Xander Quest

by Throwaway1971

All credit goes to the OG author Judge Mental on SB

290. The Endless Eight(h Year) 8

Grinning in what you hope Ichigo takes as friendly manner, you step up the pace of the fight, seeking to push your opponent just past his limits - far enough to feed into his growth of skill and determination, but not so much that you crush him before he can learn anything.

It's a bit of a balancing act, admittedly, and the other boy's inability to read your movements once you start using Martial Concealment does not help. Indeed, you've finished the second strike of a three-part combo before you consciously register that Ichigo failed to evade or block what you'd thought was a reasonably obvious opener.

The good news is that Ichigo is so straightforward, you have no trouble predicting what he's going to do next. Once you stop hiding your own intentions, he has a somewhat easier time.

At the very least, you don't find yourself accidentally pummeling him.

Just, you know, deliberately kicking him around the mats and everything.

In a HELPFUL way.

Gained Teaching C

Drawing out the fight serves another purpose, besides pushing Ichigo to get better faster, in that it gives you more time to investigate what, exactly, the Kurosaki heir is doing with his soul as he fights.

You're kind of annoyed to realize that what he is CONSCIOUSLY doing is nothing more than the most rudimentary form of Spiritual Enhancement, such as you've already puzzled out for yourself. The difference between how you use it and what Ichigo's doing is that you're using the minimum amount of spiritual energy necessary to activate the technique. Strawberry Boy is overloading the technique by a ridiculous degree, consuming easily five times as much of his soul's abundant energy as is truly required.

And he doesn't even REALIZE it.

At that moment, you have the distinct impression that THIS is what other magical practitioners feel when they see you throwing mana around like it's going out of style.

...it's kind of annoying, to be honest.

Gained Spiritual Overload F

As the match continues, you try to channel some of your spiritual energy into a more directly defensive form than what basic Spiritual Enhancement provides, to act as a form of armor against soul-based attacks. Your first attempt, patterned directly after your body-hardening Ki Armor, proves... less than successful.

On the up side, that means more practice for Spiritual Resistance!

Yay.

It's only when you turn the cobbled-together spiritual technique inside-out, as it were, projecting the energy just outside of your physical body, where it forms a solid layer around the core of your aura, that you start to feel less of a sting from those of Ichigo's attacks which you choose to block rather than evade.

Gained Spiritual Armor F

The difference is pretty paltry, though.

After about a minute on the mats, during which Tatsuki has kept up her encouragement - shifting from her initial playful mockery to honest support - and some of the other students have started to join in, you reach the point where you don't believe you can draw the fight out any longer, without making it look like you're toying with Ichigo for your own amusement. That would be counterproductive to your goals, and insulting to Doujima-sensei and the rest of Furin Hall besides.

It's time to end this.

The last time you fought Ichigo, you went for a knockout blow, and managed a knock-down. Going for a repeat of that would not be appropriate for the friendly investigative/instructive stance you've kept up during the spar, to say nothing of the mood it'd put the other boy in for the remainder of your visit. And of course, you don't want to throw him out of the "ring" like you did Tatsuki.

You ask yourself: Foot sweeps?

Foot sweeps, comes the reply.

You step up your offense by another notch, quickly shattering Ichigo's guard, forcing his arms out of position, and literally pushing him back a step.

Then, while he's still recovering, you drop, spin, and extend one leg, all in a single, smooth movement.

And down the boy goes.

Doujima-sensei calls it a moment later.

Is there anything else you want to do at Furin Hall?

---

Straightening up from your crouched position, you lean forward to where Ichigo is laying on the ground, and extend a hand.

"Thanks," he says, accepting the help. "For this, and for not ending the match by hitting me in the head again."

"You're welcome on both counts."

As you're doing that, Doujima-sensei has taken the opportunity to impart Necessary Instruction upon his students, highlighting the differences in how you approached a fight with Tatsuki and how you fought Ichigo, and WHY you changed methods.

Some wiseguy, several years older than Tatsuki and Ichigo, comments in an undertone that OF COURSE you pulled your punches against the crybaby.

Tears promptly appear in THAT one's eyes as - without taking her attention off her teacher - Tatsuki not-so-subtly stomps on his foot.

You're not sure where this "crybaby" business came from, as Ichigo has seemed pretty ordinary to you so far - but then again, you've met him in person all of two times, now. And from the way he's rubbing the back of his head and won't quite meet your gaze, there's SOMETHING to that accusation.

Feigning ignorance of the interaction between his students, Doujima-sensei continues his short lecture for another minute or so. He concludes by thanking you for taking time out of your no-doubt busy schedule to visit Furin Hall and share some of your experience with his students.

You respond in kind, once again thanking Doujima-sensei for allowing you to make use of the dojo in the middle of his class, and then usher your two companions out.

There is an awkward silence in your group as you walk away from the dojo.

"Yama's a jerk," Tatsuki grumbles.

"Yeah," Ichigo agrees.

Rather than press for details about what is obviously a sore subject with your Karakura companions, you instead decide to offer Ichigo a more individualized version of his teacher's "after-action report."

He doesn't precisely lighten up on the spot, but the prospect of getting advice on how to fight better does seem to appeal to him. Or maybe it's just a convenient distraction...?

Either way, you make with a blow-by-blow breakdown of the spar, highlighting the points where you think Ichigo improved since your last match - mostly on the emotional and spiritual side - where his skills are holding steady, and where he could stand to get better.

Tatsuki eagerly adds her own remarks, and then takes part in re-constructing various moments in the fight, where you and Ichigo assume the relative positions you were in, and she explains where and how Ichigo went wrong.

"You mean, besides getting into the ring with a guy who can throw you and a vampire around?"

"Yes, besides that," Tatsuki agrees without skipping a beat. "Now shut up and pay attention."

"Yes, sir."

You're not sure how much of this instruction Ichigo will retain, or how it'll affect his future performance, but he's definitely paying attention the whole time, and doen't have any trouble following what either you or Tatsuki are saying.

On that note, Tatsuki might have a future as a martial arts instructor - or maybe the less-evil sort of gym teacher.

Being a LITERAL monster, descended from a species with a reputation for taking pleasure in human suffering, would probably be an asset in that particular field.

Your idle flight of fancy is interrupted as you notice that the watcher you picked up after leaving Furin Hall is still following you. While you haven't managed to get a clear look at them, you're pretty sure it's that perfectly ordinary and completely unsuspicious black cat that abruptly joined the Kurosaki family back during the World Tournament.

Well, it COULD be another perfectly ordinary and completely unsuspicious black cat, but what are the odds of that happening?

...wait, this is YOU you're talking about.

Right, stupid question.

Anyway, what do you want to do about this tag-along?

---

"So," you say, "not to change the subject or anything, but has anyone else noticed that we're being followed?"

On your shoulder, you immediately feel Briar straighten up in shock. She has the good sense not to do anything more than that, however, as it might reveal her awareness of your pursuer's presence to them.

Tatsuki and Ichigo, on the other hand, whirl about to look back up the street. The morning traffic rush is well over, but there's still a few people on the sidewalks. Most are kids who, like yourselves, are enjoying the summer break, but there's a few adults as well.

"I don't see anybody who looks like they're following us," Ichigo says after a moment.

"That's kind of the point, Ichigo," Tatsuki reminds him. But she does glance at you and ask, "Are you sure about that, Alex?"

Seeing as how the pair of them have already given away the game, you turn around as you nod.

"Look there," you tell them, pointing.

They look.

"...it's a cat," Ichigo says.

The cat in question is currently sitting atop one of those stone walls you've seen all over the residential communities in your various visits to Japan. It regards your group with typical feline indifference.

"Yes, a completely ordinary and totally not suspicious black cat," you agree dryly. "Kind of like the one I asked about at breakfast, isn't it?"

Ichigo blinks in recollection, and then squints suspiciously at the cat.

It may just be your imagination, but the perfectly normal animal seems to tense under that increased scrutiny.

"How long has it been following us?" Briar asks flatly.

"At least since we left Furin Hall," you answer.

"Right, that's enough for me to count it as hostile behavior," the fairy says. "What do you think a proper response would be? Summoned dogs? Conjured catnip?"

You pause and consider that. Both actions are well within your power, but the idea of dropping some catnip on your uninvited follower does sound oddly tempting...

"Hey, now," a deep voice protests. "There's no call for any of that."

Tatsuki and Ichigo both stare.

"Did it just-?" Tatsuki begins.

"The cat just talked," Ichigo states dully.

You and Briar regard the two of them oddly. "Yeeees?" you say slowly. "What's your point?"

The cat joins Ichigo in staring at you.

"This isn't weird to you?" Ichigo asks. "Like, at all?"

Past him, you notice that Tatsuki has recovered from her surprise, and is now giving her friend the same kind of funny look that he's directing at you.

"Think about it for a second, Ichigo," you say patiently. "I'm an eight-year-old sorcerer. My best friend is a fairy. You've SEEN me fight a vampire princess."

Tatsuki just nods, wordlessly. Doubtless she's also thinking about the supernatural people and things she encountered at Kahlua's birthday party, plus whatever else she's run into since meeting you. There's probably been an incident or two that didn't make it into her letters.

"But- it's a talking cat," Ichigo presses on, stubbornly trying to defend himself even as he reddens in embarrassed realization.

"And I can use magic to talk to my dog and get intelligible answers whenever I want," you reply with a shrug. "It's not even a powerful spell."

Ichigo blinks at that.

The cat, meanwhile, stands up to stretch, and then pads towards you along the top of the wall.

"Never thought I'd be spotted by a brat when I was actually TRYING to stay unnoticed," he grumbles. "I suppose this how Kisuke must have felt about his seals being uncovered." The animal pauses in mid-stride, eyes suddenly widening. "Gah. I may actually owe him an APOLOGY..."

"Speaking of apologies," you note, "I think you owe us one as well."

"Hmmm? Oh, I have permission to follow these two any time I feel like they need it," the cat says casually.

Ichigo does a double-take. "Wait, what?"

Tatsuki sighs. "You know my mom."

Cats can't smile, but they're experts at radiating smugness. "The Strawberry's as well. We go drinking sometimes."

Ichigo makes a funny sound at this. "Brain... broken..."

Tatsuki, on the other hand, just nods, as if the idea of her mother sharing booze with a cat is nothing strange.

Having met Akkiko, you'd understand why, even if you weren't already certain that this isn't JUST a cat.

The obvious intelligence aside, now that the animal is this close - and no longer trying to hide from you - you can sense that he doesn't an aura anything LIKE a living being's. It's wholly spiritual in nature, close enough to pass for human or a ghost thereof, though without the ties of a mortal soul out projecting astrally or the bitter chill of undeath. Instead, there's something else mixed in with the cat's presence, a "flavor" that's more than merely mortal and less than truly divine, but without the air of holiness you've gotten used to in your dealing with the servants of the Goddesses, or the taint of malice you've detected around various demons.

Something in-between Good and Evil, as it were.

Interesting.

Incidentally, the cat introduces himself as Yoruichi.

---

"So," you say, looking up at where Yoruichi is sitting on his haunches atop the wall. "Not to sound rude or anything, but do Mrs. Kurosaki and Mrs. Arisawa have any other shady friends that we should know about?"

You are treated to the rare sight of a cat sputtering. "Shady?! I am not shady!"

"You were tailing three kids and a fairy in secret," Tatsuki points out. "That's pretty shady."

Yoruichi flinches.

"You're a talking cat," Ichigo adds. "That's pretty shady."

Yoruichi makes a choking sound.

"You're a cat, period," Briar throws in. "That's pretty shady."

Yoruichi hangs his head.

"You also hang out with this 'Kisuke' person Ichigo's parents have mentioned several times," you finish. "From what little I've heard about the guy, THAT's pretty shady."

"Yeah, that one takes the cake," Ichigo admits.

By this point, Yoruichi has given up, pressed his face to the top of the wall, and buried his furry head under his paws.

"You brats are not cute at all," he groans.

"Shaaaady," Briar drawls.

"I am not!"

"Then you wouldn't mind answering a few questions, would you?" you offer. "Just to... clear the air."

Yoruichi eyes you askance. "What KIND of questions?"

"Well, for starters... what are you, exactly? I mean, the talking alone makes it clear that you're not just a cat-"

"THANK you," Ichigo declares.

"-and that's before I get into what you look like on the spiritual side of things."

Tatsuki and Ichigo join Yoruichi in giving you funny looks.

"What do you mean by that?" the cat that isn't a cat asks.

You describe how the "cat" has a spiritual presence that doesn't look a thing like an animal's, and is far more like a human ghost's - although not exactly that, either - with a touch of divinity.

By the time you're done, Ichigo and Tatsuki are both squinting Really Hard at Yoruichi, clearly trying to see what you can see, while Yoruichi is giving you the same kind of look. Unlike your two peers, the feline entity actually knows how to shape spiritual energy, so as to look upon the spectral layer of reality - and so in that sense, he's not looking AT you, so much as INTO you.

Although what Yoruichi is doing does not have the invasive feel of an active probe, the Boar stirs all the same, doing the equivalent of opening one bleary eye to glare at this disturbance to its slumber.

The cat's golden eyes go wide.

"Sorry," he says quickly. "Didn't know you were there."

The Boar grunts, and its presence fades, as does Yoruichi's spiritual energy.

The feline entity looks at you with more or less mundane eyes once again, asking, "How long has that one been awake?"

---

It didn't escape your notice that Yoruichi didn't actually answer your question. You make a mental note not to let him get away without giving you a straight response, but go ahead and answer his inquiry anyway.

"A few months," you say.

Technically, the first time you became aware of your totem spirit - at least in this lifetime - was back at the World Tournament, although you didn't truly make contact with it until Navi sent you off on her little character-proving fetch quest. But what's a difference of a couple weeks between not-enemies?

You're not going to call Yoruichi a friend, you just met him.

Plus, you know. Shaaaady.

"...huh," the cat says simply. Then he shakes his head. "Well, to answer your first question, I don't think you're likely to run into anyone else" - your entire group is glared at pre-emptively, before Yoruichi adds - "unusual, while walking around today. At least not as long as you stay out of trouble, which I'm told is something of an issue for some of you."

"As for your other question," the cat continues, "I'll say this much. If you ever run into anyone whose spiritual aura reminds you of mine? Even slightly? Be on your very best behavior, DON'T even hint that you've met me, and NEVER let on that you have that much awareness of them."

This warning is delivered in the most serious tone you've heard the spirit disguised as a cat use, with no trace at all of his prior easygoing manner.

You decide that's a good indication that you should take that advice.

"That should be easy enough," Ichigo answers. "I still don't see what Alex was talking about."

Tatsuki just shakes her head. "All creepy spiritual stuff aside, we had a tour to finish." She looks at Yoruichi. "Are you going to keep following us?"

"Unless something more interesting comes up," the cat says. "Just ignore me. You won't even notice I'm here."

At that, you give the cat a challenging look.

"Well, YOU might," he admits, before muttering something about pain in the ass child geniuses and getting back into shape.

---

Although you have a sneaking suspicion that Akkiko has been carrying tales, you shrug and let Yoruichi's remark about "finding trouble" - which was pretty much designed to provoke a response - pass with no more comment than an idle shrug.

The cat's not WRONG, after all.

Mysterious cat-like being in tow, your group proceeds with the general tour of Karakura.

While Tatsuki and Ichigo continue their role as tour guides, you have another go at trying to blend your spiritual presence in with the background energies of the region. You've spent most of the time since your arrival in town trying to get the Spiritual Attunement technique you learned from Shaman Tiriaq working, but your "mastery" of the skill is really anything but, and Karakura Town is proving very difficult to get accustomed to.

It doesn't help that it currently takes you most of an hour of focus to get the technique working at ALL, or that when you starting molding your ki and spiritual energies back in Furin Hall, you lost what progress you'd made towards your second attempt at attunement since getting here.

After another hour or so of putting foot to pavement, your two companions have shown you most of the town, or at least most of what can be reached in a reasonable amount of time without using a car. They pointed out places like their school, the local library, the police and fire departments, and a couple of hospitals - one very modern and busy, the other kind of run-down and quiet - but more because they're the sort of places you SHOULD know than because they're particularly interesting on their own, and also because you were passing them on your way to more memorable places.

Among those were an old train station which you briefly visited on your way to Furin Hall, several stores that Tatsuki and Ichigo have good opinions of, the warehouse district where they're not supposed to EVER go, and a park that you took a few minutes to pass through and admire.

Gained Local Knowledge (Karakura) E

Tatsuki and Ichigo have saved what they consider the best for the last, and now that the main part of the tour is over, you swing by a second park, one that was designed by someone more interested in open spaces, sports fields, and playgrounds than the trees which dominated the other place.

When your party arrives, you find thirty or more kids in the park ahead of you. They range from not much older than the Kurosaki twins to about the age you appear to be, and while some are here on their own, others have parents with them. Most of the older kids have a pick-up game of soccer going, while the jungle gym has been taken over by the younger set, mostly by dint of the adults sitting nearby. There's an all-ages game of hide and seek going strong, and a few other kids are just doing their own thing.

Quite a few of the kids greet Tatsuki and Ichigo by name, and after that there's a mix of invitations - some friendly, some... a bit less so. There's also a general curiosity about your presence, which leads to you being introduced to the playground at large.

Nobody mentions Yoruichi or Briar, although you do catch a few of the younger kids peeking around the jungle gym, their parents, and their playmates to stare at your shoulder.

Tatsuki seems most inclined to join the kids playing hide and seek, although you do see her glancing in the direction of the impromptu soccer game. It's currently five-on-five, and you doubt they'd accept one extra player - especially one that small - but if they got an offer for two kids to join...

Ichigo, meanwhile, has already walked over to join three boys his age, who have claimed the highest part of the jungle gym and are holding it as a kind of fortress, in the face of all the smaller children clambering about below.

Briar has likewise abandoned you in favor of investigating these new little kids that might be able to see her, but you were pretty much expecting that.

The cat is up in a tree near the entrance, giving you an annoyed look. Whether that's because you found him again so quickly, or just because, you don't know.

---

Pestering- that is to say, TALKING to Yoruichi again is an appealing idea, and you fully intend to do so again before you leave or he pads off to wherever he came from - whichever comes first.

But Round Two of poking the cat for answers can wait a bit.

At the moment, you find yourself more in favor of helping Tatsuki join in on that game of soccer that the older kids have going.

As Ichigo and Briar break away to pursue their respective interests, you poke Tatsuki in the shoulder to get her attention - and when she looks up at you, frowning, you nod towards the small field.

"You join one side, I join the other," you explain. "That seem fair to you?"

Tatsuki blinks, and then grins. "Prepare to get stomped, Harris."

"I'll try not to step on you, Arisawa."

You approach the two short teams, and since Tatsuki actually knows some of your prospective teammates, you let her make your pitch.

"Hey, guys," she says. "Room for two more?"

There are some nods, but also some uncertain looks.

Surprisingly, none of the latter are directed at Tatsuki, despite her being a few inches shorter than even the smallest of the tween footballers. Evidently, knowledge of the youngest Arisawa's physical talents isn't limited to the dojo, or those who attend it.

Instead, the doubters are trying to size YOU up.

"Are you sure the foreigner can play, Tatsuki?" one of them says.

She shrugs. "I don't know if he's any good at soccer, but he threw me around the dojo an hour ago."

THAT gets their attention.

"Oh, I have GOT to hear about this," a different player says, to a round of nods and eager looks.

Also, their interest.

"Later, Chou," a third boy says. "Right now, we're playing!"

You spend the next fifteen or twenty minutes thusly occupied. While you're not a particular fan of the world's most popular sport, you don't hate it, either, and your natural physical ability goes a long way towards making up for any shortcomings in your technique.

Despite that, you find yourself being out-played a few times. Without ki, magic, and other supernatural effects to give you an insurmountable edge, your physical prowess is that of the merely mortal - an exceptional mortal, to be sure, but not an invincible one. Certainly not against half a dozen kids who have more practice at the game than you, one of whom is Tatsuki; the girl is holding back the bulk of her oni strength, but the litle bit she does let out is enough to put her more or less on par with the older, larger players.

You don't lose the game for your team, by any means. Indeed, thanks to the loose-ruled, rough-and-tumble manner in which the Karakura kids play, your strength - not usually a big part of non-American football - actually comes in handy when the other players try to get in your way, letting you shoulder them aside to complete a pass here, receive a ball there, or just run a guy down and keep going.

After that, they start trying to block you in pairs.

The score was something like 4 to 3 in your team's favor when you and Tatsuki arrived. When you stop for a breather over a quarter of an hour later, it's five-all.

Not bad, you think. Not great, but definitely not bad.

Gained Soccer E

---

You give some thought to begging off from the game at this point in order to go talk to Yoruichi, but upon due consideration, leaving the current tie unaddressed just doesn't sit right with you.

After a quick glance to make sure the cat hasn't wandered off - and he hasn't, though he does appear to be taking a nap on that tree-branch, now - you propose that your game move into sudden-death "overtime."

This suggestion is greeted with a round of eager, anticipatory grins from almost everyone on both teams.

One of the few exceptions is Tatsuki, whose lidded gaze suggests that she suspects you're up to something.

Which is fair enough, because you kind of are.

Some people might say that using ki techniques and other esoteric abilities in a pick-up game of kickball is cheating.

You prefer to think of it as simply using the abilities you've worked for.

Or, you know, winning.

First, you ease the reflexive suppression of your ki-enhanced and psychically-augmented senses, increasing your awareness of your surroundings and - more importantly - the riled-up life-forces and aggressive minds of the kids in that area. Then, being careful to keep your energies constrained as much as possible without interrupting your techniques, you enhance your mind twice over, once with ki, and again with a shot of psychic power. Finally, you redirect some of your ki to your feet, with the reasoning that Ki Step will serve the same function that cleats would.

Seeing as how some of your teammates and opponents are wearing shoes like that, all you're really doing with that last technique is leveling the playing field, right?

The final round kicks off, and as expected, you find it considerably easier to follow the movements of your more experienced fellow footballers - though it's also swiftly made clear that if you were just using the mental augmentations OR your sensory skills, you'd basically be wasting energy to no real benefit. With only enhanced thought processes, you'd be able to break down what the individual players right in front of you were doing, but you'd have too narrow a view of the field to work out the intentions of the teams, all of whom appear to have been playing with and against each other long enough that they don't need to SEE other players to know where they should be and what they'll try to do. Conversely, if all you were doing was sensing the auras of the players, you'd be able to grasp their plans as they unfolded, which would be too slow for you to do anything more than scramble to catch up and hope your superior physical abilities could make up the difference.

But with both skillsets going, and a crowd of skilled but ordinary human children - and one part-oni girl - around you?

You can anticipate.

Gained Brain Enhancement E (Plus)
Gained Ki Step C

The difference in your performance is subtle at first, but it quickly becomes apparent to the other players that you've gotten their measure, and stepped up your own game. One moment, the other team has the ball and are pushing towards your team's goal, and then in the next moment, YOU have the ball, and are going the other way.

And then Tatsuki's aura flickers JUST slightly, and the next thing you know, she's tearing across the field at top speed - and probably a little more than that, at least if she were sticking to normal human levels - roaring a challenge as she tries to catch you!

You realize at once that if you stay as you are, Tatsuki will catch you before you are ideally-placed to take a shot on the goal, at which point you'll likely lose the ball altogether. She's just better at the footwork portion of this game than you are.

You could take a shot from here, but while you're confident of your ability to get the ball to the net, you're not as sanguine about your chances of getting it past the goalkeeper. At this range, he'd have plenty of time to see the ball coming, and your ordinary muscle-powered kick - while strong - isn't going to blow him off his feet or anything similarly crazy.

Seeing as how Tatsuki is using just a little of her youki to augment her speed, you could do the same thing with your ki, and make the argument that she started it. Or you could try for a ki-boosted kick, and see what that does.

Or, seeing as how this IS a team game, you could pass the ball back to one of your teammates before Tatsuki reaches you. Your side would lose a little ground, but should retain possession.

---

While it would have been nice to score a goal yourself, it hasn't slipped your mind that you ARE playing a team sport.

In the handful of seconds you have left before Tatsuki closes the distance between you, you reach out with your senses, checking the positions of the other players on the field. You don't know these kids well enough yet to pick them out by their auras alone, but at the moment, there's a certain commonality to the members of each team - their desire to win, their will to beat the other guys, and perhaps most tellingly, their attitudes towards you.

THESE guys, who are registering a sense of surprise, eagerness, and encouragement - the latter expressed by how a couple of them are yelling "Go, go, go!" far more clearly than it is in their auras - are definitely on YOUR side.

THOSE guys, who radiate shock, alarm, and denial, very much AREN'T.

And with the way they're spread out...

You half-turn in mid-stride, kicking the ball towards one of your teammates who'd fallen slightly behind in the previous charge to defend your end of the field. The opposing team hasn't got anyone in position to cover him, and they're still shaking off the surprise of your sudden breakaway and Tatsuki's pursuit when you make the pass.

Your teammate fields the ball almost on reflex, blinks once, and then takes off for the goal as fast as he can. Behind him, both teams let out a collective yell and move to follow, some trying to intercept, others to counter them.

Gained Soccer E (Plus)

As for yourself...

"Ohcrap!"

WHAM!

Whatever it was that Tatsuki expected you to do, suddenly slowing down to pass the ball to someone else clearly wasn't it. Although she tried to put the metaphorical breaks on, she had a little too much momentum, and no way to really shed it - at least not before running straight into you.

Now, you have a considerable size advantage over Tatsuki, and in this situation, it was backed up by your Ki Step technique. The part-oni girl wasn't going so fast that a collision between you would have overcome those advantages - which is why, as soon as you registered the imminent impact, you cut off your ki and consciously overrode your trained sense of balance.

You end up sprawled out on your back on the turf, finding a new sympathy for those kids you accidentally threw Tatsuki into back at Furin Hall, but you drag the girl down with you, taking her out of the match for a few seconds.

Take one for the team, as they say.

And as it happens, the teammate you passed to makes his shot.

That's a win for your side.

Hearing the sudden yells of victory from your team and the groans of dismay from hers, Tatsuki stops struggling to disentangle herself from you and slumps on the grassy field for a second.

Then she murmurs, "You used ki."

She says it with enough certainty that you find yourself wondering if your Ki Concealment slipped.

"What makes you say that?" you hedge.

Tatsuki snorts. "Come on. You went from okay, for playing with a bunch of guys you'd never even met before today, to suddenly stealing the ball from Kyou, who's been playing on the local teams ever since he started school."

Ah. So she didn't sense your ki, she just noticed your abrupt explosion of ability and connected it with the supernatural skills she already knew you possessed.

"I used just enough ki to make like I was wearing cleats, and to compensate for the fact that everybody else on the field had WAY more practice at this game than I did, especially with each other." You give her a meaningful look, and add, "You, on the other hand..."

Tatsuki grumbles something and looks away, letting the subject drop.

That settled, you pick yourself up, and join your teammates in a brief celebration of victory. Once that's over, you take the opportunity provided by Tatsuki's collision to step off the field for a bit, ostensibly to catch your breath and nurse your bruises.

That you happen to take a seat under the tree where Yoruichi has perched is pure coincidence to everybody else in the park, except for the four you arrived with.

---

You spend a minute or two just leaning back against the tree, enjoying the warm mid-morning sunlight, the general lack of mundane or supernatural "pollution" in the air, and the noise of the other kids running around.

"You never answered my question earlier, Yoruichi," you calmly note aloud.

"And there are good reasons for that, brat." While you can't see the cat from down here except for two paws and his tail dangling over the sides of the branch he's sprawled out on, that lazy drawl makes you think that he hasn't bothered to move or even open his eyes. "Apart from my personal desire for and right to privacy, telling any of you what I am could get us all in trouble if the wrong people found out about it. And from what I've seen of and heard about your escapades, it wouldn't be a matter of 'if' they found out, only 'when.'"

...

"You're probably not wrong," you admit. "But on that note, would you happen to have any tips for my on how to hide better? Spiritually, I mean."

There's a long pause at that.

"Hmmm," Yoruichi rumbles consideringly, a sound that's not quite a purr or a growl. "I might. And if you're going to visit Masaki and Akkiko's brats in the future, it would be a good idea for you to be better at keeping your head down, so to speak."

You wait a beat, and then say, "So...?"

Yoruichi sighs. "I suppose I'd better, if only to spare myself getting yelled at by those two the next time you and Tatsuki try to show each other up. Speaking of which, in the future? Try to avoid doing that outside. The way you've got your spirit energy and your life-force mixed together really cuts down on the 'noise' you make on the purely spiritual level, but some of it still gets out. A good solid property threshold will at least muffle that much."

You make a mental note about that, and then settle in to listen as Yoruichi explains how to better-conceal your spiritual presence. In the process, the cat reveals enough about using pure spiritual energy in general that you're able to shore up most of the techniques you've been building from scratch in that particular field.

Gained Knowledge (Reiki) E
Gained Spirit Affinity E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spirit Blast E
Gained Spirit Resistance E (Plus)
Gained Spirit Shot E
Gained Spiritual Armor F (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Attunement E (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Concealment D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Enhancement E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Knowledge C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Overload F (Plus)

Oh, the difference that having an actual TEACHER makes for these things.

You were going to ask Yoruichi about how he knows Masaki and Akkiko, but his instruction goes on long enough for Ichigo to have noticed that you're sitting apart from the rest of the kids in the park, and making no move to rejoin any of them. This leads to him coming over and asking, a bit awkwardly, if the other guys were being jerks, and an apology for running off to join his friends and just leaving you by yourself.

Tatsuki - who saw Ichigo headed your way and came over out of curiosity - slugs him in the shoulder at that point.

"'By himself?'" she repeats in a growl. "Stupid Ichigo, what the heck does that make ME?"

"Um..." Ichigo says intelligently, while rubbing his arm.

Yoruichi snickers. "That was a rhetorical question, Strawberry."

"What?"

"It means you should stop talking before she hits you again," you explain.

Ichigo looks from you, to the smugly amused cat, to the still-simmering Tatsuki, and then back again.

"Oh."

Given the mood between your companions, and the fact that some of the other kids - and their adult minders - are either making ready to leave the park or getting out packed lunches, you figure this is probably a reasonably good time to head back to the Kurosaki house. It's still half an hour or so until you're expected to return, but Ichigo has put his foot in his mouth enough for one day.

Is there anything else you urgently need to do here in Karakura today?

---

You return to the Kurosaki household without incident, and Maskai takes one look at the lot of you - particularly the grass stains you and Tatsuki picked up during your little tumble - and orders you all to the bathroom, to clean up as best you can before lunch.

When you come back to the kitchen with even the grass stains removed, courtesy of simple cleaning cantrips, the woman does a double-take.

Yoruichi disappeared at some point after you came inside, so it's minus one cat that you sit down for your second and last meal of the day in Karakura. This time around, an extra table and a couple of chairs have been pulled out of some corner or closet and set up right next to the main table, providing enough additional space for you, Tatsuki, and Briar to join the entire Kurosaki family for lunch.

Among other things, this gives you a front-row seat to Isshin's antics, which consist of overblown groaning when he hears Ichigo lost another sparring match to you, a deep belly laugh - punctuated by a yelp, as if someone had kicked him in the shin - when you mention literally throwing Tatsuki around Furin Hall, and then nearly choking to death on a half-chewed mouthful of steamed rice and veggies, when your initial calling-out of Yoruichi and hanging the title "shady" on him sends the man into another fit of hilarity.

You'd think the man was putting on a show, except that the way everybody else at the table reacts - or doesn't - to his behavior means this is all normal for and expected of him.

After lunch, you say goodbye to Ichigo for the time being and walk Tatsuki back to her place, where you learn that her sister is currently the only other member of the family present. Their father is still at work, their brother went out for lunch with some friends, and Akkiko had some errands to run.

Tatsuki invites you in for a bit, but given the time difference, you politely decline, make your farewells, and head home.

You arrive at your usual spot in the desert, to find it cool and mostly dark. Sunnydale is a small group of lights lying to the east, not much brighter than the stars overhead; the main illumination comes from the waxing moon, which is about half-full.

It occurs to you that this is the first time you can consciously recall being out of doors after dark, whether before or after finding out Sunnydale was built atop the Hellmouth.

It's unexpectedly unsettling.

"Nice night, huh?" Briar asks.

"Yeah. Nice."

"So, I'm thinking you should turn invisible, and then run like hell straight home without stopping."

That does not sound like a bad idea to you at all, and you proceed to do exactly that.

Shortly after passing Sunnydale's town limits, however, you find that you have to slow down.

The streets are BUSY at this time of night.

Measured in absolute terms, it's nothing at all, barely a patch on Sunnydale's morning traffic on a day when school is in session, the buses are running, and parents are dropping off their kids - to say nothing of Tokyo's morning rush.

But you've passed a dozen... individuals... walking the streets since hitting town, and every single one of them has radiated demonic energies. The air itself seems charged, the otherworldly taint of chaos, darkness, and evil welling up from the Hellmouth being made that little bit more potent and active now that the sun - ancient symbol of purity and cleansing flame that it is - has surrendered the sky to the night and her creatures.

Including the band of four seemingly-human figures up ahead, all dressed in outdated Eighties jackets, laughing and shoving each other around like a bunch of high school buddies or college boys.

You sense no ki whatsoever from the quartet, only a twisted mixture of necromantic power and demonic essence.

It would appear you've just encountered your first corpse-vampires. Fortunately, you're invisible, downwind, and have your ki running hot, ready to carry you away in a flicker.

...it would be so very, very easy for you to ambush them like this.

---

You can feel the mana in your system subtly quickening in its flow, responding to your as-yet unrealized desire to work magic that will remove these undead parasites from your sight, and from the face of the planet. The prospect of a fireball suddenly erupting from nowhere to burn the blood-sucking quartet to ash and cinders really speaks to that part of you that venerates Din and her mastery of flame.

As it should.

At the same time, the more strategically-inclined part of your being is contemplating the consequences of burning down these four corpse-vampires - beyond the immediate fact of there being four less demonic revenants running around, that is.

While it WOULD be gratifying, you have to think further ahead.

If you cast a Spell of the Fireball to destroy those vampires, odds are that you'll succeed. In doing so, however, you'll disrupt the delicate weave of your Spell of Invisibility, while also creating a non-trivial amount of light, heat, and sound on what is otherwise a poorly-lit, fairly quiet, and cool night street, thereby drawing every eye, thermoreceptor, and ear in the area. And while your Mana Concealment is sufficient to prevent your magical signature from being burned into the concrete by the flash of a Fireball, the fact that there WAS a Fireball will be pretty obvious.

BOOM! Hehehe.

A forty foot wide ball of ravening flame hot enough to melt certain metals tends to leave distinctive traces.

There's just something about blowing the crap out of things...

True, you could reduce the blast radius or reposition the flashpoint so that it didn't damage the surroundings, but doing so is a losing prospect, as the explosion isn't instantaneous, and in the moments before it went off, even a normal human stands a chance of getting out of the area of effect - and that's with the unmodified version of the spell, aimed for somewhere close to the intended target.

I swear, I am surrounded by pyromaniacs.

From what you've heard, even these demon-infested corpses are faster than normal humans.

Sad but true.

Best-case scenario, you incinerate all four vampires and do no small amount of damage to the sidewalk, street, and nearest buildings with one spell, re-establish your invisibility before anyone or anything sees you, and run home undiscovered - leaving enough evidence in your wake for the darker side of town to wonder, talk, and inquire about whatever mage took out a gang of vampires and then just disappeared. And possibly prompting talk on the daylight side about pipe-bombs, attempted arson, or whatever other vaguely-normal excuse people could come up with for the overnight appearance of a massive scorch mark.

Because of course it can't simply be magic. That would be too obvious.

In a less-optimal result, one or more of the vampires survives your opening strike, and you have to put them down manually - because letting them get away at that point will be entirely out of the question, and the four or five seconds it would take to cycle your mana and cast another spell would be too likely to see one of them getting away or closing with you, forcing you to engage in hand-to-hand regardless of your wishes. If even one of these monsters sees you and gets away...

It would be bad.

Weighing against all of this is the simple, incontrovertible fact that these demon-infested revenants survive off the blood of human beings, and destroying them right here and now would save lives.

There is that, yes.

Maybe you could use a different spell? Something less damaging to the surroundings, less likely to leave traces, but still capable of eliminating all four vampires in one go? There was that spell for holy water mist that you used against the Gohma...

And how long did that take to work?

If you combined it with your sword, finishing off the vampires while they were distracted and weakened...

And at their most dangerous.

You could use Ki Enhancement nearly to its utmost. Your Ki Concealment can hide that.

But would that be enough? To finish them all before you're seen?

You look around at the street... and to your mingled frustration and resignation, you sense auras moving in this general direction, or at least close enough to it that you don't care to risk the odds. Maybe, if you hadn't hesitated, and just attacked... but you took the time to think, and now the opportunity to act has passed. Eliminating these murderous parasites is no longer an option; you have to make the choice that's safest for you and your family, and let them go their way.

You do.

Many would likely call it the smart choice. The right choice, even.

They might.

So why does it feel so wrong?

Because it's not a choice you should ever have had to make.

Gained Strategy E

And one day, these abominations are going to answer for that.

Fists clenched at your sides in silent, furious frustration, you continue home, making sure to step widely of any of the demons you can see or sense moving around.

ALL of them.

You get home without further incident, and are not-welcomed in by your father, who watches on - metal bat in one hand and wooden crucifix in the other - as you step across the threshold uninvited.

Once it's clear that you are yourself and the door is firmly closed and locked behind you, the old man welcomes you home, gives you a light tap on the head with the bat, and tells you it's past your bedtime.

You're not terribly surprised that you have bad dreams that night.

Gained Traumatic Memories D (Plus)

A couple of days pass quietly. You send off a letter to Emiko, that autographed photo of Tamamo-no-Mae you've been holding on to carefully tucked inside the envelope so that it doesn't get creased, and amuse yourself by trying to picture the young kitsune's reaction to receiving such a gift from the most (in)famous of her kind.

Mailed away Tamamo's Signed Photo

You have a class at Lu-sensei's on Wednesday, and while you're there, you signal Cordelia and Larry to wait a bit after your fellow students leave. Once it's clear, you and your teacher speak with the pair about the demon-haunted cave down at the beach, and your plans to (remotely) investigate it and then (directly) purge it.

Cordelia is pondering the offer to attend one or both of tomorrow's planned events when Larry asks if he could bring his grandmother along.

Lu-sensei blinks, and then smacks himself across the forehead.

"I must be getting old," he grumbles, drawing his hand down his face. "It didn't even occur to me to ask her."

That would seem to be a vote of support from your master, but in the end, it IS your house. On the one hand, you find the idea of Larry's shotgun-toting grandmother tagging along on this demon-hunting expedition to be appealing, but on the other hand, your parents would definitely ask questions if Lily Blaisdell showed up, armed or not. It's one thing for your supernaturally in-the-know martial arts teacher to stop by and discuss things of that nature, and quite another for somebody's grandmother who's never been over to your place before to do likewise.

Also, you DO have to wonder if adding guns to your plans is a good idea. Those things are LOUD, and you can't imagine they'd get any quieter in an enclosed space. And while you do have Spells of Silence, you know that mixing melee and ranged weaponry in close quarters is... tricky. Especially when fighting as part of a group.

---

You go ahead and tell Larry to extend an invitation to his grandmother to join the meeting at your house tomorrow.

He nods, and says that whatever his grandmother decides to do, he'll be there.

This appears to help Cordelia make up her mind, as she agrees to come over as well - at least for the "spying and planning" phase of things. Whether or not she'll join in on the actual hunt depends on what exactly you find lurking in the cave.

Larry agrees with that sentiment, and it sounds entirely reasonable to you.

When you return home from your lesson, you tell your parents that you'll be expecting visitors tomorrow morning, around nine o'clock, including Lu-sensei and - maybe - Lily Blaisdell.

You'd previously mentioned inviting a couple of friends and your teacher over, so that part is really just a reminder. The possible addition of Larry's grandmother, though...

"No explosives in the house, Alex," your mother says firmly.

You blink, and nod slowly. "That wasn't the plan, so-"

"No explosives in the YARD, either," she adds.

Your father gives your mother a sidelong squint at that. "What, none at all? I mean," he adds quickly, as his wife meets his gaze with a mild glare, "listen to your Mom, Alex."

"...ooookay?" you venture.

Never mind that your magic is at LEAST as destructive as any explosive device available on the open market...

Cordelia is the first of your guests to arrive the next day, showing up at a quarter to nine. Lu-sensei arrives in company with the Blaisdells about five minutes later.

It may just be your imagination, but your mother seems to give Lily Blaisdell a guarded once-over, with a particular focus the large purse slung over the older woman's shoulder and the Tupperware box Larry is holding. The latter turns out to be some of Lily's homemade cookies, which IMMEDIATELY secures her place as the "betht other perthon'th Gramma" that Zelda has ever met.

Then, of course, your mother asks the question: "So what brings you all over today?"

Lu-sensei clears his throat, brushes a few cookie crumbs out of his thin beard, and begins. "A few weeks ago, Alex found a cave outside of town that showed signs of demonic habitation."

"...of course." Your mother closes her eyes and sighs. "While I hate to say it, I don't imagine that's particularly unremarkable in this town."

"It is not," your teacher admits with a nod. "However, this particular cave is troublingly close to the beach. Since Alex brought it to my attention, I've been keeping an eye on the situation and doing some fact-finding. There don't appear to have been any suspicious disappearances, drownings, or shark attacks this year, but if you compare the local numbers for such tragedies to those for different locations further up or down the coast, particularly going back over time... suffice to say, it doesn't look good."

"And you're here because you want to do something about it," your mother concludes.

"We're here because Alex has the means to investigate the cave, and its contents, without ever setting foot inside," Lu-sensei says. "That offers an all-too-rare opportunity to determine ahead of time what, exactly, is residing in the cave, and how it can be dealt with, without actually having to confront it first."

"But you want to show my son and these other children how to do that, don't you?"

Lu-sensei concedes the point with a nod that is half-bow. "Alex and Cordelia have both demonstrated that they are capable of dealing with a certain level of supernatural opposition, and that one cannot avoid encounters with such, even away from our... charming little town. As their teacher in the martial arts, it is part of my responsibility to prepare them for the challenges and dangers they will face. I would be remiss in my duty to them if I ignored an opportunity like this."

"We need to know this stuff, Mrs. Harris," Cordelia says then. "I ran into a bunch of mermaids while I was away on vacation. I didn't even wander off on my own, like Alex kept doing back at the Tournament-"

Really, Cordy?

"-they were just there, and not really trying to hide who or what they were. Or at least, they weren't very good at it," she adds, frowning thoughtfully for a moment before shaking her head. "Some of them were nice girls, but some of them wanted to drown me or eat me. If I hadn't already read about mermaids online and fought other things as strong as them, I'd have been in trouble."

Your mother looks from Cordelia to the Blaisdells.

"I was with Alex when we spotted all those demons helping to set up for the Fourth of July," Larry says. "And my folks... don't believe in this stuff."

"More precisely, your mother doesn't believe in it," Lily corrects her grandson. "Your father damn well knows better, but he'd rather stick his head in the sand and pretend ignorance, like most other born-and-raised Sunnydalers."

She fixes your mother with a meaningful look at that.

Your mother grimaces, but doesn't argue the point. Instead, she turns to you.

There's a lot you could say here. You live on the Hellmouth. You've made friends with people on three continents - and a fourth in another dimension - all of whom have at least one foot in the Moonlit World, when they aren't swimming in the supernatural up to their necks. You're a sorcerer of significant power, a ki adept of no small skill, and a dabbler in the psychic and spiritual arts besides, and your skills are only going to develop further with time; even if you stopped training right now and swore to never again tap into the energies you carry, it wouldn't ensure that you'd never have another encounter with the supernatural, only that you'd be out of practice if and when such an encounter occurred. You have obligations, ranging from a part-time job to promises to divine beings, the breaking of which would set a bad precedent.

And quite aside from all of that, there's the matter of your Triforce-touched, Demon King-cursed, reincarnated King of Evil soul. THAT is never going to go away, not unless or until you find a way to MAKE it do so - and you'll never be able to do that if you shut your eyes to the supernatural.

But your mother doesn't know about most of that stuff.

Maybe it's time to correct that? You've previously demonstrated your ability to brew potions and use relatively minor spells; this would be an opportunity to open your mother's eyes to just how far your magical talent really extends, as well as some of the supernatural beings you've had to deal with in the past, and will need to face down in the future. More than that, it'll show her that you're at least TRYING to deal with all of this responsibly.

---

In the end, six people gather in your Mirror Hideaway to observe the results of your scrying spells. Briar stays outside to entertain and monitor Zelda, who has previously decided that she doesn't like passing through the Mirror, and doesn't really need to see anything involving demons at her age anyway.

Speaking of the Mirror...

"My word," Lily Blaisdell says with a shiver, as she emerges from the portal. "Does it always feel like that?"

"Like ten thousand freezing razors sliding over your skin?" you ask.

"...now that you mention it," the older woman murmurs, "yes, that's exactly what it felt like."

"Then yes, it always does."

"Always?" your mother inquires.

"There's a reason why Zelda never bothers me even though the 'door' is basically open the whole time I'm in here, Mom."

Not wanting to waste anyone's time, you proceed to cast a variant on the Greater Spell of Scrying, exchanging some of the considerable duration - which you aren't going to need nearly so much of - for targeting parameters more akin to the Spell of Clairvoyance.

A shimmering, silvery-grey globe appears in front of you, about five feet across and hovering a foot off the floor. It hangs there in silence for a moment, and then its surface blurs, darkens, and begins reflecting colors and shapes.

And just like that, you're looking at the mouth of the demon-tainted cave. To normal eyes, there's nothing special about it, but you can sense the corruption that has sunk into the stones, and which wells up from the dark depths and spills out of the mouth of the cave in an invisible miasma, fouling everything nearby.

Cordelia makes a gagging sound. "Why do I smell rotten eggs, dead fish, and stable-muck all of a sudden?!"

You pause, and consider how the metaphysical "scent" of this particular source of unholy foulness registers to your senses.

...huh. It DOES make you think of eggs, fish, and horse-turds.

It seems like Cordy's grown sensitive enough to detect demonic corruption.

Congratulations!

While Lu-sensei gives Cordelia hasty pointers on how not to choke on her newfound sensory awareness, you explain to the rest of the group that, since the interior of the cave is dark, you're going to cast a spell that will let everyone see, even in the absence of light. Once you've gotten their consent, you cast the more advanced Spell of Darkvision.

Then you get on with your investigation.

Remotely exploring the cave takes about twenty minutes, all told, as it turns out to be much deeper and more complex than it appeared on the surface. You don't think this is the result of demonic corruption having reached such a high level for such a long time as to start bending local reality; rather, it seems to be a combination of natural geology, erosion, and a bit of intelligent design, albeit by something with claws instead of manufactured digging tools.

As your sensor probe advances into the cave, you call out direction, distance, elevation, and other factors, and to your right, Larry scribbles a simple map onto a free page of one of your school notebooks. Working together, you gradually map the cave, which consists of a series of roughly-formed tunnels, each VERY approximately half a dozen feet wide and as many high. The floor is covered in sand and the occasional random stone, the walls are glossy and jagged rather than polished smooth, and the ceiling is bare of stalactites. None of the passages are truly level, and while never precisely steep, the way the floor dips and then rises would add a dimension of difficulty to any combat.

The tunnels wind with no real direction or purpose that you can discern, some of them crossing over one another, others doubling back on themselves, but at the end of each is a larger chamber, carved out into a nest for a single creature - five in total. You don't recognize their particular species, but their features are a mix of lizard, shark, and something bipedal that you really hope has no genealogical connection to humankind. They look just as capable of going on all fours as on their hind legs, and like most demons in your - admittedly limited - experience, they have fangs and claws in abundance. Standing, they'd be as tall as most humans, though more broadly-built and with long tails.

Without exception, the "lairs" are littered with the evidence of past kills. Most of the grim decor takes the form of bones, collected from a variety of species that could be found in a coastal environment, including animals, humans, and even a couple of skulls that you're pretty sure came from other demons. There are other trophies, however: torn fragments of swimwear and wetsuits; a surfboard with a big chunk bitten right out of the middle; a cooler half-full of water, shredded aluminum cans, and broken bottles; and in one cave, rather incongruous when compared to the rest of the clutter, a perfectly intact beachball.

Pride of place among these tokens goes to an old-fashioned chest of weathered wood bound by rusted iron. Small enough that you could probably tuck it under one arm, it's located at the back of the lair of the largest of the sea monsters, lid thrown back so that a faint beam of sunlight descending from a shaft above it strikes the contents, which sparkle with hues of silver, gold, and a small rainbow of tiny gems.

"Wow," your mother exclaims.

"Hello, college fund," Cordelia agrees.

Lu-sensei clears his throat. "Generally, one does not get into the demon hunting business for money. There are far safer and more reliable ways to earn a living. However, fighting the good fight is not without the occasional, more tangible reward."

While you still need to investigate what type of demon you're dealing with, you can say with confidence that there is no magic present in the cave, nor any other supernatural force beyond demonic power - and while that has reached a level higher than the ambient energy of the Hellmouth, it's not yet gotten to the point where it would be actively hazardous for human health and wellness. At least, not as long as you remembered to purify everyone who ventured inside.

No, the main problem is the size of the tunnels. There's enough room for one person to stand and fight at any given point in the dug-out passages, or for two people to move side-by-side, but if two people were to try and FIGHT alongside each other, you'd start running into problems. Especially if you tried to go with your usual high-speed approach to combat - there just isn't enough room for a Body Flicker in there. Add in how the tunnels twist around and intersect, allowing the demons the option to bypass an intruder and come at them from behind...

"Awfully cramped in there, Lu," Lily observes.

Lu-sensei nods. "Too many potential angles of attack, as well. And the way the tunnels rise and fall would make it very difficult to smoke them out. I'm thinking we may need to lure them out."

Well, that's definitely one option.

Another is for you to make with all the magic, augmenting, armoring, and arming whoever is going in to the point where they can just plow through whatever resistance the demons raise. The only drawbacks there are that it could potentially take a lot of magic, depending on just how dangerous these demons are and how many of you would be going in after them, and it wouldn't really give Cordy and Larry the right kind of experience for facing supernatural opponents in the future - because as Cordelia's encounter with the mermaids shows, you're not always going to be around to provide those buffs when your friends need them.

A different approach would be to use Earth Elementalism or Summoning Magic to bypass the tunnels, whether by digging a tunnel of your own, phasing through the rock, or just teleporting straight to the lairs. There's space enough for two or three people to fight one of the demons without stumbling all over each other, and you'd have the advantage of surprise, at least against one of the monsters. Unless you managed to take your first opponent out without a sound, though, the fight would alert the others to your presence.

You could also try to collapse the tunnels. You aren't capable of causing a full-blown earthquake, which is probably just as well, but between Din's Favor and your grasp of Earth Elementalism, destroying a relatively small cave system like this should be perfectly doable. That would remove the risk to you and your companions, at the cost of not giving Cordy or Larry any kind of combat experience at all. You'd also have a chance of damaging the contents of that chest, specifically, the jewels. You could repair any physical damage readily enough, but any supernatural properties would likely be lost.

Then again, those gems have been sitting in a demon's nest for who knows how long. Odds are that exposure to the corruption has ALREADY "damaged" them...

...but you're getting ahead of yourself.

Is there anything you'd like to say or do at this point, before using Divination Magic to acquire information about these cave-dwelling beach-stalking shark-lizard demons?

---

Leaving your scrying spell on standby for the moment, you take out the Conjured Book and cast the Spell of Page-Bound Epiphany. Instead of focusing on a name or a word as you usually do with this spell, you try to fix the image of the shark-lizard demons in your mind's eye and the matrix of the spell, in the hope that your magic will be able to track down matching pictures and their associated captions, if not complete articles.

After a moment, the pages of the book begin to fill up, not only with pictures in a variety of styles - some modern, others archaic - and entries ranging from two or three words in machine-printed text to multiple pages of handwritten scrawl.

You find a name for these demons, which has too many apostrophes and diacritics for you to even consider attempting to pronounce it. Fortunately, they also have a more common title: "tidehounds."

Blinking, you look from the pictures in the book to the image of the sleeping monster reflected in your scrying globe, from its blunted snout to the fluke tip of its long tail, every inch covered in fine greeny-grey scales, where completely extraneous spikes or webbed fins aren't present.

WHAT about THAT is a "hound?"

Questionable naming decisions aside, the snippets retrieved by your spell do contain useful information. Tidehounds are hunters and scavengers that reside only in coastal regions due to a severe dependency on seawater, which they cannot survive more than three days without. Aside from the abundance of teeth and claws that you've already seen for yourself, they possess glands in their mouths and at the base of their claws that excrete a form of acid; mostly used as an aid to digestion and digging, it also makes the monsters that little bit more dangerous in close-combat. There's no mention of them being able to spit the stuff, and your gathered pages note that it isn't particularly strong or fast-acting as such things go, being easily neutralized with salt water - which, given the creatures' habitat, is usually not far away.

Not too surprisingly, tidehounds are resistant to acid. They also have above-average tolerance for cold, fire, and physical harm, thanks to their tough, almost mail-like scales and the thick layer of insulation lying underneath.

"How great a tolerance?" Lu-sensei asks with a frown.

"'The beast's hide can turn blows from most swords or axes,'" you read, "'and to face it in its burrow denies one the room needed to use those weapons or maneuvers that can strike through its defense with sheer force. Instead, it is recommended to hold it back with spears, and use crossbows to pierce its skin. Preferred targets include the eyes, the gills, or down the monster's throat when it roars.'"

"Crossbows?" your mother asks disbelievingly.

"Crossbows," you admit, as the spell expires and the words and images fade from the pages.

"Crossbows," Lily Blaisdell snorts. "Please."

Cordelia, meanwhile, is looking down at her hands with a frown.

"Don't think you can punch out something that's resistant to swords?" Lu-sensei asks her.

"Not yet, Sensei."

"Heh." The old man smiles. "A very good answer. Still, I think that the day you make good on that resolution still lies some time in the future, yes?"

Cordy nods.

You mentally review what you just read about tidehounds. Aside from the details mentioned above, your magically-collected information suggested they weren't very bright, only a bit above the level of mortal animals. That still makes them smart enough to be quite dangerous, and to take twisted enjoyment in collecting those trophies you saw.

All in all, what you've learned about the cave and its denizens suggests that Cordelia and Larry - especially Larry - are probably not ready to go up against demons of this level, at least not head-on and while relying on their own abilities. If they were a few years older and/or had more training under their belts, it might be a different story, but as it is...

---

Yeah, when you take everything into account, the safest way to deal with these demons would not be for any of you to go in there yourselves, but for you to use magic to call up some mystical muscle that can go in and clean house. Given the subterranean environment, you personally favor using earth elementals, which have the advantages of being very strong, remarkably resilient, able to pass through earth and rock, and unbothered by a lack of light. Their usual resistance to physical damage is mitigated by the tidehounds' acidic claws and bite, but you can account for that easily enough with a Spell of Acid Resistance.

The only other potential issue is that earth elementals don't care for water, and the cave is far enough back from the shore for that to not be a real concern. Though your summoned support might grumble a bit about the humidity being bad for their soil and joints.

Nodding to yourself, you call for the group's attention, and then propose that, since the cave has turned out to be more dangerous than expected, and enough of a hazard that Cordy and Larry shouldn't take part in any attempt to clear it, then there's no real point in trying to use it as a training exercise. You can just use magic to get rid of the demons.

Lily Blaisdell raises an eyebrow at you. "That confident in your abilities, are you?"

"Yes, ma'am."

You proceed to lay out your plan:

Step One: Relocate to a safe, mana rich location outside Sunnydale, and establish a sanctum where spellcasting won't be detected.

Step Two: Summon the strongest earth elementals you can get in a group-

You pause here to explain for those of your audience who aren't familiar with such entities - which is most of them - just what an earth elemental is and can do, and why they'd be excellent for this task.

-and cast spells to protect the elementals from the demons' acid and to prevent them from being detected, before teleporting them to the cave.

You pause again, to clarify that while you technically COULD teleport the elementals to each of the demons' private lairs in turn - assuming their size would allow them to fit - you're going to just drop them outside the entrance while invisible. It's quicker, safer, and more energy-efficient.

Step Three: Violence ensues.

Step Four: Profit!

Okay, you use more words than that, but that's the GIST of your plan.

While Lu-sensei strokes his chin, considering the merits of your strategy, Lily asks you a few pertinent questions about the creatures you're proposing to send into battle in your stead, and what THEY get out of this arrangement. You first explain that you're not really putting the elementals THEMSELVES in harm's way, and that whatever happens to their summoned selves won't injure the real creature.

"As for what they get out of it..." you begin.

From the outside, the Spell to Summon Monsters doesn't appear to grant any form of compensation to those it calls up. This isn't strictly the case. Each time a practitioner casts the spell, he's incurring a mystical debt to the creatures he calls up, and declaring his willingness to repay what he owes in kind.

Basically, if you summon things, you'll eventually get summoned BY things.

Granted, since the terms of the magic are exactly the same, it's not really YOU that gets flung willy-nilly to the far corners of Creation, just a temporary, limited copy of yourself. If you have the right level of training, you can consciously recall where your short-lived clones go, who they encounter, and what they do with their brief existences, but many mages don't bother, finding that trying to manage multiple parallel sets of memory is a literal headache - and also that there are plenty of things in the multiverse that they're far, far happier not to know, among them what it feels like to die in ten thousand different ways. By default, the Summoning Spell is designed to relegate those experiences to the subconscious mind, from which they emerge only as random dreams and the occasional feeling of deja vu.

For the record, you don't THINK you've been summoned yet.

As it happens, there are other ways to clear the summoning debt, which generally involve calling creatures to aid you in endeavors that they'd support, or agreeing to perform such works on your time, under your own power.

And wouldn't you know it?

Helping to stomp a nest of demons, thereby removing a source of taint that's fouled the local earth, is one such cause in the jeweled eyes of the elementals. They'd likely prefer it if you agreed to purify the place, too, but you think you can talk them down to cleansing the contents of that casket of coins and gems - all earth materials, and all things they'd appreciate seeing freed of any lingering demonic essence.

Lily seems satisfied by this.

"Speaking of debts and such," your mother chimes in, "but assuming this works, what happens to the... well, the treasure? Because I'm honestly at a bit of a loss for how anyone would explain finding it."

"My husband used to bring the odd bit of loot home when he hunted," Lily says. "There's something of a network for converting precious metals and objects into more modern currency. They usually pay about ten percent - maybe as much as twenty, if you're on good terms with your fence - they ask no questions about the provenance, and you claim it as a 'finder's fee' on your tax returns."

"You have to pay TAXES on treasure?" Cordelia interrupts in disbelief.

The adults - even your mother, who was blinking in surprise at Lily's explanation - exchange wry looks.

"Cordelia, my dear," Lu-sensei says, "when you're older, you'll realize, you pay taxes on EVERYTHING." Then he turns to Mrs. Blaisdell. "Would you happen to still be on good terms with a reputable fence, Lily? My own contacts in that area are... a bit sparse."

"Oh?"

Your master nods. "I'm deep enough in the Moonlit World to deal direct with people who'll accept gold and such as readily as dollars, if not more so."

That just leaves the question of how to divide the plu- the loo- the treasure.

Damn Thief King's been in your vocabulary.

Your proposed plan has met with general acceptance, and since it will be relying entirely on your magic, you feel entitled to claim a... significant... share of the treasure. And given your own contacts with the supernatural - not just in Earth's Moonlit World, but on Hyrule - not to mention your burgeoning interest in the creation of magical items, you wouldn't necessarily need to convert the gold and jewels to a different form of currency.

That said, if Lily Blaisdell has a way to turn coin into cash that WON'T bring government agents and/or demons down on you - assuming, of course, that they aren't already the same thing - perhaps you should take advantage of it? Your family's financial state isn't bad, exactly, but your parents wouldn't object to a little more money in the bank.

Of course, Lily would be entitled to a cut of the spo- the treasure, for helping you convert it to dollars.

---

While you've been thinking over how to split up the treasure, a deep sense of dissatisfaction has been welling up in your heart over the incredibly poor rate of return Lily mentioned. It only got worse when Lu-sensei reacted as if such paltry payment was nothing out of the ordinary.

A fence that takes NINETY percent of the profits from perfectly good gold, silver, and gems?! That's highway robbery! And speaking as the former King of the Gerudo, who practiced that very form of aggressive asset relocation as part of their way of life, you know what you're talking about! No bandit worth her blade would have dealt with such a crook, unless it was to stab him! And no mover with any survival instincts would dare to set such terms in the first place!

Gained Knowledge (Skulduggery) F
Gained Rage E (Plus) (Plus)

You're sorely tempted to suggest that you keep the money, or at least most of it, just so that you don't end up throwing away ninety percent of it to line some underhanded skinflint's pockets. If nothing else, you could use it in your strictly supernatural dealings as-is, or convert it to magical items, which you could then gift to your family and friends.

It might not do anything for their mundane financial affairs, but it would certainly be a more productive use of the treasure than taking the kind of loss Lily Blaisdell is describing! NINETY PERCENT?! Goddesses and demons, that is just-

"Something wrong, Alex?" Lu-sensei's voice interrupts your internal tirade.

"...you might say that, Lu-sensei."

"Care to share?"

"It's just... NINETY percent?! What kind of a deal is that?!"

"I'm with Alex," Cordelia agrees.

Lily chuckles, with little humor. "Jake had the same reaction, the first time he tried to unload a pocketful of coins he'd found. And... quite a few times after that. As it happens, the man he dealt with most often broke it down for him."

You gesture for her to go on.

"A big part goes to the government," Lily says. "They take half the value of any 'treasure' a person finds, and even if you manage to pass something off as a pawned heirloom or something you made, there's still the usual taxes. On top of that, the fence has to pay a fair bit to keep his store secure. Usually, there's a local boss - sometimes a criminal, sometimes a demon, sometimes both - who gets a cut in return for providing protection to the fence and turning a mostly-blind eye to dealings in his shop. Then there's the cost of cleaning up the treasure - not just of dirt or demon-blood, mind you, they have to pay someone to come in and purify the stuff if they're ever going to get a proper price for it."

You blink, and then raise your hand to interrupt. "I can purify things."

For the second time this week, Lu-sensei facepalms.

"You can?" Lily asks, blinking.

"He can," Lu-sensei sighs. "And I MUST be getting old if I forgot about that."

After another round of discussion, a consensus is reached. Lily will take a small cleansed sample of the treasure to her old contacts, and Lu-sensei another to his, to see what prices they can get for something that's no longer fouled by demonic energy. Meanwhile, you'll check in with Gen; the old merchant almost certainly can't move gold and jewels himself, but he might have advice on how to dispose of your not-so-ill-gotten gains. Once you have an idea of the "street value" of the treasure, you'll get in touch with the Drakes and the Shuzens to see what they have to say about the subject, before making a final decision.

As for the division of the spoils, it's generally agreed that since you're doing all the work of getting rid of the demons and recovering the treasure, not to mention cleaning it up afterwards, the lion's share should go to you - make it seventy-five percent. Lu-sensei was the one to push for the cleansing of the nest in the first place, and you feel that you owe him something for being such a headache besides, so another twenty percent goes to him. The remaining five percent will go to Lily Blaisdell in the event that she comes up with a fence who provides a better price for the treasure than Lu-sensei's contact or any of yours; failing that, she'll get one percent for her trouble, and you and your teacher will split the rest.

Cordelia's a bit dismayed to be left out, but admits that since she didn't DO anything, she really has no claim on the gold.

"I expect something nice for my next birthday, Alex," she warns you.

With the matter of the treasure's division decided, Lu-sensei takes the opportunity provided by your visual map of the tidehounds' lair to give you, Cordy, and Larry a more strategically- and tactically-oriented lesson on combat, going into some detail about how the layout of the tunnels works for and against the inhabitants, and what an intruder would have to do - or avoid doing - in response. He refers back to the information you collected through magic at several points, and also calls on Lily for her knowledge of guns and explosives, and how they might be applied in such a location.

While Lily reminds everyone that it was her husband who was the demon-hunter, and that she's far from an expert on using explosives in anything other than purely recreational situations, she still has a few things to say.

Gained Knowledge (Firearms) E
Gained Knowledge (Pyrotechnics) F (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Strategy E (Plus)

After that theoretical lesson, you pile into Lily's car - reclaiming Briar, while leaving your mother and Zelda behind - and head out to the desert for the practical.

After making your preparations to avoid detection, you ritually-cast the most powerful Spell to Summon Monsters that you are capable of, giving up some of the potential raw power of your temporary allies in exchange for keeping them around long enough to do the job you have in mind. In response to your call, five earth elementals rise from the ground around you: two of them are very roughly humanoid in form, standing some sixteen feet tall and with massive shoulders that cast you into the shade; the other three have assumed fierce animalistic shapes, one dog-like, another reptilian, the last decidedly feline, and each is as massive as their upright counterparts, merely lower to the ground.

Gained Summoning A

Between the aura of Elemental Earth you magically imbued yourself with, your modest natural affinity for the magics of soil and stone, and the favor of the Golden Goddess who rules over the earth, the elementals would have been inclined to follow most orders you might have given them. Being told that you want them to clean out a lair of demons and retrieve a chest of metal and gems for purification makes them almost cheerful.

Or, to put it in the deep, rumbling words of the elementals: "SMASH STUPID DEMONS! MAKE CLEAN THE EARTH!"

"SMASH! SMASH!"

Gained Elementalogy E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Terran E

The closest thing to a problem that you run into during the entire plan is the business of teleporting the elementals to their target, as the bulky brutes are large enough that you can only take two of them at a time. You get around that easily enough by modifying the Greater Spell of Teleportation, sacrificing most of the normally planet-wide range - which is utterly unnecessary, given that the cave is only a few miles away - to reduce the cost of the normally seventh-tier magic to the equivalent of a mere third-circle spell.

Not that a third-rank magic-user could actually CAST a spell like this, as it requires a more advanced understanding of Summoning Magic than he'd have - especially the spell formulas that prevent you from accidentally rematerializing inside solid objects - but anyway.

Gained Mana Concealment B (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)

Five quick teleports later, and you've deposited your invisible, acid-resistant attack force at the mouth of the cave. Making a mental note to look into developing mass-teleportation spells, in case a situation like this comes up in the future, you use your sense of the elementals' auras to back off to a safe distance, and then tell them to go ahead.

With a rumble of moving stone and a spray of sand, the five elementals advance upon the cave and meld into the hillside where it stands.

For the next minute or so, all is quiet.

Then, from deep within the cave, you hear a roar like an avalanche, punctuated by howls of surprise and rage, all muffled by distance and the mass of the Earth.

The noise lasts only a few brief seconds, and then quiet reigns once more.

Perhaps three minutes after you dispatched them into the depths, the elementals return, no longer invisible. Mindful of your request to avoid notice, one of the humanoids "wades" towards you from the mouth of the cave, little more than its head, massive shoulders, and one powerful arm visible above the surface. Behind it come four small mounds of moving earth, where gem-like eyes gleam.

The leader touches one huge hand to the ground before you, and when the hand-sized digits open open, they reveal the chest.

"IT IS DONE."

You thank the elementals for their aid and end the spell holding them here, then pick up the chest and teleport back to your allies.

Since you already have a Divination-thwarting Private Sanctum set up, you make use of it to cover the Elemental Light you need to call upon to purify the treasure of the lingering demonic taint. Unlike the last time you tried to cleanse corrupted items, the treasure-box and its contents aren't so heavily marked with unholy energies that they were in danger of coming to life, or displaying some comparable manifestation of the powers of evil and chaos. Also, metal and gems are quite a bit tougher than anything in Uncle Rory's taxidermy collection, so there's a much reduced risk of any damage - and that's before taking into account how much your skills have improved.

Gained Light Affinity D (Plus)

With that done and a simple Spell of Mending cast to clear away the more mundane detritus and tarnish of however many years the demons had this stuff, you pick through the treasure to get an idea of what you, Lu-sensei, and Mrs. Blaisdell should take as samples. The majority of the treasure turns out to be silver, and not all of it coin; there's a few pieces of jewelry in there, mostly rings, with a brooch and a couple of necklaces for variety. The stones - whether fixed in the jewelry or left free - are likewise nothing so valuable as diamond, ruby, and emerald; their precise provenance escapes you, but Cordelia readily identifies amethyst, topaz, garnet, and jasper.

You are completely unsurprised by this show of expert knowledge on her part.

Gained Gemology F

Of course, just because the chest isn't overflowing with gold doesn't mean there's no gold at all.

Gained 9 gold coins
Gained 134 silver coins
Gained 4 pieces of gold jewelry (2 w/gems)
Gained 18 pieces assorted silver jewelry (6 w/gems)
Gained 3 loose gemstones

None of the contents of the small casket radiate magic, except for the fading traces of your purification.

You hand a single gold coin, a few pieces of silver, and one example of jewelry to the two adults for appraisal, then close the lid of the cask and stow it in your dimensional pocket.

Then you go home.

After what is hands-down the busiest summer of your life, the new school year is about to begin, and with it, a new year of training. You've grown significantly - incredibly, even - over the last twelve months, especially in the half-year or so since you took part in the World Martial Arts Tournament.

Gained Combat Prowess B
Gained Ki Prowess C (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Magical Prowess B
Gained Mental Prowess C
Gained Physical Prowess B (Plus)
Gained Power Prowess E
Gained Social Prowess B (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Prowess B (Plus)