Teen Titans New Gen Presents; Tokyo Knights

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Chapter 17: Delegations

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Back out of the hustle, into the fray once more –

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Ami frowned at Iyori who looked out the window of Yumi's sedan. They were going away from the obvious freak shows and the escaped fox….

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~ Eiji??~

Ami had not expected the dig to bite back, yet it did. Ami also saw how Rose, Slade and even Anna knew the ropes of an antihero's pretty well. She saw Shoji shut down the rest of the project in one press of a button and she saw how drained Iyori seemed after Kokkuri cackled back and took Shun far away into the lair of another.

~ The day shall arrive wgen you have nothing left to protect!! All of it will belong to the new empire of forgotten gods!! For now, I shall collect my contracted soul and leave you here to decide what best suits your world…. seek the truth, butterfly child. I'll not wait long if you decide to betray your followers…~

Shoji had been slapped in the face by Yumi, who shouted that she would be seeing to Iyori getting home yet Iyori yelled at Shoji. Calling him all sorts of names. Never once had Iyori been so…. unhappy to see a person as she saw in that dog. Ami then offered Eiji protection if he chose to stay, but…

Some dog remained strays, Kaede had said.

Anna even vanished with her new partners. Ami felt utterly alone since then. Even with two magic familiars watching out for her wellbeing.

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Aya hung her head as Yumi shot a look at Kazuya first. "You're not to come here unless called."

"I have orders like you to protect the mistress of the sun –

"You would see harm to her. No." Yumi spoke, directing the kitsune lord to the door. "As a goddess of truths below frosted worlds, I must ask you to leave. I shall speak to my charges."

Up the stairs, the moment was broken as Jackie panted down with Dick right behind her. "Wait, Yumi. That isn't wjat we need right now."

"I wish to return to the school with my partner. This debate if yours is far too busy. My –

"Iyori – Chan. You will. By morning. I've contacted your director and she allowed this." Ami's eyes shot up to the flustered Iyori, Aya gaping and readying to defend her contracted miko. "You would put us all in danger and why is my voice no longer as it was??"

"Welcome to earth." Kaede sighed. "It's the reason we return home in our dreams, half of the time. The longer you stay, the more integrated you'll become. It won't kill you, only gods."

"I am getting on a train right this instant, where is my cell phone? SATURDAY !"

"Ye-yes, my Lady Iyori!" He swept around and picked up her things with caution. "You are kind to allow us shelter, yet the lady must not be tested."

"We do." Yumi pushed back, making the djinn's ears drop out of caution. "Iyori, you'll use the extra guest room. Ami and Jackie will take the bedroom. Will you stay in the living area for tonight? Haru? Kaede?"

"I won't rest. I'll stand watch. It was why I did not dare leave her then…" Aya transformed back into a grasshopper as Jackie pointed with a gasp. "Major – don't go into my bed and crawl all over me! I want to stay with my girl. We gotta talk." She grunted at the others with her arms crossed to her chest. "I mean it this time, sunshine. This is not gonna fly if you vanish like before."

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Iyori forced herself to bed down earlier, sending a message to the only person that could pull her from the clutches of….

She shut the phone and got up. Everything downstairs was a mine field of fox guardians. Aya though…

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"You hired someone, was it you?" Anna snorted to the CEO in black, his business still standing with minor scratches to the dog's reputation. "I, didn't. Sorry. Whoever got wind of my place being under fire from the inside, must have a hard in knowing what comes next."

"I think this was weird, period." Rose looked over a glass paperweight in Shoji's office as a puff of smoke almost made her drop it. "Inari….just the wily soul I'd expected would show. Did Yumi kick you out?"

"She is most strong willed for a Yuki- onna." The kitsune lord chuckled. "I still have no clue what all of that was. The fix hybrid spirit is now on the team of demons we are to fafe. Do the children know?"

"It's not gonna happen yet." Shoji sniffed. "Ami isn't strong enough to face a demon spider like Jorogumo. This version is relatively calm. I can't stand one thing, just one…Iyori. You know her past."

Inari nodded. "I do. Her great ancestors were cursed every time to bare the weight of power that could expel the same demon, yet failed. From what I do understand Iyori's mother was the last to be affected by the curse and perished from it, as Iyori soon now carries that burden. They say the affected were devoured. In silk thread."

"That is…." Rose crinkled her nose. "So, gross."

"My sister is a target then. She could help demons before with her power, all because of the title the gods gave her. She'sgoimg to be at a disadvantage if she needs to protect Iyori at all. How strong was…Abe no Seimei anyway? The person she is related to?"

"Part fox. All sorcery. He was, interested in being sure to close gates and acted as Japan's Solomon of his day. Speaking of, John has words that there was a breach in London. And that a certain demi god has taken the fall…"

"I'm going then." Shoji rose. "Even so, your payment Slade is in your account. I needed this is be simple, to not get out. The council is going to have my head…"

"Did, we just get demoted?? Dad!"

Slade rubbed his chin, quiet in the corner for some time until Inari brought him back with those sights in his direction. "Ami will get stronger, but not in this sense. She must rely on her passions to guide. Right now, she flits as aimless as a wind bothered dragonfly. She must face a current that could press her in any direction it chooses. And I wonder, what will Iyori think if she finds that the demons will not stop searching for their answer as well?"

"Cannot say, but the girl is a wealthy daughter to a company in the next city. She's bound to run home and that is where we have to keep her from going too far. When she's alone, she's a target. Fox." Slade turned to the kitsune. "That spirit dog that got in my way. Is he reachable?"

Inari hummed and thought with eyes shut, "I wouldn't advise you to try. He is an Inugami with a vendetta against those that wish him tame. You are however welcome to contact him in his world, that is. If you know of any soothsayer from our neck of the woods."

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Kaede didn't need to go out, but Aya looked distressed earlier. She climbed as her fox self to the roof and tried to be unseen to those she couldn't trust. As she watched, Aya was also not alone. She was with –

"Aha! That's not gonna happen, onee- chan." Growled the seven tailed animal in a woman's attire. "Aya, you don't know what is happening. So don't try to appease her. It will only hurt you both. Iyori…" Kaede's eyes tried to reason with the rich teen. "Don't go. This is a dangerous place. You can't-

"I was the strongest before they let me feel weak. That was never our partnership. There will be no tower to keep me locked away. Kotori – San shall hear everything I gave to say, or none at all. I'm leaving. To my home, my space where I am protected plenty."

"You can't!"

"Ah…we must go. I'm sorry, Kaede. Iyori – chan is not happy here."

"And you're an idiot for listening to what she wants over her own safety!!"

They leaped as Kaede took off, the clatter making Dick bolt awake to see Ami talking to Jackie in the next room over. "What was that…" He bit his lip, slipping away as himself to bring Nightwing out only moments later. "I think, this us my job. It has to be…let her sleep a bit longer." He didn't admit defeat as Kaede saw the male. He was told to hop on her back as a seven tailed fox, their mark made as Aya was close to a park after dark. "I'm starting up the spell. Keep them ag bay for now." Iyori told the grasshopper daemon.

~ Hōrō suru inochi o sute, watashitachi wa mizukara eranda ie ni hinan shimasu. Mon o ake, shin'nyū-sha o soshi shimashou!~

"They are trying to vanish! Stop them! Please!!" Kaede went faster as her limbs melted into her body, her form becoming a smoky dragon while Iyori put up her barrier, a small hole in the playground slide below their target.

Dick leaped off and tackled Iyori before she could complete he spell. "You're being detained for your own good –

A blade leaped to his throat as Aya growled down wkth her green eyes flashing coldly at the attacker. "Let. GO. I am responsible. She is not happy –

"Look where you are! Out in the park …ugh…after dark? You can't run away. Talk to me, I know what it feels like to be this afraid of things that she always chasing you."

Iyori pushed the man off as he let her dust off, her eyes sorry that she had agreed to any of this mess in the first place. "Ami, your child. She is an incompetent sorceress and protector. You can't honestly believe she has the right to assume something just because someone else says it to be so??"

"She's just as frightened as you are, Iyori –

"Which is why she can't help to remove my curse!" Iyori went small, silent for a second as she put a hand over her lips. She found a swing and sat into it, head in her hands as she sniffled back a pain that only seemed to never wish to leave her. "My mother ran, my grandfather still survived the queen's attacks. My family was harmed for generations by an insect and its plans to erase us. I…I won't go that far. If I perish because of that girl's incompetence…"

"Ami has a lot more spark than you would like to…" Dick bit his lip. "Look, she's like you. School, learning to find her place in the world –

"I am expected to take over father's seat if my brother cannot. He is…not like me. Or you." Iyori wiped her own tears as Dick sat in a swing seat beside her. "I was the target of who Raku used to be. Once. At seventeen, I was…well, terrified as to why or how they just picked me to protect an entire universe of things no one else saw. Spirits. Wasn't what I did. I fought crime, stopped villains, but the fact that I had to use magic when I never had before? It was…and the fact that I was always being protected by the man called Roku –

"Roku?" Aya gasped. "The red lord?? You met him??"

"He, us actually Raku. Or he was forced to be since he didn't have control because of his evil teachers back then. And I mean, demonic. Not like you think. He had an interesting history too. He was half human magical descendent of a great wizard and was the sun if a record keeper and time djinn lord called Azag. He almost thought he'd be looked down on because if his past before staying with his father. He didn't want to lose that part of himself that…wasn't entire that powerful. He ended up turning to the dark side to preserve what he could out of fear, and then he stayed that way until he was able to escape. He cane to our world, through my enemy Slade."

"That….that man with the mask on."

"Was him, but older. Less willing to barter his soul. C Dick rolled his eyes, doubting that. "He was possessed by Roku a couple of times, and Roku wanted me to change. To make him whole again through my having kids like Aiden, but Aiden set him free. Got his life back on track. Helped Raku change for the better and apologize through his actions. Now, he studies for college in London with an old friend only ours who works as a wizard for himself. He has a student, and Raku…"

"He was familiar with the spider." Muttered Iyori. "How can you trust a daemon with that much presence in the world? What if your friend isn't one, but a monster? Hiding and trying to break free as before?"

"Did your curse win? Did anyone let you? I don't care what you are, who you are counts plenty. Who you are to Ami is a friend if you still think she's not a threat."

"She, isn't the problem." Iyori started to pull her night piece up as she turned to show Dick a set of glowing wings engraved upon her back. Only wings. "If I change fully, the entire curse mark will show, and they may come for me. Every fight leads them closer to their goal. Every ounce of exposure. My family was not freed. When I last met Ageha, she made sure to always know what I wished to be, feel. If she decides to act, she could steal me away –

"YOU'RE not powerless, Iyori." Richard told her firmly. "You are strong, and we know you can be stronger if you train to protect yourself while Ami stands watch. We all are doing our part. Let us help you, because that's all we want to do so you can be truly happy."

"Happy, you say?"

The three turned to see the shadowy male pretty boy Eiji leaning on the monkey bars "Happiness is earned for those willing to fight, is that what you said? What if her fight isn't the same. Her battle is what is making her feel hopeless. It's who protects the princess, and you aren't enough."

"Eiji …." Kaede reverted to her hybrid form. "You left us, why are you back? Here to prove you can do fine for yourself?" She snorted.

"No, I'm here to offer myself up as a familiar. To your, Ami – chan."

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Raku's whole body moved as if unable to resist. He could only dis Constantine with that look as Aiden grabbed his arm and pulled "You're not you, dummy! Fight back, I can still make you listen."

"Our contract was dissolved. I was nothing to you anymore, remember?" Raku shoved the hero's son off of him. "Now, I get to choose. And I choose to finish my degree, sing for these sheeple and to get my own place MY way. If Shoji has things handed to him on a silver platter, then that's what I want. You not being a bother to me. And him…" Raku inside tried to scream that it was not his voice. Not him at all.

"And John can go look for a new apprentice. His method was garbage anyway. I don't need him to squander my abilities on cutting off the heads of chickens." (From legends of tomorrow.)

John appeared and saw the influence with his powers intact. "Lad, you're not right as rain in there. Let him help you. For once, don't beat yourself up into a corner. You can come to us for that much. I'm not just a teacher to you. He knows that, right? Ageha?"

With a cackle, Raku's voice changed to hold two sounds. He was possessed by her power as Lisa skidded over seeing Alicia scream back not to go in too close.

~ Very perceptive, Constantine. Yes, you are correct. This boy belongs now to my lady Jorogumo. She wants his power to do great things you see, and he also wished to hand over this body to us. You confiscated his rights as a demi god, human.~ The false Raku snarled. ~ He grows meek, weaker than the red lord once had been. Lady and I know of this ability he casts to make reality bend to the whims of any whom possess the pages of his heart. Manifesto, you mortals call it? A powerful time altering lord, and all he wanted was his independence. It works out perfectly to meet both ends, does it not? ~

"No, and for the record, you only made him do what you wanted after you kidnapped the lad after homeroom ended. I know your tricks. Spiders toy with their meals for hours until the grow bored with em. He's in there now trying to stop you. I think we should obli-

"In your dreams, John! I'm going places, and if it means getting close enough to see that you can't touch. That I can taunt you with the loss of a child's life like Astra's? Well, how can we even think to turn up such an offer?" Grinned the possessed college teen. "Bye for now, Johnny… I'll be steadily watching your every move…"

With a salute, he walked through a vortex and out of sight. John didn't know how to process it, but the demons knew about it. About what Raku knew, and about his failure to save that one girl from Nergal's living hell inside of his mind scape.

"Dreams, eh?" John shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out a smoke. Lisa looked to Aiden as they both went along with it. "You have a plan. We want in." Aiden announced to the magi. "Got off from classes, lad?"

Aiden nodded. "I'll make sure it's a family emergency on that slip."

Lisa stretched and with a shiver, the form of Alicia in spirit floated on beside her. ~ Hakuro returned to find Bao Shi and anyone he can trust. If we are fortune, a scout might aid to keep a hold on the boy who's going to be closer than we may bargain for. What will you do in the meantime, magi? ~

"I'm going to take the witch's advice, lov. In his dreams, he'll have my everything else to tell his guardian face to face - to bloody bugger off. It'd be wise to stay by me at this point on mates." Grinned the wicked sorcerer almost with a tinge of miscellany to his words

"We're going inside the mind of a vile, unkempt sociopath. My pupil to be precise. Care to have a listen at my real plans in subduing that eight-legged demon?" He smirked to the two young adults.

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So, the whole thing is…Slade isn't sure if Shoji lied about hiring him to face the one responsible for letting loose a rogue AI into their world, conjured partly up by a wish granting Kokkuri San, or…or, they have someone pulling strings without saying how. No clues given, Ami starts to worry about Iyori, yet is torn between making amends with Jackie. Where is this going?

Dick comes to Iyori on Ami's behalf to tell the girl about his time as a power source that was hunted by Roku in post arcs and how powerless he felt because he allowed that fear to never be understood. As Aiden taught his family that feeling weak was just coming to terms with one's strength when he took Raku into a contract to set him free from Lilith. He defined a generation and broke a long tale of woe to rebuild, yet Raku is now more magi than God since he chose to remain on earth. Because of this, he's now taken advantage of by Ageha and her evil curses.

Just as Iyori was marked for her demise by Ageha and her mistress, she stated that only wings showed up the first time when she fell ill on the train. Now each time she meets the fallen two, she will be granted a part of the design on her back that will once it is completed, will cause her to change as well. She is afraid due to her blood of the famous half fox sorcerer, that she'll harm anyone that tries to break the curse and is embarrassed by how she's not taken seriously as a warrior anymore.

Eiji then offers his hand to take himself in as Ami's familiar and guide?? Why? Inari instructs Slade not to tamper with curses as well, yet will he listen?

Find out what comes next, in chapter eighteen – "Tough it out "