wait a minute, you mean this boy's been stuck like this for 50 years? He doesn't look a day older than 15."

"It's weird, but that's what I've got," Tech shrugged. He then began looking at the arrow again, almost becoming mesmerized by it. "Another weird thing is that I'm sensing some sort of energy in this arrow. It's…pretty potent," he said, gingerly stroking the feather of the arrow with a fingertip.

"I've noticed it, too," Zooky said, although more in a tone that told he had more of his wits about him. "And it's not just any energy; it's spiritual energy, like the kind I've felt on Infant Island."

"It reminds me of when I was younger and my 'Acheii would bring me and my brothers to the hogan where he would conduct healing ceremonies, mostly at Mom's insistence. There were times as I watched him bless the sand painting and then perform the ceremony when I almost thought I could feel a sort of electricity in the air. It was like what I'm feeling from this arrow right now," Tech said.

Godzooky couldn't help but stare in surprise; Tech had told him that his maternal grandfather Nastas Coyote had been a medicine man, but the saurian hadn't thought that his friend was so attuned to spiritual energy. Then again, maybe that was why the coyote had been chosen as the honorary Planeteer of Heart. This raised a lot more questions that he wanted to ask later.

While all that had been going on, Kagome made her way up to the boy and also gave him the visual once-over, not really paying any mind to Zooky and Tech's conversation and spotting something that Zooky had seen and had been a bit confused by until the winged saurian's focus turned to the boy's scent: Small, triangular ears at the top of the boy's head.

Oh, wow! Like dog ears! Kagome thought in amazement. I think I wanna touch 'em. She then reached out both her hands to the small ears and started rubbing them, getting no reaction from their owner whatsoever.

That didn't mean that there was no reaction at all to this, though.

"What…are you doing?" came Godzooky's incredulous voice from behind her, making her freeze and turn her head.

Godzooky was looking at her with a set, searching expression, like a parent awaiting an explanation from a child who had gotten themselves into trouble; his arms were crossed and the tip of his tail was swinging in the air as it hung down, there being no room on the root to rest it. Tech was also looking at her with a rather wry expression, his right hand scratching his own ears as if they had been the ones Kagome had played with.

Caught, the 15-year-old middle-schooler removed her hands from the boy's ears, put them behind her back, and slowly turned to face the two with a sweatdrop near her head and slowly said, "Um…uh… I…just…wanted to see if…they…were real?"

Kagome's hope that the young adult saurian would go with it was dashed when his expression turned into a wry one.

"I could've told you that," Zooky said in a candid tone that was laced with annoyance.

"I, uh…I guess I wanted to find out for myself?" Kagome tried again in a slightly hopeful tone, also giving Tech an apologetic look even though she hadn't touched his ears at all.

Before anything else could be done, Godzooky perked up, having sensed something nearby, Tech following suit and looking around. Those standing a bit away from the tree heard the cracking of branches, and it was the sharp avian eyes of Rev that caught sight of a group of people in the bushes, but all were taken by surprise when said group of people-which were human men-emerged with bows and arrows ready!

"Get away from there!" called one of the men as they drew back their bowstrings.

"Everybody duck!" Godzooky shouted in warning as the arrows began to fly, him and Tech falling off the root and onto the ground while the five other Loonatics dropped to the ground with startled and panicked shouts and Kagome, finding herself unable to move, just pressed herself close to the still boy and tensed up as the arrows hit the bark of the tree around her and him.

Once the shooting stopped, those on the ground looked up to see if the coast was clear while Kagome turned her head to see who had been shooting at her.

What is going on here?! Why am I being shot at? With arrows of all things! Kagome panicked. And who are they?

The men surrounded them, with a few putting another arrow on their bows and aiming them at Zooky and each of the Loonatics!

Oh great, what a time for another nostalgic moment, Zooky groaned, a memory of a similar situation coming to mind.

The six anthros tensed at the threat, but they each felt Zooky's stare on them and they got the message: "No sudden actions".

"Hey-Hey! What are you doing?!" Kagome cried out, worried at seeing her new friends being threatened at arrow-point. "Leave them alone!"

"They be demons!" shouted one of the men.

"Exthcusthe-!" Duck started, insulted at being called such a thing, but he quickly held his tongue as the man who had his bow trained on the black-feathered water fowl pulled his bowstring tighter.

Well, that's something I haven't been called in a while, Godzooky thought as he glanced around at his six friends to make sure they didn't make any hasty actions and at the man who had him held at arrow-point.

"What are you talking about?! They're not demons!" Kagome argued, not moving from her spot.

"So ye are in league with them, then?" asked another man.

"Um, well, they're…they're friends of mine," Kagome said nervously, not sure if what she just said was going to get them all killed or not. "We're just…strangers! Uh, travelers!" she added, deciding to use what Zooky had told her about him and his friends earlier.

Catching on, Zooky and the Loonatics nodded.

"Hmph! They're lying!" scoffed a third man. "These demons will kill the lot of us!"

"What would travelers such as yourselves be doing here?" asked the first man who had spoken.

Godzooky then looked to Kagome, quietly telling her that he wanted to talk to them. It took a minute for her to catch on, but she eventually got the message and told the archer who had the winged saurian pinned, "You there! My friend there wants to talk to you guys! So you'd better let him, OK?"

"What would a demon such as this have to say?" the man who had his bow and arrow pointed at Godzooky questioned.

"Quite a bit," Godzooky said calmly.

This sent the men into a frightened tizzy, but Zooky just stayed calm right where he was on the ground and waited until the uproar was done before speaking again, "The girl speaks the truth; we are a group of travelers from another region who got lost and wandered into this forest. Might you tell us where we are?"

There was some tension, but an answer was eventually given: "Ye be in the Forest of Inuyasha".

"And who might be this Inuyasha?" Zooky asked on behalf of the other seven as well as himself.

"That scoundrel bound to yon tree," answered another man.

"Ah, I see. Sirs, if it might be possible, seeing as we are wayward travelers, mayhaps ye might escort us to your village where we might find help?" Zooky asked.

"Oh-kay, I t'ink Zuke's actin' skills are starting to kick in; he's startin' to talk like this crazy bunch," Ace noticed.

"Well, Zooky knows how to talk with people," Rev said quietly.

"We will come quietly and follow whatever restrictions you set for us," the winged saurian continued diplomatically. "All we ask is to be taken to someone who might help us."

Once again, there was a moment of tense quiet as the men looked to each other for a decision. Zooky glanced around at the group, silently telling them not to make a move until he did, and then to comply with whatever condition these village men would set. The instructions didn't quite sit well with Duck, who was still a bit peeved at being called a demon; not for the last time, he wondered how his kaiju compatriot managed to handle something like that so calmly. The others were likewise irritated by being labeled as such, but they kept their heads; the studious duo of the Loonatics were possibly the calmest because they understood why these men would think of them as enemies and demons, or to be more accurate, yōkai; because of their animalistic features and because of what was occurring in the time period itself with all the fighting and political intrigue going on.

The archers hovering over Zooky and the Loonatics soon backed off a little, which the former took as an invitation to stand, which he did so very slowly so as not to scare anyone. After looking around at the humans, Zooky looked to the Loonatics, who looked at him, and he nodded slowly. Following Zooky's lead, the six anthros got up nice and slow and stood in a relaxed stance with their hands out in front of them to prove that they could be trusted.

As for Kagome, she slowly got down from the root with a little help from Zooky, who had asked his "guard" for permission to help her.

Then came something that one of them was expecting, and what the other seven were not exactly happy about.

"I promised them that we would comply with whatever restrictions they would place on us, and we will," Zooky told them firmly as a few of the men started walking over with rope. "I know what I'm doing."

---

"Zthooky, far be it from me to doubt that you know what you're doing…" Duck began calmly, but then finished in an irritated tone, "…but thisth isth kinda testhting the limitsth of my patienc-th-e here!"

And, considering that all eight of them were now tied hand-and-foot sitting down on a straw mat in the village square with the inhabitants of said village had gathered around like a show was occurring, it was no wonder that Duck was having a terrible time.

"I mean, stheriousthly, wasth thisth really nec-th-essthary?!" Duck complained, moving his bound feet and wrists.

"I know; they didn't have to tie us up like this!" Kagome agreed.

"And if that wasn't enough, we've probably caused the Warring-States Era equivalent of a media circus," Rev added, looking around at the crowd and picking up some of the talk going around.

"A girl in strange clothes."

"Is she a foreigner?"

"Nay, look at the animals in clothes with her and that dragon; she must being harboring demons!"

Here we go again with the "demon" business, Rev thought sadly as he let out an exhale. I can understand why everyone's so suspicious, but in my mind this is just bordering on discrimination here.

"Ya reckon it's war?" asked an old man.

"Of course it is," said a younger man with a glare on his face. "And right in the middle of rice-planting season, too."

Rev winced. Sounds like we couldn't have picked a worse time to turn these people's lives upside-down.

Tech glanced over at his roadrunner friend and smiled; of course Rev would be feeling bad for scaring everybody even though he almost got hit by arrows loosed by men from the village. That roadrunner never really had a mean bone in his body, even when he got it into his head to act a bit cheeky.

"That human girl could be a kitsune in disguise," said a young woman holding her infant son.

"Nah, them shape-changing foxes are a lot trickier than that," another young woman disagreed.

"So, let me get this straight: We're now in Feudal Era Japan?" Kagome asked.

"1497, to be exact, so it's 30 years into the Sengoku period," Tech answered.

"Besides, look around you and tell me where you've seen clothes like that, houses like that, and even how they talk," Zooky told the female junior high-schooler.

Kagome looked around and had to admit that her new kaiju friend had a point; she had only seen people wearing topknots and clothes like that in pictures of books that were about the Feudal Era.

"So, what are we gonna do, just sit here?" Ace asked.

Slam wriggled uncomfortably in his restraints. He knew that with his strength he could break the ropes easily, but he dared not disobey Zooky's instructions. Ace may be the de facto leader of the Loonatics, but ever since he and his five other teammates came back to the 21st century, when Godzooky was around, the winged saurian claimed leadership position by experience and seniority.

"Just keep it together a bit longer guys," Zooky said in a reassuring tone. "Something will turn up."

"Make way for High Priestess Kaede!" a man announced.

The group of eight turned their heads (and in some cases, themselves) to see who was coming. It was an elderly woman of short stature with her gray hair tied in a low ponytail with an eyepatch over her right eye wearing a white kosode with sode-kukuri through the sleeves with open shoulders, a bright red hakama, and tabi and straw sandals on her feet. She had a longbow with her in her right hand that she was using at the moment like a walking stick, her left hand behind her back.

Kagome sighed and mentally groaned, Now what?

Godzooky gasped, slipping into kaiju-tongue before seamlessly going back to English to tell the others what was up. "Sorry, I said 'wow'; I mean, she's an actual priestess from the Feudal Era! This is quite an opportunity."

"I have to agree with you, Zooky," Tech said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to learn about the life of a Japanese priestess from the past!"

"Hey, Lexi, you-know-that-outfit-she's-wearing?" Rev asked the cream-colored female bunny.

"Yeah?" Lexi responded.

"Between-here-and-the-modern-era,-that-garb,-which-is-worn-by-mikos,-or-shrine-maidens,-in-the-Shinto-religion,-hasn't-changed-one-bit," Rev said.

"Whoa, seriously?" Lexi gasped, finding this interesting as she had an eye for fashion.

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but what'sth she gonna do with usth?" Duck asked, his eyes on the priestess's hidden left arm.

As they watched, the priestess, Kaede, brought her left arm out from behind her back to reveal a bag that she had been carrying. She then handed her longbow to a young man near her and opened the bag. That was just enough for the scent of what was inside the bag to reach Zooky's nostrils, and when Kaede started bringing out a handful of the stuff, his eyes widened.

"Guys, I think ya might wanna close your eyes," he warned before doing so himself.

"Why?" Slam grunted.

"Yeah, what's up?" Ace asked.

"Trust me, it might not help much, but I think you'll agree that it was a good decision to make when this is over," Zooky continued, still squeezing his eyes shut.

"Hang on, what'sth she gonna do to usth?" Duck asked as he and the others-except for Kagome-closed their eyes as well.

The next thing the group knew, they were being forcefully sprinkled with a granular substance as Kaede tossed handful after handful on them. Some of it got in their noses, making them cough, while some of it landed in their mouths, making them recognize the substance and start spitting it out.

"Demons, be gone!" Kaede shouted.

"This-ptoo!-This is salt!" Ace cried out.

"What's she trying to do-(cough, ptoo!)-stheason usth?!" Duck panicked.

"No, you silly; this is likely-(cough)-purification salt used to-(achoo!)-used to drive away demons!" Tech said to the worried water fowl.

"You're probably right," Zooky said after a slight coughing spell from the flung salt.

"But we're NOT demonsth!" Duck shouted, opening his eyes to glare at the elderly priestess once she had stopped.

The others soon opened their eyes as well and shook themselves a bit to get some of the purification salt off them.

"Look, we're not demons, OK?!" Kagome yelled, also glaring at Kaede.

"Are ye not?" Kaede queried.

"No, Lady Kaede," Zooky replied.

Rev shook his head emphatically.

"Lady Kaede, if my friends and I were demons, wouldn't your purification salt have been more effective?" Tech asked.

"How dare ye speak to Lady Kaede like that, you dog!" the man next to Kaede shouted angrily.

Immediately, Tech's ears laced back, his eyes narrowed, and he frowned in displeasure. Likewise, his teammates also glared at the man for speaking to their friend in such a manner.

"Um, he's a wolf, not a dog, I think," Kagome spoke up, the tone in her voice one of stating a simple fact.

"Coyote, actually," Tech stated.

He is right, Kaede realized silently. If they had indeed been demons, they would be in great pain by now. "Then why were ye all found in the Forest of Inuyasha?" she asked aloud.

"As I told the men who brought us here, Lady Kaede, we are a group of travelers who have lost our way," Zooky told her. "We seek no trouble, nor do we wish to do harm upon your village."

"I do not believe him," said the young man standing next to Kaede. "The young girl could be a spy from another village, and these creatures may be her tamed demons who can somehow withstand your power."

"In that case, she would be a fool," Kaede told him. "Who would invade such a poor village as ours? And even if the others with her were indeed strong demons, even they would have been slightly affected." And, to make matters stranger, they walk like humans and bear the semblance of animals, but I sense no demonic aura about them. Even so, there is something about them, she thought. I must look closer.

Kaede handed the bag of purification salt to the man next to her, who had concern on his face as she stepped toward the group. She first glanced at Kagome, and thought something seemed familiar about her, but she decided to investigate her last; her curiosity about these human-looking animals was greater at the moment.

She stopped in front of Godzooky first, bending down to look him in the eye. The young adult saurian recognized the searching stare he was being given; Master Splinter had done the same thing before accepting him as a student, so Zooky let the elderly miko look.

Kaede was amazed by this creature who stared unblinkingly at her, allowing her to see that not only was he such a kind and gentle soul, but also a leader and one who had seen terrible things throughout his life; it was like she was staring at a young soldier who bore his darkness and yet never lost sight of the good in the world. And it appeared that he had a few visible scars as well; she gently touched the scar on Zooky's upper left arm and looked over the various scars on his wings, which appeared to be harsher than the other one.

Ace was once again given a view of them and was now able to determine that those markings were scars as well, and he, Lexi, Duck, Slam, Kagome, and Rev wondered how he got them. The only one who knew the answer to that, though, was Tech.

Kaede then spotted Zooky's locket and lifted it a bit to get a better look at it. Zooky felt his protective instincts rise a bit, but he kept himself relaxed.

"Tell me, how did ye come by such a trinket?" Kaede questioned. "Was it a gift, perhaps?"

She must have sensed me getting a bit protective after all, Zooky deduced. "It was a gift," he answered. "It's from my mother. She died a long time ago; I barely knew her."

Kagome gasped, feeling sorry for the winged saurian.

"I see," Kaede said solemnly, letting go of the locket.

The elderly priestess looked at Zooky a few minutes longer, thinking about someone else who could very well be Zooky's darker reflection; this young creature was lucky that he likely had a loving family of his own and was in good company with these six others, if their reactions to one of them being called a dog was anything to go by.

Kaede stopped in front of Ace and Lexi next. In the blue eyes of the latter she saw that like the winged lizard, he also had the look of a leader, a difficult position indeed. She wondered if he and the other one were the leaders of this group and which one was of the greater rank; it seemed that the winged lizard would be her first guess, but she knew that things weren't always what they seemed, especially in this day and age. In the bright-green eyes of the female rabbit next to the male gray one, she found a sort of courage that almost reminded her of her older sister. She also noticed through subtle movements between the two that they were close, possibly together. She gave a small smile to this before moving on, leaving the two rabbits to wonder what that was all about.

Slam was the next one to undergo a soul-gazing look from Kaede. She was surprised that despite his large size and almost frightening appearance, the soul of this one showed kindness and loyalty to his friends. There was also a gentleness and a fighting spirit in him; she wondered if he had been fighting all his life.

The burly anthro Tasmanian devil gave the elderly priestess a small, genuinely friendly smile so that he wouldn't startle her with his sharp teeth and bowed his head while greeting her with a "hello".

"Hello," Kaede responded, a bit startled from hearing this large creature's voice for the first time, but she also returned the smile and the bow of the head.

When she came to Tech, she was amazed at the aura she felt from him; almost like hers or her late sister's. Her intent stare into Tech's eyes was a bit more intense than with the others, so much so that any barriers Tech had put up when the elderly miko came around fell immediately, allowing her to see the pain in his soul; the loss, the betrayal, the despair, but the coyote held firm. Once again, old Kaede was reminded of Kikyo, who had held such a look in life.

She wondered how this-what had he been called, a coyote, was it-had such spiritual power within him; had he been trained like Kikyo or perhaps he had been born into a family who possessed it?

Meanwhile, Rev was looking over at the staring contest between Priestess Kaede and his friend, wondering what was going on and what the former was thinking. He felt like intervening, but he stayed still. Soon though, Kaede's gaze was on him, and the elderly priestess found herself staring once again into an unblinking face. There were spots of doubt and a lingering dark memory, but other than that, his spirit was a bright, cheerful one that was capable of great love and compassion. But there was something else, too; a sort of fire in his spirit that gave off much energy. She gave him a smile, which was returned before she moved on again.

Tech once again had to marvel at his childhood friend; it seemed that no matter if they were in the 28th century, the 21st century, or even in Feudal Japan, Rev always had the ability to make people smile.

Duck kept his glare on Kaede, still expressing his displeasure with the treatment he and his friends had been given, but it soon went away after a few seconds of being looked at by the one-eyed woman, feeling something else in that stare, something he had experienced only once before. With that, Kaede was able to sense that this young bird had been through a few hardships as well, even having a slight arrogance about him that had been diminishing with time, but still there nonetheless. She then noticed a chain around the duck's neck and looked to him for permission. He leaned back a little, not wanting her to touch it, but he eventually relaxed enough to let her take the amulet out from under his shirt.

There were gasps of amazement from Kaede, Kagome, and the villagers as they laid their eyes on the bright, red, circular gem in the middle of the golden amulet. This necklace looked very valuable, almost worth a king's ransom in the eyes of the lowly Feudal Era villagers. Kagome wondered where Duck had gotten it; it almost looked like one of those expensive necklaces in the jewelry section of the mall.

Kaede, however, felt a powerful energy from the gem that felt like the bond she had had with her now-deceased sister; something she had sensed from the group of seven creatures. Were they possibly a group of people who had banded together to help each other to get through the dark times? She then felt something etched into the back of the amulet and turned it over.

"Tell me," Kaede began. "What does this say?"

Duck was a bit confused by the request; after all, with this world having a Universal Translator Rule, shouldn't this woman be able to read the inscription on the back? Maybe she didn't know how to read and that was why she was asking? No, wait a minute, she was a priestess; surely she had to know how to read. Or maybe she wanted to hear him say it.

In any case, he decided to oblige: "It sthaysth: 'You can unlock any door, if you only have the key'."

That's beautiful, Kagome thought.

"Mm, a rather cryptic saying, but it sounds to be good advice," Kaede said, letting the amulet go. "Was that a gift from your family? Your mother, perhaps?" she then asked.

"I…I never knew my real mom," Duck confessed. "But it wasth a gift from…sthomeone I consthidered one."

Kagome felt sorry for Duck and began to wonder about the others; what happened to their families?

"She must have cared a great deal about ye, and ye her," Kaede said.

"Yesth, she did."

Finally, Kaede came back to Kagome and looked at her again. The girl from the modern era wasn't pleased with being scrutinized, so she gave the elderly priestess a glare. That was enough to put a look of surprise on Kaede's face that soon had Kagome look at her in confusion.

Zooky and the Loonatics were soon confused by Kaede's look as well; it was like the elderly priestess recognized Kagome, and even though Lexi and Tech had felt the same thing when she looked at them, they had no idea why.

Kaede came forward and said to the 15-year-old girl, "Let me have a good look at ye."

She then cupped Kagome's chin in her right hand and turned her head right and left as if looking for something, the action not exactly pleasing Kagome, who groaned and tried to pull away, a glare on her face.

"What isth she doing?" asked a perplexed Duck.

"Look clever, girl, or be ye a half-wit?" Kaede said as she turned Kagome's head.

"Huh?" was the reaction from Zooky and the Loonatics. What kind of question was that?

Why you… Kagome growled in thought at the elderly priestess. What was this old lady thinking, calling her a half-wit?!

Kaede then released Kagome's face and straightened up. "It's there, though I know not why," she then said. Turning to the man who still held her longbow and the bag of purification salt, she then instructed him to untie them, which sent relief through the group of eight but uneasiness throughout the gathered villagers.

"Lady Kaede, are ye certain?!" the man gasped.

"Indeed I am," Kaede answered firmly. "I sense no demonic aura from any of them; although they look strange, they be mortals just as we are. I have looked into their eyes and have seen no malice in any of them, only a kindness and a close bond between them. We have no need to fear them."

Although the atmosphere around the villagers was still uneasy, the priestess's orders were followed and the group of eight were soon on their feet.

"Thank you, Lady Kaede," Godzooky said with a respectful bow, the others following suit, even Kagome who was still a bit confused from the whole ordeal.

"Ye are welcome," Kaede answered.

"Um, begging your pardon, Lady Kaede, ma'am," Duck said hesitantly, raising his hand. "What wasth all that with Kagome?"

"Oh, well, when I saw her face, I thought it was me old eye playing tricks on me, but your friend resembles my elder sister, Kikyo," Kaede answered.

"Really?" Ace queried, looking over at the junior high-schooler.

"Where can we find her?" Tech asked.

There was silence from the old priestess, silence that Tech and his friends knew too well.

"F-Forgive me, Lady Kaede, I didn't mean to-" Tech started.

"Nay, it be all right, young coyote," Kaede told him in a reassuring tone. "Why don't ye all come with me to my home and ye can tell me about yourselves and where ye come from?"

"We would be honored, thank you, Lady Kaede," Zooky said, once again bowing.

"Thank you, Lady Kaede," Rev repeated.

"Oh, please, just 'Kaede' will do fine," the elderly miko chuckled.

"As you wish," Zooky smiled politely as he and the others followed her.

---

By the time all the introductions and explanations (minus the facts of the true origins of the Loonatics and that the six of them and Zooky were from another world entirely) were done, it was night. Kaede had listened with interest to their stories, taking them in as best she could, although she was certain there were a few details that she felt were being left out, likely because they were personal in the case of some, but she let them be; they would be told in their own time.

Kaede spooned out some stew from a large black pot over a fire in the middle of the one-room hut into a small bowl and offered it and some chopsticks to Kagome.

"Wow, that looks great," Kagome smiled. "Real food."

"I really can't blame her; sthmells great," Duck said to Zooky and his other teammates. "Sthides, I haven't had a bite sthince breakfastht and I'm sthtarved. Thank you," he then said to Kaede when he was handed a bowl.

"I know you and Lexi are vegetarians, Ace, but it would be rude to refuse," Zooky told the gray-furred anthro rabbit.

Lexi sniffed the food, then took a sip of the broth. There was the taste of meat in there, but otherwise it was pretty good. And Zooky was right, it would have been bad manners to refuse to accept food from their hostess; on top of that their backpacks had been in Zooky's watch ever since an hour or so before the seven of them had arrived at the Higurashi shrine, and they didn't need to scare the villagers any more than they had already.

"This is very good, thank you," Tech told Kaede.

Rev also expressed his thanks with a bright smile and a nod.

"Bear us no ill will, children, for though now I see ye mean us no harm, in these troubled times of war, no stranger may be welcomed among us without deep distrust," Kaede said to her visitors as she stirred the fire with a tonged poker.

"We really aren't in Tokyo anymore, are we?" Kagome asked.

"Toh-key-oh? Never heard of it. Is that where your people are from?" Kaede asked the human girl.

"Uh, yeah!" Kagome said. "So I, uh, should get going." Though I've no idea how to get back, of course, she added nervously in thought as she took another sip of the stew's broth.

However, to her displeasure, it seemed her friends were in no hurry to leave.

"It's perfectly all right, Kaede," Godzooky said. "If it was my village strangers had come into, I'd be suspicious as well."

"Ye seem to speak from experience, young Godzooky," Kaede observed. "Does your kind also suffer from war?"

"Oh, no, things have been quiet between kaiju and humans for a long time now," Zooky answered. "But before, kaiju and humans were often locked in battle, mostly due to human action. However, going even further back, kaiju and humans once coexisted together."

"Wow, seriously?" Kagome asked in amazement, any thought she had of leaving suddenly disappearing.

"Oh? Most interesting," Kaede said. "I'm afraid I've never seen a kaiju, and even if I did, I most likely would have thought it a demon. Tell me, are all kaiju like yourself?"

"Well, there are a few kind ones, but there are some who are malevolent that my family and I have faced."

"Your family? You mean your uncle, your aunt, and your cousins?" Kagome asked.

Zooky nodded. "But our family's not limited to just the six of us," he continued. "There's also my uncle and aunt's parents and siblings, my uncle's grandparents, his friends, a few humans, and everyone else we've met during our travels."

"Including these six, I presume," Kaede said, referring to the six anthros.

"Yes. I guess you can say we're sort of a little family of our own."

Wow, I've heard of big families, but in Zooky's case, this is incredible, Kagome thought. I have to admit, he does act a bit like a dad to the others. She then quietly sighed as she thought about her own father, who was gone, along with her grandmother.

"Speaking of siblings, I believe I should answer the question ye asked me earlier, Tech," Kaede then spoke. "My elder sister Kikyo was the priestess of this village, until she died of a wound that was inflicted upon her by Inuyasha when he tried to steal the Sacred Jewel from our village. Before she died, she managed to pin Inuyasha to the tree where the men found ye. 50 years have passed since then, and I have taken up the mantle of priestess."

Something about that story struck Godzooky as not right; if that boy, Inuyasha, had inflicted a wound on a human woman like Kikyo, he would have smelled 50-year-old human blood on his clawed hands as well; but there had been none.

"I'm sorry," Rev said sympathetically.

"It must have been difficult for you to take up your sister's duties at a young age," Tech told Kaede.

"Aye, it was," Kaede admitted. "Tell me, are ye trained in the ways of spirits or were ye born into a family of monks and priestesses? I couldn't help but notice ye seem to possess a spiritual power not unlike that of myself and Kikyo's."

This prompted Kagome and Slam to look at Tech in confusion, and they weren't the only ones confused.

"Uh, care to explain where dat came from?" Ace asked, looking puzzled.

"What'sth she talkin' about?" Duck queried.

"Tech, I know your 'acheii was a medicine-man for his chapter back home, but what's all this about spiritual power?" Rev asked. Is it like the power Zooky told me about after our encounter with the Ringmaster?

During said encounter, Rev, Zooky, the other Loonatics, and Zooky's friend Roger Rabbit had been subjected to the Ringmaster's Sonic DNA Scrambler, which not only turned them into hybrid creatures, but also switched their powers. Rev had gotten Tech's powers of Magnetic Manipulation and Regeneration, but he also had the unfortunate luck of getting Zooky's fire breath in the bargain, which began burning him up from the inside-out. During a battle, he had managed making one good concentrated blast before collapsing and Tech luckily managed to reverse the transformations with his DNA Descrambler, after which they defeated the Ringmaster and Otto the Odd, who had been revealed to be the true mastermind.

Once everything had gotten back to normal-though Tech had begun setting up a series of check-ups to make sure there were no leftover effects from the experience-Rev had asked Zooky why he had gotten the winged saurian's fire breath, leaving the latter with the Atomic Ray as his only oral attack. Zooky hadn't been quite sure why the switching of everyone's powers had occurred like it did, but he did say that he had sensed a fiery spirit inside the young roadrunner, and that one day, it would become his greatest strength if cultivated correctly and at the proper moment. Rev had been pondering over that ever since.

"My mom's side of the family followed the traditions and lifestyle of a group of people called the Navajo and my maternal grandfather was the medicine-man, or priest, if you will," Tech told Kaede, "but I never took any training to be like him."

"I see," Kaede said. However, in her mind, she said, Nevertheless, it appears ye may have inherited a bit of his spiritual power, yet ye do not realize it. In fact, ye and your friends seem to possess hidden powers of some kind. I wonder how they will make themselves known.

---

Outside, something slithered through the grass; its mind bent on finding one thing and one thing only: The Sacred Jewel.

---

Inside Kaede's hut, three things suddenly happened at once: Zooky snapped to attention, Tech and Rev's fur and feathers, respectively, stood on end, and the latter two's eyes gave off a faint glow; Tech's a soft olive-green, like his own eye color, and Rev's a bright emerald-green.

That last thing surprised everyone so much that some of them almost dropped their bowls.

"What in the world-?!" Duck yelped as the anthro coyote and anthro roadrunner groaned, the glows in their eyes disappearing.

"What was that?!" Kagome exclaimed.

"Goodness! Are ye all right?" Kaede asked.

What happened? Their eyes glowed, but it wasn't in the usual colors like when they activated their superpowers, Zooky wondered.

Rev groaned and replied, "Y-yeah, I'm OK. Ooh, my head; what was that?"

"Your feathers and Tech's fur stood up and your eyes began to glow," Ace answered.

Tech shook his head to clear the ache before looking to Ace with a confused look. "They what?"

"Zooky? What's happening?" Lexi asked, noticing the young adult winged saurian perking up again.

"Something's coming," Zooky answered, allowing his sixth sense to stretch out. "Something familiar…in a bad way."

Slam noticed Rev put a hand to the right side of his face, and he thought back to what happened when they had fallen into the well. Was it that strange creature that was part centipede and part woman again?

Tech and Rev's eyes suddenly glowed again and they both groaned as their heads began to hurt, closing their eyes this time, but quickly reopening them with cries of alarm.

"What is it?!" Lexi yelped.

"It's her!" Rev yelped in turn, horror on his face.

"Her who?" Duck and Kagome asked worriedly.

There was suddenly the sound of multiple explosions going off as wooden structures were blown to pieces, followed by the sound of a bell ringing. Everyone quickly got to their feet and those who wore shoes got them back on; the sweatshirts that Zooky and the Loonatics wore were left behind.

"What's going on?!" Kaede gasped as she, Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics left the hut to see village men running toward something with bows, arrows, and spears in hand.

They had only taken a few steps from the curtained front door when they all gasped at the sounds of what seemed like more explosions going off. A soul-chilling scent and the smell of blood hit Zooky's nostrils and he tensed up, releasing a growl. Tech's eyes gave off another soft olive-green glow, his ears laced back, his fur stood on end, and he let out a growl as well. Rev gave a whimper and trembled with fear as his eyes also glowed once again. On instinct, Ace withdrew the Guardian Strike Sword from his back pocket, pressing the button that brought the blade up. Lexi, Duck, and Slam also got into tense, fighting positions.

"IT'S A MONSTER!" a man cried out in fear as a dust cloud rose up from the right, and with it came the lengthy body of a centipede preceded by the bare upper body of a multi-armed woman, her upper right arm and her lower left arm missing and holding a full-grown horse in her mouth by its withers.

Kagome, Zooky and the Loonatics gasped as they recognized the creature as the one who had dragged them into the well, Rev letting out a whimper as he still hadn't forgotten what she did.

"It's dat centipede lady!" Ace exclaimed, holding his sword ready.

"Ye know Mistress Centipede, then?" Kaede asked in surprise.

The gray-furred rabbit anthro answered, still glaring at the demon who had dared harm his friends, "Yeah, we kinda had a run-in wit' her dis mornin'. Dere's a few t'ings we'd like to settle with her!"

Mistress Centipede began slithering forward, her upper body still high in the air. She paused for a moment when some flaming arrows came in her direction, looked at the puny humans who dare thought that they could take her on, and used a length of her body to swipe them aside.

Seeing that was enough to bring Ace's temper down in a hurry, as well as unsettle the four other Loonatics who had also been ready to teach this demon a lesson.

Mistress Centipede then flung the horse she had been carrying towards the two humans and the seven strange creatures below, the animal letting out a groan all the way.

Kaede, Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics jumped back, the latter group and the human girl letting out cries of fear and disgust when the horse's body hit the ground with a sickening thud, its blood pooling out from its withers. This wasn't the first time the Loonatics had seen a dead body and blood, but they were still pretty sensitive to the sight, Rev more so as he hid his face in Tech's upper back.

"Give me the Sacred Jewel!" Mistress Centipede demanded before diving to ground level and shooting past the nine bystanders at a speed that could rival a bullet train, forcing them to the ground; Kagome, Lexi, and Duck fell left, with Rev, in an impulsive moment that was meant to be a protective move, intentionally knocking Tech down in the same direction, and Kaede, Ace, Zooky, and Slam fell right.

Once Mistress Centipede had gone by, Lexi, thinking the coast was clear, moved to Ace to ask if he was all right, but Zooky gave a cry of "Look out!" in kaiju-tongue. Although Ace didn't understand his friend's native language, he got the tone and protectively put himself over Lexi just as Mistress Centipede zoomed over them again.

"Whoa! That wasth closthe!" Duck exclaimed, the tufts of feathers on his head looking windswept.

"You OK, Lex?" Ace asked as he got off the girl bunny.

"Yeah," Lexi nodded. "Thanks."

Likewise, Rev got off of Tech and asked the same question while also throwing in an apology, to which he was answered while Tech threw a glance in Zooky's direction, "It's OK; this isn't the first time someone's knocked me over in a protective fashion."

"It said 'Sacred Jewel'," Kaede spoke up.

"Yeah, it said that in the well, too," Lexi said.

"A-Are ye its till?" Kaede asked in surprise, looking at Kagome, although the question was intended for all eight of them.

"No, I don't think so," Zooky replied.

"Don't look at me," Lexi answered.

"Nope," Ace added.

Slam shook his head.

"I don't even know what thisth 'Sthacred Jewel' isth," Duck said bluntly. "And what'sth a 'till'?"

"That is, we don't know what it is," Tech said, correcting Duck's statement as Rev also shook his head. "And what she was asking is are any of us this jewel's keepers," the coyote added, answering Duck's question.

"Uh, I have no idea," Kagome said. "I mean, I've heard of the jewel, but I-"

Kagome was cut off when Mistress Centipede shouted, "I must have it! I MUST!"

With that, she curled her remaining arms into herself and began spinning her whole body like a lengthy, deadly drill, the part of her body on the ground swinging around and swatting a couple archers who tried to pierce her hide with arrows away, leaving them severely injured or dead.

Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics got back on their feet, looking at the demon with expressions that were are mix of fear and anger. Zooky was worried about Kagome, as she was a human who currently had no way to defend herself, but he was also worried about the Loonatics as well; they had never gone up against an opponent like this before, and this was a situation the young adult saurian had determined could only be solved one way.

So, the time has come at last, Zooky thought solemnly. I hope you guys will be able to understand why you had to do what you had to.

The thought on Kagome's and the Loonatics' minds was that that thing was going to keep pursuing them until it got the Sacred Jewel, and it wouldn't stop killing until it did, although Kagome's thought was that Mistress Centipede was after her; she had no explanation for that thought, it was almost a gut feeling or something.

Two village men ran toward Kagome, Zooky, the Loonatics, and Kaede, who had also gotten back on her feet.

"Spears, arrows; nothing works!" one of them said.

"We must lure it to the dry well," Kaede said in a determined tone.

"The dry well?" Kagome asked.

"In forest!" Slam grunted.

"Wait, you mean the well we climbed out of earlier?" Lexi asked.

"It's gotta be!" Ace said.

"Aye, the well is in the Forest of Inuyasha," Kaede confirmed.

"Stho which way'sth the forestht?" Duck queried.

Rev glanced over his shoulder and spotted something just out the corner of his eye. "Hey, is it over there?" he asked.

"You mean where the light's shining?" Kagome asked him.

"Yeah, there!" Rev nodded.

The others turned their heads, but…

"Huh?" Slam grunted in confusion.

"What light?" Lexi asked.

"I don't see any light," Ace said.

"No, Chief, it's there; I see it too-in that cluster of trees to the east! That's the forest we came out of!" Tech exclaimed.

A light only Kagome, Tech, and Rev can see? What's going on here? Zooky questioned.

"I think you guysth better get your eyesth checked, 'causthe I'm not stheein' anything comin' from over there!" Duck said.

"But it is there!" Rev argued. "You guys gotta believe me!"

A roar from Mistress Centipede brought everyone's attention back to the matter at hand. Seeing as how they had a number of them who could actually see it, Ace decided not to waste the chance.

"We'll discuss dis later!" the gray-furred rabbit said, going into "leader" mode. "Kagome, Tech, Rev; seein' as you three can see dat light, you're gonna lead us, and dat ugly centipede, right to it!"

"Will-do,-Ace!" Rev nodded with a determined look.

"All right, then; follow us!" Tech instructed as he, Rev, and Kagome started running in the direction of the light coming from the forest, Zooky and the other Loonatics following.

"Wait!" Kaede called, but before she could say anything more, she and the two village men had to jump out of the way as Mistress Centipede practically flew past them in pursuit of the girl and her friends.

The group of eight ran through the village, having to jump and run through a shallow pond near the outskirts.

"We'll draw it away!" Kagome called back.

"Hey! Eelglabagah she's coming! It's working!" Slam grunted, looking over his shoulder to see Mistress Centipede behind them.

"Of coursthe it'sth workin' ya big lug; now keep running!" Duck yelled in panic, little flickering white dots appearing over his head; another indication of panic in anime.

Meanwhile, Kaede got herself off the ground and looked at the pursued group in shocked surprise.

"How is it that Kagome, Tech, and that young bird Rev can see what cannot be seen in the Forest of Inuyasha?" she questioned aloud to no-one in particular. Perhaps it be part of the spiritual power that I sensed from the young coyote? That would explain him, but what about Rev and Kagome? Wait, could Kagome be-?

"Lady Kaede!" called another villager as he and several others brought horses so that they could pursue Mistress Centipede more effectively.

Further ahead, in order from front to back; Rev, Kagome, Tech, Lexi, Duck, Ace, Slam, and Godzooky ran across a narrow strip of land going across a body of water that led to the forest, Mistress Centipede still at their heels.

Someone will save us, right? Kagome thought as she ran, breathing hard. They've got to! "Grandpa! Mom! Anybody?!" she called.

"Why are we even running?!" Duck panted.

"'Cause Kaede said de only way to take care of dat centipede is ta lure her to dat dry well!" Ace responded. "'Sides, if we didn't lure her outta da village, a lot more innocent people were gonna get killed!"

"Well, OK, I get that, but what then?!" Duck asked back. "I mean, how're we gonna get her in there? She'll tear usth to piecthes before we even get there!"

"Not gonna happen!" Ace argued. "Wit' our training and our powers, we'll be able to out-maneuver her and get her dere!"

Huh? "Powers"? What's Ace talking about? Kagome wondered.

"Ace! You gave us away again!" Lexi scolded.

"We were gonna have ta use dem sooner or later!" Ace reasoned.

"I'm afraid he's right there," Tech added.

But Duck's right; even if we do lure Mistress Centipede to the dry well, what then? Rev thought, an uncomfortable feeling coming over him that he had felt once before. Things aren't like what they were back in Acmetropolis. This isn't a superpowered being with a dense body or large weaponry or the ability to control weather or ice; this is a demon made of flesh and blood who doesn't care who or what it kills. If we don't do something, more people will die! We can't let that happen! Not after what Kaede did for us, and after Kagome helped defend us!

There was a roar from behind, making everyone turn their heads to look.

"Don't look back!" Zooky called. "Keep running! Keep running!"

The worried tone in the saurian's voice made the others ahead of him frightened. Once again, the Loonatics began to feel helpless, even despite the fact that they had their powers.

Rev's vision began to blur as his eyes began to sting and he stumbled a little.

It was getting harder for Tech to breathe; he hadn't run this hard and fast ever since he had run out of the Acmetropolis Hospital after the news came that his maternal grandfather had been killed in one of the earthquakes from the meteor's impact, fearing that Shilah's grave in the Acmetropolis Desert had been destroyed.

Duck hated being in this situation; he wasn't one to run, but a shine from the Stone as it swung around his neck made him remember that he had family to protect.

Slam really didn't want to run, either, but protecting his friends-his family, and the people of the village came first.

Lexi was scared; this was like when she and the other Loonatics had run from Farmer Fitzgibbons' cat Dragon, but this was much worse, even though they were at their normal size!

Ace was determined to make sure Kaede's plan went through, but deep down, he was determined to make sure that if worst came to worst and one of the six of them had to make a wounding blow, that responsibility would fall to him alone; there was no way he was going to let any of the others go through that. He could deal with it; he was the leader after all. He had to.

Another roar from Mistress Centipede sounded off.

"Whoever you are, please! Somebody-" Kagome started to shout.

"-HELP US!" Kagome was joined by the Loonatics, and even Zooky let out a roar that was his call for help.

---

The cries of Kagome, the Loonatics, and Godzooky, as well as the roar of Mistress Centipede, carried into the Forest of Inuyasha, where something unbelievable happened: The body of Inuyasha himself pulsed, his heart starting to beat again; slowly at first, but it soon became stronger. His golden eyes opened and he flexed the fingers of his right hand. Slowly, he brought it up as a wicked smile appeared on his face.

"I smell it," Inuyasha growled, speaking again for the first time in 50 years. "The blood of the woman who killed me. And it's coming closer," he said, reaching for the arrow in his chest so that he could remove it, but he gave a groan as his hand was repelled by the spiritual aura of the arrow, which glowed a light purple.

He was so focused on the smell of the woman's blood at first that he didn't even notice the seven other unfamiliar scents that were also approaching.

---

"Which way?!" Duck panicked as he and the others continued to run from Mistress Centipede.

"Right! RIGHT!" Rev squawked as he made the turn and began running up the hill that was in the indicated direction, the others following suit.

"The Jewel! Give it to me!" Mistress Centipede roared as she followed Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics up the hill.

"She's coitainly got a one-track mind, doesn't she?!" Ace exclaimed in a sarcastic tone.

"I told you: I don't have it!" Kagome shouted.

"What'sth with the 'I'? I thought she thinks one of usth has it, stho we were all in the sthame boat!" Duck yelled to Kagome.

"What I don't understand is how dat thing can think any of us have da Jewel when none of us are carryin' nothin' of da kind!" Ace said.

"It-is-quite-a-brain-teaser-I-have-to-say," Rev began to ramble. "And-I-have-to-add-it-kinda-reminds-me-of-the-predicament-we've-been-having-tryin'-to-figure-out-what-happened-to-the-Royal-Jewel-that-was-in-the-Royal-Tweetums'-Royal-Scepter-but-now-it's-not-there-anymore-ever-since-we-went-back-through-time;-I-mean-where-could-something-like-that-HI-I-I-I-I-I-I-IDE?!"

That last word was screeched out because once the group reached the top of the hill, Mistress Centipede practically burrowed into the ground, tossing dirt, and them, up into the air, Ace losing his grip on his sword in the process. They all flipped through the air for a few seconds before they hit the ground; Slam, Zooky, and Ace rolled while the others slid on their fronts across the grass until they came near the base of the Sacred Tree.

Ace lowered his arms from around his head and groaned a bit. Aw, yeah, my shoulders are definitely gonna ache in da mornin', he thought. Good thing I was a stunt bunny 'fore I became involved in all dis craziness, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to do stunts like dis without bustin' my head open. Not to mention all dat trainin' Zooky put us through has helped, too. He suddenly gave a gasp when he realized that the Guardian Strike Sword wasn't in his hand anymore. Luckily, he saw that it was lying in the grass just ahead of him.

Whew, Ace sighed in relief as he reached and took the hilt. Thought I lost ya dere, buddy. He then looked around at the others and called, "Is everybody all right?"

"I'm OK, Ace," Lexi answered.

"Yeah, I think so," Kagome replied.

"Consthiderin' we were almostht c-th-entipede food, I think I'm doing pretty well," Duck remarked, his hand around the Stone.

Very funny, Ace smirked at the anthro duck.

"I'm OK," Slam grunted.

"Same," Zooky panted, trying to get some of his breath back; he was also clutching his locket, having feared the clasp had come undone yet again.

Tech rolled onto his back then sat up. "Well, at least nothing's broken," he said.

Rev was about to give his response when his gaze went up…and he gave a shocked gasp. "Um-um-um-uh-uhhh…" he stuttered, getting on his knees and reaching back, without taking his eyes off of whatever it was that had surprised him, began tugging on Tech's shirt like an insistent preschooler.

"Hey, hey! What's the matter with you?" Tech demanded.

"What's got into him?" Kagome queried curiously.

"Hello, Kikyo."

The new, male voice that made itself known startled the group.

"Who…?" Lexi trailed.

"Playing with bugs now, are we?"

That question given in that rather haughty, condescending tone made those looking away from the tree realize that the new voice was actually coming from behind them. But that wasn't possible…at least, that's what they thought…until they looked to see Inuyasha; still pinned to the tree, but now he was wide awake and looking down at them.

Did he just talk? Kagome wondered.

"Um…isth there sthomethin' different about thisth picture?" Duck asked, stunned.

I don't believe it! Dis guy has an old arrow in his chest and he's still breathin'! Ace gasped. Dis is too much weird to take in one day!

Godzooky was also shocked. I don't understand! Not hours ago I couldn't sense any sign of life from him, and yet here he is; alive and talking!

"So, you're alive," Kagome said, her voice finally coming back to her as she got up on her knees.

"Why are you takin' so long to kill it?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. "Just do her like you did me."

The Loonatics looked at Inuyasha, at each other, to Zooky, and to Kagome in confusion. What was this guy talking about?

"Ya look pretty dumb there, Kikyo," Inuyasha remarked. "The Kikyo I know wouldn't waste her time."

"Um, excuse me?" Rev spoke up, bringing Inuyasha's attention to him. The anthro roadrunner squirmed a bit under the gaze of those golden eyes, but he managed to continue, "But she's not Kikyo. I hate to tell you this, but-What?"

Inuyasha's expression had gone from glaring to slightly confused as he glanced around at the one, two…five, six, seven strange creatures that accompanied the girl; two of them rabbits, one of them a duck, one who looked like a wild dog or wolf, a strange dragon with wings under its arms, and the remaining two a tall, skinny bird and a burly beast with sharp teeth, neither of which he could identify.

The confusion quickly disappeared, though, and the haughty, condescending tone came back, "You're keepin' some strange company there, Kikyo. Don't tell me she's suckered you unlucky demons, too. Better kill her while ya have the chance otherwise you'll end up just like me, or worse."

Duck let out a cry of exasperation and jumped to his feet. "That DOESTH IT! I am sthick and tired of being called a demon! I've put up with thisth talk for the whole day, but now I've had enough! Onc-th-e and for all, WE! ARE! NOT! DEMONSTH! Get it through your thick s-th-kullsth already, people!"

"Uh, Duck, I ain't too pleased with his manners, either, but I don't think dis is de best time to get annoyed with him," Ace told his irate teammate.

As if on cue, Tech and Rev's eyes glowed again and Zooky perked up, his sixth sense going off.

"She's here," Inuyasha, Zooky, and Tech said simultaneously, making the first glance at the latter two and Rev.

They can sense demons, too? Inuyasha thought briefly. Who are these guys?

"HEADS UP!" came Rev's frightened squawk.

Seconds later, Mistress Centipede came down out of the Sacred Tree's branches, making the Loonatics scatter, except for Rev and Lexi, who ended up getting corralled with Kagome by the demon's lengthy body.

"Move back, guys!" Zooky called from behind the three of them. "I'll cover you!"

Before they could, or Ace, Duck, Slam, and Tech could do anything, a couple spears tied with rope appeared and struck Mistress Centipede in the left side of the human-looking part of her body, making her turn to look at who did that.

Kagome, Lexi, and Rev fell backwards, Zooky coming up from behind to make sure they were all right. They and the others looked to see that some men from the village had arrived in the nick of time. Two more spears with ropes tied to them soon impacted on the centipede part of the demon's body.

"Good! Now pull!" one of the men ordered.

The order was promptly obeyed and Mistress Centipede was soon being dragged away.

"So, we were saved," Kagome said.

"You and your demon friends are pathetic, Kikyo," Inuyasha remarked.

Duck and Slam let out growls that told of an almost-gone patience.

OK, I have had just about enough of his smart mouth, Ace glared.

"I'm NOT Kikyo!" Kagome insisted.

"Seriously, just who do you think you are?!" Lexi shouted.

However, the last straw of a certain someone's patience was quickly lost…and the results were rather sudden and explosive.

"All right, THAT'S IT!" the certain someone screeched, startling his friends; even Godzooky and Inuyasha got surprised looks on their faces.

Rev got to his feet and marched right over to the base of the tree so that he was staring squarely at Inuyasha, a glaring look on his face, his jaw clenched, and his hands balled into fists. He was mad. Not royally mad, but close.

"Whoo…kay… I don't think I've ever stheen him get angry like thisth before," Duck commented nervously. "I mean, Rev'sth not ex-th-actly the guy who losthesth histh temper that eas-th-y; that'sth more my department," he added to Kagome.

"Look, buddy," Rev started, putting an angry emphasis on that last word before putting a hand on his chest and then pointing a finger at Kagome as he continued, "my friends and I are NOT demons! And she is NOT Kikyo! And just where do you think you can get away with actin' so high and mighty?!" he added as he began to march up the root that was wrapped around Inuyasha.

"Who're you callin' 'high and mighty'?!" Inuyasha retorted once he got over his surprise at this strange bird who dared to yell at him; and in quite a shrill-sounding voice, too.

"Well you're being quite condescending and, frankly, I don't take kindly to that kind of attitude!" Rev shouted.

"Whaddya mean, 'condescending', ya feathered beanpole?! I'm just telling you like it is!" Inuyasha shouted back.

OK, that would have been funnier if he wasthn't the one who sthaid that, Duck thought in regards to Inuyasha's name-call.

"Oh, really? Then how about you tell me exactly how it is, then!" Rev demanded, folding his arms, not noticing that Kagome and Tech had joined him.

"How it exactly is is that I'm saying that she's gotta be Kikyo 'cause if she's not, there's no way that she could smell so-" Inuyasha cut himself off as he began to sniff Kagome, finally noticing something about her scent now that she was close enough. "Uh, well, then you guys…(sniff, sniff)…uh…" Once again, he was cut off as he began to take in the scents of Rev, Tech, and the others.

These…These creatures have no demonic aura whatsoever! Inuyasha realized. There is some energy inside them, though, but whatever it is, it's not... And the girl…

"You're not her," Inuyasha said, his tone a bit calmer this time.

"No duh!" Rev barked, still a bit ticked off with Inuyasha.

"I know!" Kagome chimed in. "My name is Kagome! Ka-go-me!" she enunciated.

"And…you guys aren't…" Inuyasha trailed off, referring to Rev, Tech, and the other five.

"I think that should prove once and for all that we are not demons," Tech told Inuyasha. "We are who we are and nothing else, got it?" he added, saying those last two words in a firm tone.

"Y-Yeah," Inuyasha said, looking away out of embarrassment. "'Sides," he added, addressing Kagome this time, "Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter."

Kagome, not to mention some of the other few who had been listening were about to give Inuyasha another set of reprimands when Lexi shouted, "Watch out!"

Tech managed to glance back just in time to see that Mistress Centipede had gotten loose and was after them again.

"Get down!" the brown-furred coyote shouted just as Kagome got grabbed and he managed to push Rev out of the way.

He was just jumping off the root himself when he felt a hand yank on his tail. Hard.

"Tech!" Lexi leaped into action, grabbing Tech's arms; Slam was right behind her, holding her like he was her anchor.

It was quite a sight; Mistress Centipede was on one side holding Kagome by her shoulders and upper body and holding Tech by his tail, Kagome had grabbed the sides of Inuyasha's hair, which was hurting him to no end, and Slam and Lexi were like a two-person tug-of-war team trying to keep their grip on Tech.

"AAH! Let go of me!" Kagome screamed.

"Ow, ow, ow! You let go!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Tech yelped, the pain at the spot where his tail connected to his body getting worse.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!" Lexi called apologetically.

"Sahree!" Slam chimed in.

Ohh, this is bad! Rev thought as he worriedly watched the scene. If I had only moved sooner, that demon wouldn't be trying to tear Tech's spine out! I can't just sit here! I've gotta do something!

"Lady Kaede! Inuyasha has revived!" one of the village men called to the elderly priestess, who had arrived on the scene just then via horseback.

How can that be?! Kaede gasped in shock as she saw that it was true. The seal should have held forever!

The strange tug-of-war continued, with neither Mistress Centipede, Kagome, nor Lexi willing to relinquish their hold.

"All right, you!" Zooky shouted to Mistress Centipede, bearing his clawed fingers. "Drop the girl and the coyote and you may get out in one piece!"

Slam, Lexi, and Tech glanced over at Zooky.

He's not bluffing, Tech realized. He's not going to hesitate to use deadly force if he needs to! Which means that was a warning for us!

"Then give me the Sacred Jewel!" Mistress Centipede demanded.

Inuyasha's eyes widened then narrowed as he heard the words uttered by Mistress Centipede. 'Sacred Jewel'?! Does this girl or one of her two-legged animal friends have it?!

Mistress Centipede then opened her mouth, baring her sharp fangs as she prepared to lunge forward. However, a sudden addition of weight on one of her remaining arms stopped her for a moment.

"Well, well," the centipede demon smiled wickedly.

Kagome and Tech gasped in shock.

"Oh, he's a goner now," Inuyasha commented through the pain of having his hair pulled.

"Shut up! What are you doing?!" Lexi shouted, first at Inuyasha, then at Rev, who had made a bold but rather stupid move of jumping up and grabbing one of the demon's arms so as to make her release her grip on Tech.

"Rev! Don't be an idiot!" Ace yelled.

"Too late for that," Duck commented in an unnoticed undertone.

Fighting his adrenaline and the part of his brain that was telling him to abandon this action, Rev pulled himself up like he was doing a pull-up, bringing him face-to-face with Mistress Centipede. The demon hissed as she continued to bare her fangs at the roadrunner, trying to scare him again like she did earlier, but this time, Rev just stared at her with all the anger he could muster.

"You don't scare me anymore," Rev growled angrily. "My moral code tells me not to hit a woman, but you're quickly becoming the exception! Now, GET OUTTA MY FACE!" he shouted, reminding Zooky of Raphael when he had said that, beginning to bring up a hand so that he could push the demon away.

"REV, NO!" Tech howled, turning around and pulling one of his arms free in the process.

"STOP IT!" Kagome screamed, also reaching a hand back.

Then, as before in the well, a pink light shone from Kagome's palm and a bright green one shined from Tech's. However, this time, they were joined by a bright red one that shone from Rev's hand! The combined force of the three lights pushed Mistress Centipede back, making all her arms fall off and making Kagome, Tech, and Rev drop to the ground. However, Lexi also got dropped because Slam had been so shocked at seeing Rev's hand glow like Kagome's and Tech's had.

"Whoop," Slam said sheepishly.

"I'm OK," Lexi reassured the anthro Tasmanian devil.

"Hey, we did that before too, in the well," Kagome breathed.

"Yeah, only dis time you two had help," Ace said, looking at Rev, who was staring at his hand with deer-in-headlights-wide eyes.

Rev tried to say something, but he was too dumbstruck. Likewise, Kaede and the villagers were gaping in surprise at what the human girl and two of the creatures with her had done.

This proves it, then! Kaede thought. But what kind of power does yon young bird possess that it gives off a glow of spiritual energy as powerful as Kagome's and Tech's?

"OK, it'sth official; you two have gone from weird, to really freakish," Duck told the coyote and the roadrunner.

"Considering the circumstances, Duck, I can't blame you for saying that," Tech said, finally coming out of his daze.

"You won't get any argument from me," Zooky added, also stunned.

"How…H-How we'd do that, though, Tech?" Rev asked, finally finding his voice again for the second time that day.

At that moment a pink glow began to emanate from Kagome's left side, shining through her blouse, making her seven friends look at her in amazement.

"What's happening now?!" Kagome gasped.

Another bright light, this time from behind, soon showed, followed by a yelp from Duck.

"Duck!" Ace shouted, the brilliant red light from the Stone blinding him.

"It'sth not me! It'sth doin' it on it'sth own!" Duck panicked, shielding his own eyes.

The green and red glows soon came back to Tech and Rev's respective hands, this time much brighter, as if trying to outshine the pink glow coming from Kagome. Soon, though, the glows from the Stone and Tech and Rev's hands subsided…just in time for them to see Mistress Centipede come barreling at them!

Taken by surprise, Ace impulsively ordered, "Scatter!"

However, it seemed that Mistress Centipede had found her target and lunged straight for Kagome, biting her left side and carrying her up!

Zooky and the Loonatics gasped in horror.

"KAGOME!" they cried out.

"No! Stop! Come back!" Tech and Zooky shouted to Rev, who had begun running towards the centipede demon and jumping like a flea up the insect part of its body, hoping to reach Kagome before something terrible happened.

However, before he could do so, he saw Mistress Centipede begin to fling her head back, and quickly ran a scenario in his mind before launching off of Mistress Centipede's body towards the Sacred Tree, turning himself in midair so that his feet would hit first. The roadrunner quietly thanked Lexi, Ace, and Zooky for all the tips and help they gave him in helping improve his fighting abilities.

Inuyasha looked up, tensing a bit as he thought that that crazy bird's big feet was going to hit him, but to his amazement (relief), they impacted the bark of the Sacred Tree just a few inches above him. In another "fit-for-slow-motion" moment, Rev tensed up, gathered his energy, spotted his target, anticipated the trajectory, and launched himself as Mistress Centipede finally flung her head back, sending Kagome flying, blood spilling out from the spot where she had been bitten!

Whoa, Inuyasha gasped. That birdbrain might have an attitude and he's stupid, but he's got guts.

Meanwhile, Rev reached to grab Kagome and caught her in his arms…just as something else came out of her body besides blood.

What is-?! Rev gasped, his keen avian eyes spotting the object; it was the size of a marble and gave off a pink glow despite being a bit covered in blood.

It came from inside me! Kagome realized. Is that the Sacred Jewel?!

"Hey! What's that?!" Lexi gasped, spotting a pink-colored shine near Kagome and Rev in the air.

"I've got it!" Ace called. "Maneuver 29!"

"On it!" Zooky responded, running ahead of Ace and kneeling down, cupping his hands.

Ace came running, and once his foot was on Zooky's hands, the winged saurian launched him up. Ace went up and grabbed the Jewel just as Rev, with Kagome still in his arms, were coming down, and found himself having to let go of his sword once again as he went down so that he could brace himself for the impending rough landing.

Speaking of rough landings, Rev found Mistress Centipede's lengthy thorax in his landing spot, so he had to jump off one length with a flip, leap to the side off another, then turned so that his back hit the ground and he slid to a stop.

Kagome sat up as Rev gave a groan. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped, quickly getting off him. "Are you OK?!"

"Ugh…it's OK," the anthro roadrunner groaned, obviously in pain but trying to cover it up with a smile. "I've had worse landings than this." His gaze then turned to Kagome's side, which still had blood dripping from it and onto his shirt and right arm.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" Kagome squeaked, backing up before clutching her side and giving a groan of her own.

"Heh…heh…I-I'm fine," Rev said as he sat up; that was partially true, he was worried about Kagome and a little freaked out by how much blood was coming out.

"Hey! Are you guys all right?" Lexi said as she, Duck, Slam, Zooky, and Tech gathered around them. She then gasped at the sight of the blood on Kagome and Rev.

"I'm sorry; that was my fault," Kagome apologized, explaining that the blood on Rev was not his.

"You really are a lunatic in every sense of the word!" Tech shouted at Rev. "First that stunt with the explosives, then you almost burn up, then we thought you and Ace got blown to bits, then there was that freefall dive, then there was Washington DC, then you got sucked into the mud, now this! You have GOT to stop scaring me like this! I can only take so much!"

Rev just hung his head, his crest drooping. He and Tech weren't just childhood friends; they had developed a sort of brotherly bond between them, even though Shilah's death had affected Tech so badly the two didn't see each other again until two weeks after the meteor hit Acmetropolis. When they finally did meet up again, and even when they got recruited by Zadavia to be part of the Loonatics, it was like nothing had changed between them…until it was revealed that Tech had been going through panic attacks brought on by the memory of the news of the accident that killed Tech's little brother. When the Darkness consumed the 28th century, they, as well as their teammates, became closer than before, even when Rev's nightmare on Halloween brought to light that Tech had been partially blaming Rev for what happened to Shilah, even though what had happened was beyond either one's control (Rev had gotten sick at school that day and had to go home early). And now Tech had two little-brother figures in Rev and Calamity, and he had had major close calls with both of them; Rev in Washington DC during their tenure as honorary Planeteers, and Calamity in the world of NIMH. And what happened now did NOT make things any easier for the coyote; just saying "sorry" wasn't going to cover it.

The sound of Ace clearing his throat made Zooky, the five other Loonatics, and the still-bleeding Kagome turn to look at him. He didn't have the Guardian Strike Sword-that had impacted a few feet away near the bystanding villagers, almost scaring one of them out of their wits by landing so close-but he did hold something in his hand.

"Somebody lose somethin'?" Ace asked after he kneeled down, opening his hand, now having specks of red on it from Kagome's blood, to reveal the Sacred Jewel.

Zooky's eyes widened and his right hand was on his upper left arm again; what he was sensing from the Jewel was bringing to mind a bad memory; one of a terrible burden he had shared with another, one that he had almost lost everything for. A burden whose adventures still affected him to this very day.

"Pretty…" Slam gasped.

"What isth that?" Duck asked.

"I…I think that's the Sacred Jewel," Kagome answered, clutching her side and letting out another groan.

That suddenly brought Zooky and the Loonatics' attention to the fact that Kagome was hurt and losing blood.

"Oh, where's a first-aid kit when you need one?!" Tech groaned.

"The wipes and tissues are still in my sweatshirt!" Lexi said. She then gasped as she remembered, "I left it back in Kaede's hut!"

"Just keep applying pressure there, Kagome, at least until we can get something!" Zooky instructed.

A distant roar sounded off, now reminding the group that they were still in mortal danger.

Looks like dere's no way out, den, Ace decided, gritting his teeth. We're gonna need to end dis fast! Urgh…if only I still had my sword!

"Gimme the Jewel!"

Oh, yeah; Inuyasha was still here, too.

"Quick!" he ordered.

"What?" Kagome asked.

"Hurry!" Inuyasha insisted.

"Not on your life!" Godzooky growled forcefully.

"Uh, guys, we're surrounded!" Rev yelped.

Indeed, Mistress Centipede had coiled her body around the group, and in one motion, they were all pinned against the Sacred Tree. Kagome was pressed against Inuyasha, Tech was on her right, Rev was above him and Inuyasha upside down with his back against the tree and his left arm was hanging free, Ace, Lexi, Zooky, and Slam were all on the left of Kagome and going around the tree, and Duck was also on the left above Ace, but he was right-side up.

Mistress Centipede herself then came down to look at her captives.

"I heard some half-demon spawn was after the Sacred Jewel. It's you, isn't it?" she questioned Inuyasha.

This new bit of information surprised the Kagome and the others, except for Zooky, who had known about it ever since first taking in Inuyasha's scent this morning.

Half-demon? What is he? Kagome wondered.

Wait, if he's half-demon, then what's the other half? Tech pondered.

"Half's all I need to kick your scaly butt," Inuyasha smirked. "Anything more than that'd be a waste of my time."

"Listen," Kagome said, looking up at him. "You talk big, but can you back it up?"

All she got in response was a confused look.

"Well, you heard the lady, misthter; can you or not?!" Duck challenged.

Again, no response.

"What can he do, pinned there like that? Or all of you, for that matter?" taunted Mistress Centipede. "You're all powerless to stop me!"

Zooky was very tempted to start going all-out, wanting to wipe the smugness from that demon's voice, but if he did, he would be putting his friends and Inuyasha at risk; he didn't exactly like the half-demon, but he didn't want to hurt him. There was still the matter of the other part of the scent he had smelled besides the demon, a familiar scent that told him that to seriously harm anyone with this scent would go against his moral code.

Mistress Centipede chuckled darkly as she lowered herself to the Sacred Jewel that was on the grass, having been dropped in the confusion. "You're helpless, the lot of you," she smirked. With that, she used her long tongue to lick the Jewel up and swallow it!

"NO!"/"DON'T YOU DARE!" Godzooky and Inuyasha roared simultaneously.

Tech and Rev gave gasps of terror as they began to feel the demonic aura of Mistress Centipede increase in power, her dismembered arms beginning to glow.

"Heblegah What happening?!" Slam shouted, not being able to see what happened in his current position from the back of the tree.

"It swallowed the Jewel!" a villager shouted.

"Lady Kaede, what shall we do?!" cried out another.

As everyone watched, Mistress Centipede's four remaining arms reconnected with her body, the other two left behind in the well possibly trapped by whatever power it had.

"Look, it's re-arming," Kagome whispered as she clutched the sleeve of Inuyasha's haori.

Mistress Centipede began to groan and tremble, feeling the power of the Sacred Jewel coursing through her. After a few seconds, the pale human skin of her upper body burst open, revealing a monster with big, round, red eyes, yellowed sharp teeth, and purple skin with pink splotches!

Kagome, Lexi, Rev, Tech, Duck, and Ace all let out cries of alarm upon seeing this and hearing the unearthly screech she released.

"At last! My power is complete!" Mistress Centipede declared.

"Acthe! Zthooky! What do we do?!" Duck called, his tone bordering on absolute panic.

"Ugh! I'm open to suggestions, here!" Ace groaned as he felt the coils tighten against his body.

"Rev! H-Hang on!" Tech called as the pained groans of his friend reached his ears.

Rev would have made a witty comeback about how he was already hanging on, but the air was being squeezed out of him and if something wasn't done soon, his ribcage would break and puncture his lungs and heart, and there would be nothing anyone could do.

"It's crushing me!" Kagome whimpered, feeling the coils squeeze tighter.

"Hey, can any of you pull out this arrow?" Inuyasha asked.

"Huh?" "What?" "Um…?" "Err…" were the all-around reactions to the question.

"Look, can any of you guys pull out this arrow or not?!" Inuyasha repeated, more forcefully this time.

"I…I don't know!" Kagome groaned as she struggled to get her arm free and reach the indicated arrow.

Tech suddenly felt a slight vibration in his fingertips, just like earlier when he had touched the arrow. Was it possible…? With effort, Tech freed his left arm from Mistress Centipede's thorax and began to reach for the arrow. He then caught the sight of blue-colored fingers entering his vision and glanced up in surprise to see that Rev was trying to reach it, too!

"Nay, child!" Kaede cried out as she dismounted. "Once the arrow is removed, then Inuyasha will be free to destroy us all!"

"Don't be stupid, you old hag!" Inuyasha shouted. "At least with me you've got chance, whereas that thing is gonna eat you!"

"He does raise a valid point there; it's not like we can do anything at the moment," Lexi pointed out.

Ace and the other Loonatics weren't sure about that; they still had their powers, and Zooky could easily get them loose. But then again, what chance did they have against a demon powered by the Sacred Jewel?

"And what about you?" Inuyasha then asked the eight mortals trapped with him. "Are you ready to die yet?"

Zooky and the Loonatics' response to that was a series of defiant glares and Tech and Rev redoubled their efforts to get their hands on the arrow, the tips of their fingers just reaching the shaft and the fletching, respectively.

I…I don't know what I should do, but… Kagome thought, her body feeling like it was just about crushed. Given the choice…

Kagome stretched and strained, but she finally got her hand on it, Tech and Rev following after.

"We choose to…" Kagome, Tech and Rev began as they pulled on the arrow until… "LIVE!" The arrow began to glow pink, green, and red and disappeared!

"It's gone!" Kaede gasped at the sight of the three lights. "My sister's spell, banished!"

Eventually, the lights died down and Zooky, Kagome, and the Loonatics could open their eyes again.

Ace looked over and gasped. I don't believe it! Those three did it!

THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP! Inuyasha's body began to pulsate, sounding like a loud, beating heart. THUMP!

Zooky and the Loonatics gasped as shivers coursed through them with each pulse. The former tried to close his ears to the noise; he had heard that sound too often in his nightmares. The fur and feathers of Tech and Rev stood on end, feeling the demonic aura of Inuyasha (although it was half that of Mistress Centipede) finally released. Slam let out a concerned whine.

"Um… Uh… Inu…yasha…?" Kagome trailed nervously as the noise gradually came to a stop.

Inuyasha began to laugh, starting a sinister chuckle, then becoming full-blown sinister laughter.

"Anyone besthidesth me sthtartin' to think that removing the arrow wasth a bad idea?!" Duck worried.

Mistress Centipede turned, hearing the laughter of the half-demon and screeched, wrapping her body completely around the trapped nine…but they didn't remain trapped for long, as with burst of blinding light, her thorax was ripped apart! Inuyasha let out a battle yell while Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics were blown back and fell on the ground amongst the bits and pieces of centipede body parts.

Slam came around to regroup with the others, keeping his head low as centipede demon body parts kept flying.

"Hey! Boy are we glad ta see you, big fella!" Ace smiled.

"I'm even gladder that we're all in one piece," Zooky added. "Well, wounds and bruises notwithstanding," he added sheepishly, remembering Kagome's wound.

"So, what do we do now?" Lexi asked.

"Um, I think it'sth already covered," Duck said, gazing at something above him. "Look!"

A red and silver blur spun through the air, landing in front of Mistress Centipede to reveal itself as Inuyasha.

"Wicked child!" Mistress Centipede spat.

"Nasty hag!" Inuyasha smirked.

The demon centipede lunged forward with a screech. Inuyasha leapt toward her, his right arm pulled back like he was ready to swing, which he did with a loud cry of, "IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!"

Hey, he callsth out histh attack, too; justht like I do with my Aqua Densthe, Duck noticed.

Any other thought though was soon replaced by pure shock as when Inuyasha swung his arm, his claws glowing bright yellow, and split the body of Mistress Centipede right down the middle in a matter of seconds.

For a moment, nobody could say a thing.

"Now I know; he is strong," Kagome finally said.

Zooky nodded, then perked up again. It couldn't be…

"WAAH!" Rev and Duck shrieked, jumping into Tech's and Ace's arms, respectively, in fright.

"Rev!" Tech complained, setting the spooked roadrunner down.

"Geez Louise, what's gotten into you two?" Ace grumbled as he pushed Duck away.

"Ugh!" Kagome and Lexi gasped. "It's still moving!" the former whimpered.

Everyone quickly got to their feet to see that the 15-year-old girl was correct; some parts of Mistress Centipede's body were still twitching.

"I don't believe it! Inuyasha takes it down and it's still kicking! What's up with this crazy place?!" Ace exclaimed.

"Find the glowing flesh, quickly!" Kaede instructed as she approached with some of the village men.

"The what?" Duck asked.

"That's where the Jewel will be. It must be removed at once, lest the flesh of Mistress Centipede revive," Kaede explained.

"WHAT?!" Lexi, Duck and Rev shrieked.

"Whoa, whoa! Tell me you're joking!" Kagome exclaimed.

"No way I wanna face dat mess o' ugly all over again!" Ace said.

"Then let's look!" Zooky instructed.

The eight of them roved their eyes over the scattered demon body parts, looking for any flesh that was glowing. Admittedly, just looking around at the carnage was making the Loonatics a little nauseous; they had never seen such damage inflicted on an enemy.

"Oh! There! Right there!" Rev chirped, pointing to the piece of demon's flesh that had a small, bright, pink circle in it.

"Good eye, Rev," Tech complimented. Then, he noticed something a bit off. "What are you doing standing back there?" he asked suspiciously.

All that came out of Rev's beak was a trailing, embarrassed, "Uh…"

"Hey, wait a minute; you don't expect me to stick my hand in that?!" Tech yelped.

"Well, you're the scientist!" Rev argued.

"Oh, for Blanc's sake…!" Tech groaned.

"Oh, let me do it!" Zooky growled. "It's not like this scene is anything new to me."

Once Zooky removed the Jewel, the demon's flesh disintegrated, leaving nothing but the bones. He then handed the Jewel to Kaede…and released a breath he didn't even know he had been holding.

Kaede, however, then turned right around and handed the Sacred Jewel to Kagome.

"Only ye can possess the Sacred Jewel," the elderly miko told her, adding in thought, Ye who so resemble the dead Kikyo.

"But how'd it get inside my body?" Kagome queried.

"Dat's a pretty good question," Ace said.

"Why would I have a jewel wanted by demons?" Kagome then asked.

"An even better questhtion," Duck said, crossing his arms.

"Exactly," Inuyasha spoke up, crushing some bones under his foot and making everyone turn to face him. "Humans can't use it, so why bother to keep it?"

Something about the way Inuyasha's voice sounded when he said that that set Zooky, Kagome, and the Loonatics on edge.

Then came the big red flag: "If you hand the Jewel over right now, I won't have to start sharpening my claws on you".

"What?" Lexi asked.

"What?!" Duck yelped.

"WHAT?!" Kagome yelled. You mean, he's not the hero?!

"Oh, I knew it! I knew it wasth a bad idea to let him loosthe!" Duck said.

"Not da time for hysterics, Duck!" Ace reminded, holding his sword ready.

"So how 'bout it? You gonna hand it over or what?" Inuyasha growled.

"Not as long as we're standing here!" Zooky declared.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Geez, what's with you lot? Why are a couple of beings like you willin' to get yourselves killed over a human?"

"Human or any other being, it doesn't matter; we're heroes! And we won't turn our backs on anyone in need!" Lexi said.

Slam let out a "Yeah!" and pumped his fists, the former wrestler showing that he was ready for action.

"And, frankly, that's something a condescending prick like yourself would never understand!" Rev added. "We're not gonna let you get your hands on the Sacred Jewel or lay one clawed finger on Kagome or any of the other villagers!"

Tech had to suppress a chuckle. "I'd take him seriously if I were you; he doesn't use words like that often. He is right, though; if you wanna hurt anyone, you gotta go through us, first!"

"These guys are either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid" was the common thought circulating through everyone else's minds as they watched these two-legged talking animals take a stance.

"To show we're not messin' around, how 'bout we start off with somethin' he won't forget?" Ace said, glancing at Duck.

It took a second, but Duck took it that that was his cue.

"No problem; unforgettable showsth are my s-th-pecialty!" Duck declared. "All right, you! Hope you're good at dodgeball!" he called, pulling his arms back.

He was ready…

"Here…"

He was steady…

"…you…"

And…

"…GO-O-O-O-O!"

…

"Uh…Duck? Whaddya doin'?"

Duck opened his eyes, bringing himself out of the zone to find that he had his arms out in front of him and Inuyasha was giving him a weird look. So were the others, as he found out when he turned his head.

Why was everyone looking at him like that? And, more importantly, why was Inuyasha just standing there without so much as a singe mark, drop of tar or any other liquid, or any sort of residue that would have come from his power eggs?

"Oh…kay… Maybe I had my eyesth closthed and I missthed," Duck guessed. "No worriesth; I'll make sure I get ya good thisth time!" he declared, prepping to try again.

"Uh, Duck?" Ace tried to start, but Duck swung his arms once again. And this time, he got a real good look at what had happened.

Or, to be more accurate, what hadn't happened.

"What? Hey, what givesth?!" the black-feathered duck yelped.

He then tried swinging his arms over and over, but it was the same result: No Power Eggs materialized in his hands.

What's going on here?! Zooky asked in thought, panic starting to set in. Out loud, he said, "Duck, will you stop that? You're making yourself look ridiculous!"

He certainly was, waving his arms around like a madman and trying to get a Power Egg to appear. However, he eventually ran out of gas and stood panting for a moment.

"OK, somebody wanna tell me what's wrong here?" Ace asked, looking around.

"Us, for one thing," Lexi answered, a note of panic in her voice. "Ace, I've been trying to make a Brain Blast, but nothing's happening!"

If the fact Duck was having trouble getting his powers to work made Ace worried, then Lexi having the same problem was starting to make him scared. And he wasn't the only one in that position.

Zooky and Ace looked over at Slam, who was swinging his fists in an attempt to get his Tornado Maximizer power going, but all he ended up doing was making himself dizzy when he spun around.

"Oh…someone please tell me that we've got something!" Ace groaned.

"I wish I could say we did, Chief, but I've been trying to pull one of the villagers' swords to me, and there's nothing," Tech reported.

A little further back, Rev had been watching everything unfold in a growing panic. What was going on?! Why weren't anyone's powers working?! What about—? He took a step back then tried to launch forward. All he ended up doing was take about four normal steps.

"No way…" was all that could come from the frightened roadrunner's beak as the gravity of the situation set in.

Likewise, Zooky didn't need Ace to fail at using his Laser Vision to realize that the Loonatics had somehow lost their powers. The burning question was how did it happen? Was there another rule in this world that he didn't know about that negated the Acme Heroes' abilities?

"You guys done yet?"

Whoops. Almost forgot.

"Judging by the looks on your faces, I'd say all that talk you spouted was just that: talk," Inuyasha smirked evilly, holding up one of clawed hands again and priming it for use. "But if you really want me to, I'll gladly gut you lot before I take the Jewel."

The Loonatics took a step or two back but didn't make any other movement. Zooky, however, stood rooted to the spot as he mentally assessed the situation.

OK, it's 7 of us against him, which would be the case if 6 of us still had our powers. My discreet checks are telling me that my capabilities are still intact somehow, so that's something, but now that means I have to protect not just Kagome and the villagers, but Ace and the others as well. And then there's…

Zooky let his gaze drift to the bones of Mistress Centipede, who had been split in half by one swipe of the half-demon's claws, and she had been empowered by the Sacred Jewel to boot. If he could do that to an empowered demon…

Maybe—No! He couldn't go full size! He'd hurt everyone! And on top of that, there was that scent from Inuyasha that coexisted with his demon scent, the one scent that forbade him from taking drastic action.

Outnumbered, underpowered, and totally in the grip of fear. There was only one accurate conclusion to this:

We are in BIG trouble!

---

Frankly, I can't disagree with that assessment. But what I can say is "Whew!" Seriously, this is a long one! Hopefully the action and story presented here make up for the mind-numbing length.

But, yeah, here we are; it took a long time, but now we're finally dipping our toes into the Inuyasha material, starting with introducing Kagome and her family. Now, if you know the anime by heart, you know that apparently Kagome's not one for believing stuff about ancient legends and demons and whatnot, but boy does she get the shock of her life when Zooky and the Loonatics cross her path! Of course, she doesn't know who they are at first due to their disguises.

For some odd reason, I find the "line of people bumping into each other gag" absolutely hilarious every single time, so I guess it's no surprise that it's in here. As for Zooky commenting that it was nostalgic, that's because he's been part of the gag before: If you know the episode "Knight to Remember" from the series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", you'll recall that gag occurring as Pooh and his friends approach the stairway leading to the attic in Christopher Robin's home. Well, in my fanfic-verse version of that episode, the Godzilla family and Vicky end up being part of that gag as well. And if you'll recall from a chapter of my "Godzooky and the TMNT: Turtle Tracks" story, that gag was done yet again. I'm sure there's other examples, but those are the two I know right off the top of my head at the moment.

In case you're wondering about that bit about Osaka castle, that's a reference to the second Godzilla film "Godzilla Raids Again" when Godzilla and Anguirus' battle comes to the castle grounds.

Anyway, our unusual tourists meet Kagome for the first time and they can understand her perfectly due to something I dubbed the "Universal Translator Rule". And yes, it is a slight nod to the Universal Translators from the Star Trek franchise, which allows everyone to understand each other. As of now, the UT Rule can be applied in three ways: First is by getting a Universal Translator from the Star Trek universe, which Zooky has. The second way is strictly applied to me due to having had my glasses modified by the Atlantean aliens from the "Godzilla: The Animated Series" episode "The Colossus of Atlantis" so that not only could it give me the ability to zoom in on something and take pictures like I was using a camera, and display statistics in a hurry, but it also allows me to understand people no matter what language they speak in (unless I set it not to translate someone or it's not one of the known languages, e.g. Dwarvish or Elvish) and for them to understand me via an unseen translating microphone. However, it's hardwired to my brain patterns only, so they won't work for anyone else. The third way is when visitors go through a portal to a different world, the UT Rule automatically kicks in, which is what happened to the Loonatics. It may not apply in every case, but it was a good thing that it did here.

Kagome points out the sights of the area to the group including the Sacred Tree (which gives certain members of the group shivers, like at Kiyomasa's well) and the well-house, and it is here that we meet Sota, Kagome's little brother, who is looking for the family cat. And to bring up another long story, while Zooky was under the tutelage of the Looney Tunes in the world of Roger Rabbit, he met Pussyfoot and the two developed a fast friendship, with Marc Anthony not following long after once he knew that the young saurian meant no harm to the kitten. As you know, Pussyfoot and Marc Anthony really didn't star in a lot of the classic Looney Tunes cartoons and were mostly relegated to cameo appearances in the modern era. For a Toon, that kind of long-term unemployment can be rough, so Zooky volunteered to take care of Pussyfoot while Marc Anthony was put under Granny's care (luckily Bugs and Granny were in the same neighborhood, so visiting times weren't a problem). And—just to make things interesting—Pussyfoot actually aged over the years and eventually had kittens, the one kitten named Cora just the latest (I may put up a story about that much later). In short, Zooky and the Loonatics are no strangers to dealing with cats.

However, things really take a turn when it seems that there is something inside the sealed well scratching to get out; something really bad according to the feelings that Tech, Rev, and Zooky are getting as well as the memories it drags up for them. For Zooky, it brings up his time in Middle-Earth when he and Frodo both were stabbed by a Morgul blade. For Tech, it brings up the time he heard the legend of the Skinwalkers (it's a pretty spooky one) and thought he actually saw one (may have been nerves, maybe not). As for Rev, Tech had told the story to him and…well, it's not exactly something a young kid likes to think about when they're trying to go to sleep.

A particularly loud noise from inside the well scares everyone and makes Godzooky accidentally reveal himself, but before things can go any further, something bursts out of the well and drags Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics inside! If you're familiar with the original material, then you know that Mistress Centipede has made her appearance as well as shown what a creep she is (I mean, seriously, licking Kagome like that!) The encounter quickly comes to an end when Kagome and Tech somehow make bright lights appear from their hands and drive the bare-chested female human/centipede hybrid away.

Once that's all over, everyone tries to come to grips with what just happened and proper introductions are made. They also discern that what they just encountered was a demon, but not a demon in the Western sense of the word, as Tech explains (I got the definition from Wikipedia, just so you know). The group then gets out of the well and find themselves in a forest in the middle of nowhere. Well, a forest in the Sengoku era, actually, but in a time further back than 1583. Kagome soon spots the Sacred Tree and…boy, just when things couldn't get any stranger.

Godzooky and Tech are the first to analyze the sleeping Inuyasha and the arrow and make quite a few discoveries. For instance, the arrow pinning the boy to the tree is 50 years old and brimming with spiritual energy, while the boy himself doesn't look to be more than 15 years old. In addition, the boy's scent is a mixed one; one of sadness, anger, demon, and something else that Zooky finds familiar. It is also revealed that they have gone back to the year 1497, 500 years from 1997. The group is soon ambushed by men from a nearby village who believe that they are demons, which brings up another nostalgic moment for Godzooky: If you're familiar with Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films, then I'm referencing the scene where the Fellowship is walking through Lothlorien and they are taken by surprise by Elven archers.

Godzooky manages to come to a diplomatic solution with the villagers, but his friends aren't exactly thrilled with being tied up and put on display for the villagers to gawk at. Here enters Kaede, who also mistakes them for demons, but a deep analysis of each one soon proves her wrong and the group is freed.

Later on, the visitors talk to Kaede about themselves, but Zooky and the Loonatics only reveal certain details so as not to reveal that they are from another world entirely. Eventually, the topic shifts to Kikyo and Kaede points out that Tech apparently has spiritual powers. Given that his maternal grandfather was the medicine man for his chapter, it is possible. This also makes Rev think back to the events of my fanfic-verse version of the "Loonatics Unleashed" episode "The World is My Circus"; that was when the Loonatics (plus Zooky and Roger) were put through the Ringmaster's Sonic DNA Scrambler and ended up switching powers with each other. It was a rough go for Ace, Lexi, Duck, Slam, Tech, and Rev, but it seemed that the roadrunner really got the short end of the stick when his new fire-breath power began burning him up from the inside. Luckily, everyone was put back to normal, but it really left Rev and Zooky (and everyone else, really) wondering why the switching of powers happened like they did.

However, the conversation is soon cut short by the arrival of Mistress Centipede, who proceeds to tear the village apart in her search for the Sacred Jewel. Upon seeing a light coming from the forest, Kagome, Tech and Rev lead the others lead Mistress Centipede away from the village and end up at the tree where they met Inuyasha earlier…only to find that he's now wide-awake and quite rude to boot. His attitude rubs everyone the wrong way so much, that even Rev ends up snapping at him. Not a good way to make first impressions, Inuyasha. Mistress Centipede comes back on the scene and tries to get at Kagome, but her new friends aren't going to let that happen without a fight, during which Rev also makes a glow come from his hand, just like Tech and Kagome. In fact, Rev really goes into action here as he faces Mistress Centipede down after what she did to him back in the well and then saves Kagome from a nasty fall after she is bit by the centipede demon, which makes the Sacred Jewel come out of her body. Now how did that get in there?

Unfortunately, our heroes end up pinned and Mistress Centipede swallows the Jewel, making her powers increase. The only way any of them are to get out of this alive is by pulling out the Sacred Arrow that holds Inuyasha, which Kagome, Tech, and Rev manage to do, and the results are staggering as Inuyasha literally tears Mistress Centipede apart. With the Jewel regained and Mistress Centipede gone, you'd think this was all over, right? Wrong; because there's still Inuyasha to deal with, and he still wants the Sacred Jewel. BAD. And to make matters worse, the Loonatics cannot access their powers!

Oh, boy, how are Kagome and the others going to get out of this one?!

Here are the questions:

After the first scene, what's your first impression of Kagome?

If you were with Kagome when the disguised Zooky and Loonatics arrive, what would you be thinking?

What would you do when trying to help find Buyo in the wellhouse and you hear the scratching coming from inside the sealed well?

What would you be doing when the strange arms come out of the well and grab Kagome, Zooky, and the Loonatics?

What would be your reaction to seeing the inside of the well and the creature pulling the group down?

Any theories on what the lights that came from Kagome's and Tech's hands were?

How would you help the Loonatics calm down from their experience and explain to Kagome who they are while not revealing too much?

How would you react to finding yourself in the Warring-States Era of Japan? Seeing Inuyasha for the first time?

How would you help explain yourself and the others to Kaede?

What would you do to help when Mistress Centipede attacks the village?

What would your reaction be to seeing Inuyasha awake and what things would you have to say about his attitude?

What would you be doing throughout the scene where Mistress Centipede comes to the tree where Inuyasha is stuck, Kagome and Tech's hands start glowing again but this time with Rev joining them, the Sacred Jewel comes out of Kagome's body, the group is trapped against the tree, and Inuyasha is freed and obliterates Mistress Centipede?

Any theories as to how and why the Loonatics lost their powers?

Apologies for there being so many, but this was a big chapter. Next time, hopefully, we'll continue on with the next episode and find out how Kagome, Zooky, and the mysteriously unpowered Loonatics will manage to survive another day in Feudal Japan, especially now that Inuyasha is up and about and the Sacred Jewel has resurfaced.

Until then, please read and review. Thank you!