Over at the ambush site, the Devil, King Dice, and Elder Kettle sat around. David had ordered the kettle to stay back so that he would not be within attack range. King Dice sat next to him in case Tanuki tried to perform any trickery by going after the elderly person. David played with the prongs on his trident as he watched Dice and Kettle play a hand of cards as they waited for Tanuki to take the bait.
"Ha! Beat that, Kettle!" The die man teased the glassware as he placed down a card.
"Oh my! I don't think I'll be able to catch up to that!" Elder Kettle exclaimed and put a gloved hand on his cheek.
"Heh, they don't call me the gamest in the land for nothing." Dice leaned back, believing he had beat the old man for sure.
"Gosh, all I've got are these left." The tan kettle said and put down his hand.
"Huh?" The king exclaimed as he did a double-take. His mustache turned down into a frown. "Well, by-golly, you beat me." He chuckled and smiled. It had been a while since he had been beaten in any card game.
"For real?" Kettle couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're bluffing."
"No, I mean it. You beat me fair and square." The king's cube head nodded. His gloved hands picked up the cards. "Care to go for another round?"
"Only if you don't mind being beat again." The elder teased. They both started laughing.
Over where David sat up against a tree, his little ears twitched as he heard someone approaching. Its pattern told the Devil that it was definitely Tanuki and not one of the boys or their friends. He sprang up to his feet. David knew he had to be ready for anything. Dice and Kettle became alert when the Devil sprang up. They slowly got to their feet as the black creature stayed hyper focused in the direction of the footsteps.
Tanuki came bounding over the bushes and pounced into the area on all fours. A pulse of hot energy accompanied this movement. Its visible orange ring rocketed towards David. The Devil's gangly arms crossed in front of his chest to brace for the impact. The energy beam seemed to pass right through him and push his scarred body back. Digging in his claws, David stayed standing. The pulse kept going and knocked King Dice and Elder Kettle even farther away. The Devil gasped and looked over his shoulder as he heard them grunt as they were tossed like dolls.
"Well, well, well," The Devil looked back as Tanuki taunted his prey. "Look who finally came back to finish our battle. Ready to fight for real this time?" The red demon asked as he slowly rounded his back and stood up to his full height. Flames were frothing along his arms and back.
"This battle has always been between you and me. There's no need to involve anyone else." The Devil sternly told him.
"I agree." Tanuki said and stomped his foot. A pulse traveled through the ground and finally uprooted, creating a thorny barrier between them and the two onlookers. Dice and Kettle could only watch as a thick wall of thorny vines blocked their path.
"David!" Elder Kettle gasped.
"Boss!" King Dice called out. They both approached as far forward as they could go without pricking themselves. The Devil watched as they did their best to peer between cracks in the vines.
"It'll be okay, you two." David said to his friends. Dice and his boss were able to make eye contact for a second. The die man saw a shimmer of nervousness in the creature's eyes. And then that shiver was reflected right back into the casino manager's green eyes.
"David can only hold him off for so long. We need to find a way to get through and help him." Dice whispered to the kettle. The elderly person's spout nodded. Kettle immediately started to look around for something he could use to prod at the vines. King Dice wasted no time in trying some of his magic card tricks. His cards would slice through some of the vines only for them to grow right back.
"Damn it! This isn't working. What do we do?" The king was starting to panic.
"Calm down. We'll find a way in….somehow." Elder Kettle tried to be positive.
Beyond the veil of vines, the two furry creatures began to circle one another. The red one's fur still brimming with flames.
"I've waited years for this moment…to finally get my revenge on you for that dirty trick you pulled on me. And then I'll take over as Alpha like I should've that day." Tanuki said, letting his rage boil and fuel his strength.
"Well, look who's still talking." David said mockingly.
"Why you-" The red demon didn't even finish his insult before pouncing forward and unleashing a battle cry. In the blink of an eye, the Devil used the magic in his trident to teleport away. Tanuki snarled as his claws came down on nothing but the grass. The heat emanating off him quickly singed the patch of grass, killing it off.
David reappeared behind his adversary in a puff of smoke. His enemy began to look over his shoulder. The Devil swung his trident and landed a solid hit on Tanuki's head. The red body tumbled over itself as it slid away. White claws dug into the ground and slowed the demon to a stop. He watched as the black trident pointed its prongs at him. The Devil unleashed a beam of yellow energy at the disobedient parasite. Just like David, Tanuki used his ability to teleport to avoid the blast. A wave of heat came from behind the king of Hell. He knew that was where the demon would show itself. David went to turn around and was met with fiery fists. King Dice heard him scream in agony from the fire. This only made the die man even more frantic to help his boss.
The Devil's round head got boxed back and forth from the flurry of fiery fists. Eventually, he got his trident up to block the strikes. Tanuki ended up catching the weapon after having his strikes stopped. He now tried to take it away from its owner. David held firm and didn't let the demon take it.
"Such a nice trident. Mind if I have a look?" The red demon taunted him.
"Not on your life!" The scarred ruler spat back. A gray foot lashed out and pushed Tanuki away.
"Come now. What fun is that?" Tanuki sprinted forward. David braced for a frontal strike. His adversary disappeared in a poof of flames again. But this time he did not teleport behind the Devil. The black creature whipped around in anticipation for this. Tanuki was nowhere to be seen. David spun around on his heels looking for him. Echoes of the red parasite's laughter filled the forest.
Multiple copies of the furry creature burst into existence with flames dripping off them. They surrounded the Devil, leaving him to try and figure out which one to attack. Some stood on the ground and others floated in the air. David's yellow eyes tried to make note of each one. But as soon as he started to turn his back on a few of the copies, one dashed forward and pelted him with its burning fur. The Devil grunted from the impact and stumbled a bit. More of the replicas started to come at him. David was able to parry those that came head on but not the ones that ambushed him from behind. Tanuki noticed his adversary's limbs began to tremble.
The king of Hell has gotten weak, the red demon thought. This will be easier than I thought.
Tanuki summoned his duplicates back into one body and then pounced at the black creature. His wings helped propel him even faster than before. The fiery impact threw David to the ground. Patches of his fur caught fire from his adversary. He flopped around like a fish out of water, desperate to douse the agonizing flames. The Devil panted as the last of the sparks went out. It was only then did he realize that he had dropped his trident in the panic. His yellow eyes widened as he witnessed Tanuki reach down and pick it up.
"Very nice, indeed." The red parasite said, running his clawed fingers over it. "But I'm sorry to say that you won't be needing it anymore." Tanuki proceeded to lay the black bar over his knee. His hands started to yank down in an attempt to break the weapon across his leg.
"No, not another one!" David cried out and tackled disobedient parasite. He was able to wrestle his weapon away from demon. The Devil proceeded to move away from Tanuki, who was following each of his movements. For the parasite knew if he got rid of the trident, a portion of the deity's power would be gone.
"What? You've already lost one? You're even more useless than I thought." Tanuki mocked him.
It boiled the alpha demon's blood. David, on the other hand, couldn't care less what he was saying. His top priority was to keep him distracted until his friends could help. And even then, it was more important to him to keep them safe rather than worry about his weapon or status. He was afraid the alpha demon would get mad enough to lash out and fall into Tanuki's trap. To prevent anything like that from happening, the black creature tossed the trident into the air. It spiraled and ended up landing on the other side of the thicket of vines. King Dice and Elder Kettle flinched as it landed nearby, its prongs sticking into the ground.
"I…I don't need that to beat you." David told the demon between his heavy breaths.
"Is that so? Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough." The two demons charged at one another.