(This is a story I decided to write for October. If you're interested, you can read about it in my blog under the 17th. Please let me know if you like what I'm posting here.)

Chapter 1
First Mission





It was quite dark that evening as the woman made her way down the street back to her home from a well-received restaurant. Thank goodness the crescent moon made a decent amount of light so she could see where she was going and there were several buildings around. It made her feel less uneasy. Still, she had heard…stories. Strange creatures were said to come out on dark nights looking for helpless prey. There had also been talk of strange people dressed in weird fashion sulking about Soul City after dark. But that was nonsense. She knew it was. There were no such things as goblins and witches and ghosts and ghouls. There was nothing that could harm her. Right?
Was it her imagination…or did she get the feeling she was being followed? There had been no one else out on the street that she had seen. But right there was the very emphasis; “no one she had seen”. Trying not to betray her fright less her pursuer become violent, she picked up the pace of her walking only a step faster than previous. Then she heard some heavy breathing. It was unnerving, like someone with a very stuffed nose was wheezing and breathing through their mouth. What made it even more unsettling was that the sound was coming closer all the time. Heart now pounding in her chest, she began to quicken her steps, making audible noise against the cobblestone road. Then it came, the sound that hadn’t been there before; footsteps, and they too were quickening in hot and deadly pursuit. And, perhaps worst of all, they sounded as if they were getting closer by five steps with every single step.
No longer able to take such tension, the woman turned….and then was so frightened her scream was never heard.
Standing five steps away from her was a man…or at least what was shaped like a man. He wore a bright orange jumpsuit with a black cape and black gloves and boots. Two red snake-like eyes leered predatorily at her from the darkness of his red hood. His face, while hidden in the dim light due to his back being to the moon, was nonetheless hideous. It almost looked a pale-green.
“What do you want?” the frightened woman asked, backing up a step. “If you’re after money, I spent it all tonight, so you’re out of luck. Mugging me won’t do you any good.”
“I’m not after your money,” the man-shaped thing said, its voice nasal but also coarse and rough. “It’s your soul I want!”
“Hey, freak!”
The voice made the creature stop in his preparation to lunge. He looked over his left shoulder and the woman, who had fallen to her knees, followed his gaze.
There stood a boy no older than sixteen in the full light of the moon. His short brown hair gave him, in his opinion, a “cool and heroic appearance” to go with his “heroic” blue eyes. He wore a salmon-red high-school jacket that gave him an athletic appearance and wore brown jeans and yellow high-tops.
“Is that your face or a cheap Halloween mask?” the boy asked the stalker. “If it is, I’m afraid you’re early.”
The stalker snarled. Was this kid stupid or just suicidal? Well, if he wanted to die first, the stalker would be happy to oblige. He held out his right hand and a pumpkin-colored orb of light swirled in the palm before being launched forth. No one could survive the Jack-o-Lantern Bomber.
The boy smirked and touched the miniature glove pendant around his neck.
There was a huge hiss and crackle as the blast was hit with a surge of electricity that seemed to come from nowhere, startling the stalker. The two energies pushed and shoved on each other until there was an explosion.
The boy stood a tad unmoved. Now he was wearing two black gloves with a lightning pattern running from the cuff and to the tip of each finger. He was also wearing a smile that greatly infuriated the stalker.
“Why don’t you just give up now, joker?” the boy asked condescendingly. “You can’t win against Brian O’Brian. I’m so good I’m bad.”
“So your name’s Brian O’Brian, huh?” A smile came to the stalker’s mouth. “Thanks for telling me. Now I know what to put on your tombstone!” He raced at Brian, the palms of both hands glowing with the same pumpkin-colored light. This kid would pay for interrupting his hunt with his own soul.
He was a step in front of Brian, ready to blast his head off….when Brian put both his hands on the man’s chest, and the stalker howled in agony as the electricity surged through him. The stalker flew backwards and landed on his back.
It was then that he noticed that his prey had escaped. In her place, however, stood a girl same age as the boy. She was dressed all in brown with open-toed heels with her winter-brown hair done in a ponytail that sat at a lofty position at the back of her head. She also held a spear pole with the head pointed down at the vile man.
“Spook the Goblin,” she said in a serious voice. “Wanted for sabotage, mass murder and soul consumption, thievery, and other crimes too numerous to mention. You are now under arrest and will be placed in the Soul Mystic Detention Facility.”
“Soul Mystics”? So, these kids were part of that goody-two-shoes organization that strove to keep normal people safe from his kind, were they? Spook mentally cursed himself. He had allowed himself to underestimate the boy, and now the girl had him at spear point and looking down at him. If he made one false move, it’d be his last. Those green eyes were telling him so.
“Arti!? What the heck are you doing!?!?” Brian hadn’t moved, but was looking at the girl with some annoyance.
It was nothing compared to the look Arti Hunter gave him. “What am I doing!? I could ask you the same question, shock-jock. We’re partners, remember? We’re supposed to work as a team. Soul Mystics at our age can’t take down criminals single-handedly yet.”
“I don’t need help taking down this gross goblin!” Brian argued. “Interfering girl.”
“Stubborn boy,” Arti growled.
She had taken her eyes off Spook and the spear point was no longer between his eyes.
Spook took hold of the spear head and jabbed upward, hitting Arti in the stomach and leaping up and sending several blasts her way.
“ARTI!” Brian used his gloves to strike the blows of energy with his electric Idol. He held them seven feet off the ground and they exploded harmlessly in the air.
Arti was doubled over from the blow of her own spear butt and her face to the ground. The spear had gone back to being a mere golden spearhead and lay close to her left knee.
Spook had vanished.
“Arti!” Brian ran over to her and knelt down with a hand on her back. He tried to see her face. “You okay, babe?”
POW!
Brian groaned as Arti slugged him on the lower jaw.
“What was THAT for!?” Brian demanded angrily.
“Two things,” Arti told him as she stood up and put her Idol back on so it slid down her neck and settled on her chest. “1. You let the perp get away. And 2. We’re not dating, and never will, so never, ever, never, ever, never, ever, never, ever call me ‘babe’.” She glared up angrily into his equally angry face. “Why didn’t you attack Spook?”
“And let his attack finish you off? Oh yeah, your dad would love me for that.” He turned and checked to see if he still had all his teeth or if his nose were bleeding. “Like I’d go for a tomboy, anyway.”
“Oh, forget that,” Arti groused. “We need to return to HQ and make our report to Mr. Shin.” And she vanished.
Brian followed suit.
The HQ for the Mystic Soul Society was your common everyday office building with a dormitory next door for employee lodgings. It stood in the direct center of Soul City, though, to the public, it was merely an ordinary building whose function was unknown. No one knew about the Soul Mystics and their on-going battle to protect the world from those who would do it harm, and that was just as well, as if it became public knowledge that mystics lived among common people, the mystics would most likely be beseeched for magical solutions. As if Soul Mystics could solve everything with magic. It was really laughable and one of those things you could find some employees laughing about around the water cooler. While on the outside it was unassuming, on the inside it was very elegant with marble floors and portraits of high achieving members of years gone by on the wall of each and every hallway.
Arti and Brian walked down the long hallway to Mr. Shin’s office side by side, each looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes grimly. They opened the door at the end of the hallway and stepped inside. The room was elaborately decorated with various treasures from every corner of the eater here and there. There was what looked to be a TV monitor on the wall behind the golden plated desk.
Two adults stood on either side of the desk.
The black haired Monica Pristine wore an olive-green canvas jacket over a black shirt and work black lean pants that ended just above her rose-pink heels. The blue eyes of the senior-secretary peered from her half-moon spectacles and fixed on the two children that stood in the room with them.
The other was Prince Hunter, Arti’s father. She had inherited his brown hair, but had her mother’s eyes. Prince wore a very dashing blue tail coat and trousers with white undershirt, onyx tie, and black dress shoes.
Mr. Shin, founder and founder of the organization, sat in a black chair that had its back to Arti and Brian.
“Didn’t I tell you it was dangerous?” Prince asked Arti firmly. “Spook is a goblin, and therefore a candidate for being mentally dangerous due to not having any of the values that humans do. You shouldn’t have gone. You should have let Brian go solo on this mission.”
“See?” Brian said with a smug look. “Even your dad knows I’m man enough to take on freaks without a partner like you.”
Prince finished his lecture. “If Brian had been killed, then it’d be different. I have next to no problem with him facing danger on a solo mission.”
“I agree that it may have been…I mean to say, someone with a track record like that goblin may have been too much for Soul Mystics who are just starting out.” Monica was always careful not to speak ill of any decisions made by Mr. Shin unless she was sure that questioning his choices was unavoidable and that she would not be scolded for doing so.
“And that’s another thing,” Prince went on, “sixteen is far too young to get into such a dangerous line of work. Arti, why couldn’t you just go on being a regular girl and go to school and all that?”
“Because I’m not normal,” Arti’s voice carried the same argumentative tone as it had when she’d been fighting with Brian, but to a lesser volume and conviction. Ever since she had turned sixteen Prince had been against her joining the Mystic Soul Society, but he and his wife Mariah Belle had joined when they had been her age. And according to all the gossips in the MSS, Mariah had been one of the best. “I can no more turn off the energies flowing through my body than anyone else here. It’s not a choice a Soul Mystic can make.”
“Well said, Miss Hunter.” Mr. Shin had a deep and authoritative voice, but at the same time it was also calm and relaxing. It seemed to take all tension out of the room. “Yes…none of us can help being who and what we are. The fact that everyone in the room, at one time or another has created an Idol from their own spiritual power. That is the one thing that proves if someone has what it takes to become a Soul Mystic. It is good she is here, Prince.”
“But sir, she’s just…”
“You would rather she had been abducted by the WWS?” his superior questioned.
There was an awkward silence. “No…no, of course not, sir,” Prince said somberly.
“Ms. Pristine,” the chair did not move, but it was possible he was looking at Monica, “do we have any idea where Spook is now?”
The TV switched on and showed a rather forest-like map on the screen.
“It would appear that after being accosted, he has chosen to retreat to the Goblin World, sir,” Monica reported.
“Good,” Mr. Shin said. “Maybe he’ll stop stalking people for a while. And the woman he stalked?”
“A team of Wipers have been sent to her house,” Monica told him. “She’ll have no memory of being attacked by a goblin or seeing Mr. O’Brian using his Idol.”
“Very good,” Mr. Shin said. “Arti, Brian,” said Mr. Shin.
“Yes sir,” they said in unison.
“I have another mission for you,” the man in the chair told them.
Arti blinked her eyes. “Another mission?”
No response, but Arti took this to mean “yes”.
“Another mission!?” Prince seemed to forget himself. “Sir, my own only baby girl almost got blown to smithereens! Don’t allow her to go, I beg of you! Send me in her place.”
Monica had had enough. “Prince, try to show some composure and dignity, for once! And remember to whom you speak. Mr. Shin’s decisions are final.”
Mr. Shin seemed to ignore the bickering. “I want you to locate Edwin Flamel,” he said calmly. The screen flashed again to show a man of at least thirty-two like Prince. Edwin had long blond hair, wore a long red coat, blue cargo pants, a black vest under the coat, and white gloves and gaudy-looking black boots. “He’s a mystic living on the outskirts of a town seven miles from here.” The screen focused on a town west seven miles from Soul City. “People have gone as far to call him a warlock. Think you can do it?”
“Can a bird fly?” Brian asked. He flexed his fingers. “If there’s any trouble, I’ll be ready for it.”
Arti saluted. “Mr. Shin, we will succeed in this mission. I will treat this seriously. You can count on me.”
“I’m glad you both are confident,” Mr. Shin said. “He’s very powerful. It’d be very bad if Eris located him.”
Both Soul Mystics teleported out of the office, having memorized the location on the screen.
Monica slid her glasses up her nose as the TV screen switched off again and Prince was staring at where his daughter had stood. “With all respect, Mr. Shin,” she said, “that was very naughty of you.”
Arti and Brian landed on the outskirts of the town they had seen on the screen. Arti took out the Soul Compass from her coat pocket. The device was designed to point and direct the holder towards their quarry. Brian hadn’t bothered to take his out yet. It always seemed like Arti was the one with the brains and, if you asked her, the looks, of the duo.
“It’s pointing west, fifty yards,” Arti told her partner.
Brian stared at her incredulously. “And….we’re….supposed to….walk to where this guy lives? Couldn’t you have teleported us closer?”
“Don’t blame me,” she returned. “I was following you. You were the one who said he knew how far we were going.”
Brian groaned. He was good with direction, but when it came to distance, he was somewhat lacking.
They started to walk until they came to a house. The house was three stories and painted in a soft black color with an orange-brown roof. It wouldn’t have been so strange, except that it was the only house for miles.
“So this is the place, huh?” Brian put his hands in his pockets. “Pretty cool. Hey, what are you doing now?” He noticed Arti had taken out the miniature notepad and pencil she always carried with her and was scribbling something down on it.
“Trying to come up with a plan,” she told him. “We can’t just bust in there like we did with Spook. We need a plan of action.”
“Good idea,” Brian said. “You provide the plan, I’ll provide the action.” He filled up his lung with air and then bellowed as loud as he could, “HEY! You in there! We know who and what you are and we’re here to take you in! This can go two ways: One, give up peacefully, or two—the more fun option, we can bust in there and then bust your head!”
“You freaking IDIOT!!!” Arti screamed at Brian, almost as loud as he had shouted. “Are you incapable of thought!?” She grabbed him by the shirt collar. “What if he comes out and kills the both of us?! Did you think of that, moron?!?”
There was the sound of a door opening, causing both Arti and Brian to look in the house’s direction. Standing clearly in the open doorway was a young woman. She was at least in her early twenties going by her looks. And speaking of looks, she had long black hair that flipped up at her shoulders, long slender legs that were concealed by black pants and witch-like boots, wore an open black coat, and was semi-buxom and wore a black shirt. Her brown eyes stared at the girl who looked as if she was about to throttle the boy.
Brian and Arti stared back at her.
At last Arti spoke. “Brian…?”
“Yeah?” he returned in the same bewildered voice.
“Does that look like Edwin Flamel to you?” she asked.
“No,” Brian answered. “I….think….what I’m seeing is better.”
Arti looked at Brian to see his face had started to go red. She narrowed her eyes, lifted him up by the collar of his jacket, kicked him in both legs, and tossed him down into the dirt. He was such a typical guy. Show him a girl who was….moderately attractive—Arti didn’t think she looked that pretty—and they stopped thinking with their brains and started thinking with their hormones. It made her sick.
“She’s not so hot,” she said grumpily.
“Then you need glasses,” Brian told her, still nursing his right shin.
Arti glared down at him. “You want me to punch you again!?”
“Um…excuse me….” The girl interrupted them. “But…why are you here?”
Arti and Brian jumped back to their feet and faced the girl.
“We’re here for the mystic Edwin Flamel,” Arti told her. “We were told to find him by Mr. Shin so Eris couldn’t locate him and induct him into the WWS. Interfere and we’ll have no choice but to take you in, too.”
“I’ll go first,” Brian said, stepping forward.
Arti activated her Idol and had the pole of the spear across his throat, pinning his back to her chest. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she growled.
The girl suddenly got a wicked smile on her face. “So, you’ve come to fight my master, huh? Well, unfortunately for you, he’s out. But I’ll be willing to play with you.” She played with a strand of her hair and aimed a flirtatious look at Brian, causing Brian to gulp and his heartbeat to quicken. Then, in a flash, she lunged.
Arti’s and Brian’s screams echoed in the night sky.
I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead. I’m dead, that wild girl killed Brian and me. Arti was floating in a black void with her eyes closed, her clothes having been replaced by white robes. Mother...I’m sorry. Your girl’s a loser. Brian...I’ll never get to say...to say...
“Arti...”
She started, opening her eyes. Not that it made a difference. That voice…where had it come from? Even though she knew it was pointless, she looked about in all directions.
“Arti...”
There it was again. That same voice. Where was it coming from? And why did it sound so familiar? And…and…and why did it make her heart race?
Then she heard another voice. Her voice.
“I’ve hidden how I feel about you...for a long time...”
What was she saying? And who was she saying it to?
“But...I don’t suppose you feel the same way...”
“How do you know I don’t?”
Arti’s eyes widened. These were not things she wanted to hear being said in her voice. Especially not when she could guess to whom the other voice belonged to. If she had stopped to think about it, she’d have realized her heart was beating in both wild excitement and wild embarrassment.
Is this how I will spend the rest of time? She thought. Listening to myself confessing my feelings?
“Arti...”
Her eyes widened even more, then tears appeared in the corners. “Mom!?”
“Time to wake up now, Arti...”
“I can’t. I’m dead. Mom, is that you? I miss you.”
“Wake up, Arti. Wake up.”
“Mom…talk to me. I’ve missed you for so long.”
“Wake up, Arti. Wake up. Waaaaaake uuuuuuuuuuupppp…”
The voice began to fade.
Arti found she could stand and ran towards the direction of the voice. “Don’t leave me again!” She was running, but making no progress. “MOM!”
Arti sat up suddenly, drenched in sweat. She had been dreaming. Hadn’t she? It had seemed so real. Arti felt her chest and realized two things. One, it was race as it had done when she had heard her own voice and the voice of her mother—and for some reason when she thought of what she had heard herself say in her dream, it made her blush—and two, where she had been slashed, there was no pain. She also realized she was dressed in flower-patterned lavender pajamas that were two sizes too big for her. Arti lifted the bottom of the pajama’s shirt where she knew she had been scratched and saw a bandage on her stomach. Had someone come and saved her and Brian?
Brian?
Where was he!?
She leaped out of the bed and out into an unfamiliar hall that had a few pictures of a small black kitten. There was a room across the hall from hers’ and she entered. When she threw back the door, she felt her concern turn to fury.
Brian was in bed with the girl from last night snuggled against his left side sleeping on top of the covers.
“YOU LOUSY, SKIRT-CHASING, DIRTY, DROOLING, UNTRUSTWORTHY, UNDISCIPLINED PIG!!!!”
Brian sat up in bed with both hands holding where Arti had struck him. “What’d you do that for!?”
“Like you don’t know,” Arti growled at him as she returned his glare.
“No, I don’t!” Brian told her.
Just then the girl, who was still partly asleep, snuggled against him more. “Good morning, baby.”
Brian blushed profusely.
Arti fumed.
“Here I am, worrying if you’re dead or something, and you’re…you’re…you’re…” She covered her mouth and looked away. “It’s too disgusting to think about!”
“Are you stupid!?” Brian snapped. “She on the covers, not under them!”
“It’s the principal that you’re in the arms of another woman!” Arti screamed before she could hold it back.
Brian blushed.
Arti blushed.
What had she just said?
There was an awkward pause.
Then someone put two hands on Arti’s shoulder.
“Isn’t that cute? I’ve always been a softy for scenes like this.”
Arti looked up and saw....Edwin Flamel!
“Edwin Flamel!” Arti turned and glared at him. “We’ve been sent to find and capture you by order of Mr. Shin of the Mystic Soul Society. Resist arrest and it will go badly for you.” It was an empty threat, and Arti could tell Edwin knew it.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Edwin said in a reasoning tone. “You’re too injured. And anyway, I took your Idols while you and your partner here were out cold and put them in a safe place.” He looked at the dark-haired girl. “Bagi baby, you really did a number on them. More on the girl than the boy.”
Bagi continued to hold Brian. “I didn’t want to damage such a cutie.” She purred. “If only I were human and three years younger.” Bagi seemed quite oblivious to how uncomfortable Brian was from being embraced by her.
“What did you do?” Arti demanded.
“I put them in a safe in my room,” Edwin told her. “You can have them back.”
Arti dropped her serious demeanor. “We…we can??”
“But I doubt you’ll need them,” Edwin added.
“Why not?” Brian asked.
“Because no one ever told you to arrest him.” Prince surprised both Arti and Brian by stepping into the room behind Edwin. “Mr. Shin said to locate him. Nothing else.”
Arti blinked in confusion. “D-d-dad!? When…what are you doing here??”
“I called Mr. Shin last night after I came home and found Bagi had gone a bit wild on you and your boyfriend here,” Edwin explained.
Prince’s eyes widened, then narrowed and fixed on Brian. “Boyfriend??”
“N-no!” Brian felt rather panicked. “I’m not her…she’s not my….we’re not a…”
“I have to apologize for Bagi,” Edwin interrupted. “My little cat can get so wild when in a fight.”
“Cat??” Brian turned to Bagi, and saw a medium-sized black cat snuggling in his lap.
Edwin leaned back and examined Arti. “Yeah, I see the resemblance. It’s so good I actually pictured how it was in the old days. You definitely got Mariah’s good looks. And from what your old man’s told me, her talent and brains.”
Arti looked at Edwin. “How do you know my mom? And dad.”
“We were old friends in school,” Edwin told her. “Grew up together. In fact, if I’d had the knack for it, I’d probably have become a Soul Mystic along with the pair of them.” He looked at Prince. “Tell Mr. Shin I appreciate the concern, but tell him for some reason that neither Eris nor any of her flunkies have come recruiting around here.”
“Will do,” said Prince.
“So…the mission….” Arti had a nasty feeling.
“Mr. Shin just wanted to see if Edwin was safe and whole,” Prince told his daughter. He neglected to mention that Ed here’s never done anything to qualify himself as a Necro.”
“Nor would I want to,” Edwin added. “They give magic-wielders bad names.”
Arti sank to her knees. “So, we didn’t need to do this.”
“I wouldn’t be so down,” Brian told her kindly. “We did succeed in the mission. Just not in the way you thought we would.”
“And we heard a very heartwarming sentiment,” Edwin threw in teasingly.
Arti blushed violently.
Bagi leaped off the bed and into her master’s arms. “Lucky girl,” the little cat said in the type of voice you’d expect from a cat.
“You were really concerned about me, huh?” Brian leaned on his right elbow and smirked teasingly.
Arti gave him an annoyed look over her left shoulder. “Shut up.”
Brian grinned. “Whatever you say, babe.”

Honestly i realy don't like that type of story and got sick of it half way through (i don't want to be mean but you did ask...please don't get to ofended and still be my friend) however from what i did read this is good for its type, my mother would simply adore it and i have quite a few friends who will when i show them too! Keep up the good work.
(=^.^=)

(Here's the second chapter.)

Chapter 2
Operation Gunslinger



Anni Oakly was nineteen and an experienced Soul Mystic. She was tall, slender, buxom and had long blond hair, though her black eyes often gave her the look of slight disinterest in where she was and what she was doing Like most of her family she had joined after her powers had been refined and she had helped her parents take down a Ghul that had tried attacking them. Although what type of Idol she had been able to create had been unexpected, they hadn’t tried to keep it from her, and she was very found of it. Her Idol was a pendant of tiny, bronzed guns that, when activated, could become actual guns that could fire spiritual energy. She considered her Idol an extension of not only herself, but of her Texan heritage and family background, since there had been many gunmen in her family. Anni’s attire for her work at SMHQ was a red cowgirl top, brown zippered vest, and ratty-looking gray jeans and brown cowgirl boots.
Another thing about Anni was that she worked solo. She didn’t have a partner, and didn’t want one. A partner would just get in her way. And Anni wasn’t much of a people person, anyway. She had received the nickname “The Lone Soul Mystic” around HQ.
She entered the Soul Mystic building after school with Arti and Brian behind her as she had given them their usual ride to work after school had let out and stepped into the elevator with them. Arti hadn’t yet changed out of her usual white shirt, bleached blazer and tan street pants into her work clothes, but Brian always wore his jacket and pants whether he were at school or on a mission. Anni wore a brown windbreaker with a white sweater that flattered her figure and showed her mid-drift, but at the same time followed the dress code of school, and white sneakers in place of her cowgirl boots.
“You really should try to come up with some sort of outfit for when you come here,” Arti was telling Brian as the three of them rode the elevator to the top floor so they could get their assignments for that day. “I mean, look at Anni and me.”
“Okay.” Brian looked at Anni’s back long and hard.
“That’s not what I meant,” Arti growled. “What I mean is we both have clothes that makes it hard for anyone to really identify us. You were the same jacket day in and day out. I’m surprised it hasn’t started to smell yet.”
“I thought hiding a person’s identity was what masks were for,” Brian said.
“You’ve never seen Superman or The Green Lantern or Wonder Woman wearing masks, have you?” Arti asked.
“I’ve seen a few Green Lanterns wear masks,” Brian countered. “And I’m not sure if I can think of a reason Wonder Woman would need one.”
Everyday the same thing, Anni thought morosely. These two bicker and fight over the dumbest stuff like an old married couple. Glad I’m not sixteen anymore. Though, she had to admit, it was a pain when half the guys at school interested in her where four years younger or half her age, while most the guys at school her age were either taken or…“uninterested”, shall we say?
The elevator finally stopped on the top floor and the three of them stepped out. After Anni had changed into her work attire, there was a knock on the locker room.
“Ms. Oakly. Ms. Pristine. We have your next mission set. Please report to Mr. Shin’s office.”
Dressed and ready, Anni stood in Mr. Shin’s office with Ms. Pristine taking her custom place by his desk and holding an envelope.
“We have your next mission, Anni,” Mr. Shin told her, the back of his chair facing her. “It’s in the middle of your home state. Your target is the Ghul Bart “Black Bullets” Barker. Ms. Pristine.”
Ms. Pristine walked forward and handed Anni the envelope.
Anni opened it to see the picture of a burly man dressed in the stereotypical “western bad guy” attire; black hat, black vest, black boots, mustache, and black bandana. He only lacked a shirt to go with the outfit. His bio stated he was 98 years of age, but the photo depicted him in his mid thirties.
“This sicko has been eating other people’s souls that long?” Anni asked.
“He’s proved to be very hard to track,” Mr. Shin told her. “And, as with all Ghuls, for every soul he’s eaten, the remainder of his victim’s lifespan is added to his own.”
Anni glared down at the face glaring up at her. “What’s his special skill?”
“Gunnery,” Ms. Pristine told her. “That’s why we thought we’d assign this mission to you.”
“Let’s just back this up a step,” Anni said. “Say we face off, shoot at each other, he hits and kills me and eats my soul. That’s it. Game over.”
“If such were the case, you’d have been dead the first time you used your Idol,” Mr. Shin said. “But, when you first got it, you used it with surprising skill and accuracy. You shouldn’t have any trouble. He’s been located here,” he added as the TV screen switched on and showed a red section of Texas, far from where prying eyes could suspect something strange. “We have two Soul Mystics stationed here. You should find their residence on the map in the folder you’re holding. That’s all. Good luck.”
Anni’s main means of transportation was a black motor bike with a sidecar and horse figurehead on the front bars. Anni called it “Widower Bill” based on her favorite story from her childhood, and felt it was as much a part of her as her Idol. With the map she’d been provided in a side bag, she settled on the seat of her bike and took off, of course teleporting herself to Texas—bike and all—before she actually left the parking garage.
Anni landed right where she had seen the location on the screen and the roar of her motor was clear in the blue sky above her. She drove across a wide stretch of desert and soon came upon a simple little town. Now, even though Anni was Texan and had a decent tan from being in the sun so much, she had distaste for Texan and western stereotypes. And this town was as much an affront to her as she could imagine. It looked almost as if she had gone back in time with all the old-fashioned buildings and old-fashioned dressed people on both sides of her. Anni wondered vaguely whether or not Mr. Shin had also given her this mission so he could mess with her a bit. She stopped in the middle of the town, regardless of the staring townsfolk, and took out her Soul Compass to find where she could locate Barker. The needed was pointing to her left to a saloon just four shops down. She parked Widower Bill in front of the saloon and entered.
It was quite a filthy place. Anni had the feeling it hadn’t been cleaned in months. The saloon was also as stereotypical as anything Anni had seen or even hoped to see. Saloon girls, drunk cowboys and cowboys either watching the cheesy Can-Can routine going on onstage or playing card games.
Anni knew that being inconspicuous was part of being a successful Soul Mystic. If she stated right off that she was looking for a wanted criminal, every lowlife in the place would probably pounce and turn her into Swiss cheese. She walked up to the bar and seated herself on the only stool in the place that looked clean enough.
“What’s yer poison?” the bartender asked her.
“Root beer float, if ya can make it,” Anni replied. She’d need her wits and reason.
The bartender and others at the bar looked at her a bit suspiciously. Maybe they weren’t as dated as they looked, if they could sense she was of legal drinking age. However, the bartender complied with her order and Anni took several gulps of the drink. On the surface it may have looked like she was just there for something to “wet her whistle”, but in reality her ears were alive, seeking out the mere mention of the name Bart Barker.
“I don’t think I’ve seen ya ‘round here before,” a cowboy with a thick brown beard said to Anni as he came up behind her. “Where ya from?”
“Out of town,” she said simply.
“Obviously,” said a black-haired cowboy with thick black hair and a thin mustache. “But where did you come from.”
“Puddintane. Ask me again and I’ll tell you the same,” Anni told him.
The black-haired cowboy turned to the one with the brown beard. “I think she’s funnin’ us, Wild.”
“I reckon you’re right, Zeke,” Wild replied.
Anni felt her teeth grit. “Zeke”? “Wild”? What stupid, stupid names! She activated her Idol and swung around with her guns in her hands, causing Wild and Zeke to back up a few steps. “First son of a dog to lay a hand on me gets to know what it’s like to be like Adolph!” She wasn’t kidding. Around school she had gotten the nickname “Ms. Buster” when boys just wouldn’t take the hint, though she had put too much force into getting that title. She aimed her pistols between the legs of both men.
Wild and Zeke seemed to realize she wasn’t kidding around.
“Easy, gal, easy,” Wild said in an obviously nervous voice.
Anni sighed. Well, so much for being inconspicuous. “I’m looking for Bart “Black Bullets” Barker,” she said loud enough for the entire place to hear her.
There was an obviously fearful silence. A crowd parted and several men ran from a poker table at the farthest most left wall of the saloon. Barker turned slowly around.
“And what’s a little mare like you want with me?” He spoke in the most disgustingly stereotypical western/Mexican accent Anni had ever heard. It made her skin crawl with revulsion.
“Mass murder of 98 people,” Anni told him. “You’re not to receive trial. My orders are to eliminate you on the spot.”
Barker took out his guns. “Just try it, senorita.” He fired.
She fired.
Her bullets of white spiritual energy collided with his bullets of dark energy. There was a fizzle and crackle of the two opposing forces and an explosion. People were screaming and crying for the sheriff and scrambling to escape the gun play that was sure to come.
Darn it! Can’t fire in here. Too risky. Anni waited until the last person had left…only to find herself standing alone in the saloon. Bart Barker had escaped.
“Oh, CURSE IT ALL!” Anni pulled out her compass to find him again. It seemed to be pointing….She took out her map. A feeling of dread came over her. Did he know? No time to waste. Anni rushed out of the saloon, leaped onto Widower Bill and drove off in the direction she had memorized on the map.
The Smiths were a Mystic Soul family that lived a little ways from the town in a humble house that looked exactly like the house from Little House on the Prairie. Anni saw a jeep that was now heavily damaged and a black horse by what she presumed was the front door.
Good lord, no!
Anni screeched to a halt near the ruined jeep and leaped through the only window on the side of the house.
“BARKER!” Her eyes were wild with rage that he would dare do such a thing.
Barker looked up at her, let the woman he held drop to the floor and round after round at her. Anni dodged the bulled and fired back, catching him in the right shoulder. The Ghul howled in anger and pain and retreated. The sound of a horse crying and galloping away told Anni he had gotten away again.
“Damn him!” Anni cursed. Her Idol reverted to being a mere pendant and she noticed the two prone figures on the floor.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Mr. Smith was a tall and fairly well-built man. Perhaps Barker had taken them by surprise and chose to take out the one he felt was the more serious threat. He had thick black hair and manageable stubble up to his noise. As Anni examined him, she noted that his Idol was a silver bullet.
Mrs. Smith was a head shorter and had gorgeous blond hair. Her Idol was a miniature white horse.
Anni checked both their pulses. They were both dead. And she could not sense their wavelengths, either. That could only mean that Barker had eaten their souls, making them his 100th victims.
“Damn it,” Anni cursed again. “Lousy coward must have ambushed them. I can’t see two adult Soul Mystics being defeated so quickly and easily in a face to face battle.”
There was the creak of a door to Anni’s left and she turned to see a girl standing there. She was at least fifteen. The girl had blond hair like her mother in two small pigtails and wore a hot-pink tank top, blue short jeans that barely covered her ankles and black shoes that looked like slip-on sneakers since the top of her feet were visible. Her pink eyes seemed to be taking in the whole room. Then they settled on Anni.
“Who are you?” the girl asked in a light voice.
“Anni Oakly, Soul Mystic,” Anni replied. “You?”
“Debra Smith,” she answered. “But everyone calls me Sunny.” Debra looked at her parents. “What happened? A mean-looking guy came into the house and said he was going to get rid of all the Soul Mystics in this county and my mom told me to go to my room and not come out. Then I heard shooting.”
“Then I guess you don’t need to wonder what happened after that,” Anni told her sorrowfully. “I’m sorry, but the Ghul got them.”
A look of fear and sorrow flashed across Debra’s face.
Anni took out her cell phone and called up HQ on speed dial. “This is Anni. I’m here in the House of the Smiths. I regret to report that the Ghul ate the souls of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Their daughter is here with me. Can we get some people out here so we can give the parents a decent burial and take care of the child?”
“I’m not a child!” Debra objected. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Anni looked at Debra. “Be serious kid,” she said. “I’m going to go after a very dangerous person. I can’t put a kid in that kind of danger.”
“I’ve bee surrounded by coyotes and rattlesnakes and bobcats since I was born,” Debra objected, with an oddly cheerful expression on her face. “One stupid Ghul isn’t going to scare me.”
“Listen,” Anni argued, “Ghuls are people who eat the souls of others to extend their life spans. To them, every other non-Ghul is food. Nothing more, nothing less. And I’m uncomfortably sure that after eating the souls of two adult Soul Mystics, the soul of a pre-Soul Mystic would be a very tasty dessert.” She squatted down on her knees so she was level with Debra. “You’re…not…coming. End of discuss-aaaahh!”
Debra had grabbed Anni by the nose.
“Leggo! Leggo! Leggo!” Anni demanded.
“Not unless you say I can come,” Debra told her.
“No way in…..Aaaaaaaaahhhh! What are you, part lobster!?” Anni felt as though her nose had been put in a vice.
“Can I come?” Debra asked.
“Okay, okay,” Anni conceded. She picked up her cell phone which she had dropped after Debra had grabbed her. “You still there?” she asked after Debra released her nose. “Cancel ‘taking care of the kid’. She’s insistent on coming with me.”
“Make sure nothing happens,” the person on the other end told her.
“I’ll try to do that,” Anni replied and hung up. She looked at Debra. “Come on, kid.”
Debra held the Soul Compass as she sat in the sidecar as Anni drove Widower Bill. She was good at giving directions and seemed completely happy to be getting such a ride. Anni guessed she had never been taken for a ride on a motor bike before. It was actually rather cute. For a moment Anni felt something like a glow of pride that mothers and big sisters get. But then she shook it off. She couldn’t get attached to this kid. Especially not if things took a turn for the worse.
The compass had been directing them south-west and soon they were approaching a large cave. Barker’s horse was tethered to a rock at the mouth of the cave. A well aimed bulled caused the strap that kept the horse in place to snap and the horse ran off, frightened by the gunfire and roar of Widower Bill’s engine.
Anni looked into the interior of the cave and saw that the floor was as smooth as marble, leading her to think that this was a manmade cave rather than one born of nature.
She took out her cell phone and hit speed dial again. “This is Anni Oakly. I’ve found Barker’s hideout. It’s a cave two miles and seventy yards from the Smiths’ residence. I’m going in and leaving Debra at the entrance so you can find her.”
“What!?” Debra seemed shocked and looked up at her as Anni hung up.
“Sorry, kid,” Anni said as she took the compass from Debra and hoisted her out of the sidecar. “But this is where you and I part ways. Stay hidden in the mouth of the cave and don’t come out no matter what. Make sure Barker won’t be able to find you.”
“But I want to come!” Debra argued.
“Tough bachi balls,” Anni argued back. “It’s too dangerous for a kid your age. Now stay here.” And she rode off on her bike into the cave.
Anni kept Widower Bill’s motor low so it would not alert Barker to her presence and kept her eyes on the compass which she held in her left hand. It was pointing straight forward. Soon it was flashing a soft, white light, signaling that she was getting closer. She cut the engine and put up the kickstand for her bike, choosing to go further onward by foot. It was perhaps lucky that her boots did not have spurs. Anni walked for what felt like a mile and soon found herself in a clearing in the cave that had an opening like a volcano in the roof. She checked the compass as she walked into the light. According to the read out, Barker was….
…..Right on top of her.
“Crap!” Anni dodged the first fire and activated her Idol, aiming them both in the direction and fired off four times.
“So, senorita,” Barker’s voice came echoing from every corner of the darkness that surrounded her, “You are a persistent one, yes? Miny, miny Soul Mystics have come hunting me. Wot nun of thim realized was that while they were hunting me, I wuz also hunting thim. Their souls were de-li-ci-ous!”
“You’re a sick son of a dog,” Anni shot at him. “They were human, same as you. Don’t you have any regrets?”
“Of course I do!” he answered. “I regret I didn’t find the Smiths sooner. When you have eaten as many souls as me, you develop a geeft to tell who is a Soul Mystic and who is an average person. I knew what you were the minute you stepped into the saloon. I couldn’t wait to eat you.”
Anni felt fury mount in her heart and mind. “Shame on you.”
There was now a volley of bullets from Anni’s left. If she hadn’t heard them, she’d have been dead before she it the ground. She rolled out of the line of fire and sent a barrage of her own in reply. There was no cry indicating if she had gotten him. That unnerved Anni. If only it weren’t so dark. Anni cursed herself. She guessed she should have expected this. If she couldn’t tell where Barker was, it would be harder for her to set up an effective counter strike, and even harder to strike a finishing blow.
“Are you a bat that needs to hide and delay your defeat by hiding in the shadows and psyching your victims out with cheap tricks?” Anni called out to him, keeping her ears and eyes on as full alert as she could. “You’re nothing but a lousy beast in mans’ clothing. Sneaking around in the dark like the Bogeyman.”
“Words are a crutch, senorita,” Barker’s voice shot at her. “It is you who is trying to delay her defeet. You cannot see me, so you cannot figger out where to shoot. I am ze one with ze advontige here.”
“Your grammar really stinks, pal!” Anni growled. “It’s starting to P.O. me.”
“Well then, allow me to fix that problem.”
Bullets came from everywhere and Anni had to dodge and duck and roll as much and as fast as she could to keep from being hit. How was this guy doing this!? It frightened Anni and she felt that she was seriously outmatched. She could not keep this up forever. Finally she aimed to the south-east of the cave and fired. There was a scream of pain.
Anni smirked. “So there you are.” Then it was her turn to cry in pain as a bullet grazed her left wrist and she dropped the gun, falling to her knees.
Barker came out of the shadows in front of her, a gun in his right hand. “Score one for you, senorita,” he said coldly. “But I am ze win-air of zis little gom.”
Take an English class, will you!? You’re not even Latino or Spanish! “How?” Anni asked.
“How did I manage to be everywhere at once?” Barker guessed. “I have the ability to merge with shadows. I knew you had found me the moment you stepped inside ze cave. I also know where that Smith brat is hiding. You will both become a part of me and I will leave forever! No one will be able to stop me! Not my fellow Ghul, not a magick-wielder, and definitely not a Soul Mystic.
Anni smiled despite herself. “Well, it pains me to admit it, but you’re definitely not the typical western bad guy. It also pains me to wish you were.”
“If being in my presence pains you so much, senorita,” Barker said, “allow me to poot you out of your misery.” He aimed his gun at her forehead. “Adios, senorita.”
Just as he was about to pull the trigger and Anni about to accept her fate, they heard a strange sound. It sounded like…no, that was impossible. There was no way that they could be hearing what they were hearing. Their ears must surely be playing tricks on them. What they were hearing….was the sound of roller skate wheels on the ground.
As Barker turned, he cried as he was struck full in the face by something pink and made of hard plastic. It was fortunate for Anni that when he had been hit Barker had dropped his gun.
As for what had struck him…or rather, who…
Debra stood before the stunned Ghul. Her pants had been replaced by plastic bottoms with hot pink boots that had white wheels on the soles and matching armguards. She delivered her punch with a kick and knocked Barker down.
“Don’t you touch her!” Debra screamed harshly, then rolled over Barker’s fallen gun, crushing it so it would be unusable.
Anni was in stunned amazement. How had Debra arrived so quickly? Had she followed Anni? And where had she gotten that gear? Then it hit her. Debra’s Soul Mystic powers must have awakened pre-maturely. She had gotten her Idol.
“Don’t let him get near the darkness!” Anni cried when she saw Barker was trying to flee into the shadows. “That’s how he got me!”
Debra moved with such swiftness that it was startling. Like a flash she was on Barker, pummeling him about the face and neck with the armguards, moving too quickly for him to grab her. She was screaming so incoherently that it was hard to tell what were real karate cries and what was just gibberish. Debra was battering Barker towards the center of the light. Then she kicked him where it truly hurt the most before bringing an armguard down on his head and causing him to fall face first to the floor.
Anni was staring at Debra. “How…Debra…your Idol…how did you get it?”
“I wanted to help,” Debra told her. “I wanted to help really bad and wanted to make sure the guy who took my parents away from me was punished. Then this weird white glow just started over my heart and this little white wheel came out. I can’t explain it, but somehow I knew how to activate it, and here I am.”
As she spoke, Barker grabbed her legs and caused her to fall back. He stood up glaring down at her with pure hatred in his eyes and heart. How dare this little nothing beat him. It would be her last mistake. He raised a foot over her windpipe as Debra lay on her back helplessly. “Say adios, la cucaracha!”
There was a bang that echoed throughout the cave.
Barker looked in horror over his left shoulder to see that Anni had aimed her gun right where his heart was from behind with her unharmed right hand.
“Adios, la cucaracha,” Anni said coldly.
Debra moved before Barker fell forward, his frightened staring eyes looking at nothing.
She looked at Anni. “You saved me.”
“You saved me first,” Anni told her.
It was a day later when Mr. Shin called Anni into his office again.
“Thanks to you, one of the worst Ghuls has been destroyed and the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Smith avenged,” he told her, of course, the back of his chair to her.
“And…Sunny?” Anni asked hesitantly.
“Ah, yes,” he said. “I know a few people who know of us who would be glad to adopt her. But it all depends on her.”
Anni gulped, her face going a bit crimson. “Sir…I…I’d like….to a-adopt her. If…that’s okay.”
There was no response.
“It’s just,” Anni went on, “that…she saved me when Barker was a hair’s breath from finishing me off. And she did give him a pretty good pounding. She….she’s also…just starting out. I’d…I’d like to mentor her.”
“Interesting,” Mr. Shin said after a while. “So, you’d be willing to give up being ‘The Lone Soul Mystic’ and take Ms. Smith as your partner?”
“Yes sir.” Anni answered.
There was another pause.
“Consider it done,” said Mr. Shin. “She’ll be moved into your apartment next door and become your new partner. I hope you can handle it.”
“Thank you, sir.” Anni smiled softly. “So do I.”

I like this part :) ill read more later

Very nice Joey.

((Chapter three.))
Chapter 3
Crossed Paths





A strong and powerful wind blew high above the plains of Japan. High above all, the wind seemed to be almost flying. And almost seemed to be searching for something. Or rather, searching for someone.
A small rat on the forest floor looked up at the sound of rushing air. It ran in pure terror.
The wind lowered and entered the forest. It almost seemed to be chasing the rat. It engulfed the helpless rodent and flung it against a nearby tree.
With a squeak of pain and fear, the rat turned into a very pale and lanky man dressed in dirty gray jeans, a gray vest, and undershirt. He wore blue boots and covered his eyes with black sunglasses and his mouth with a black bandana. His gray hair was cut so finely that he almost looked shaved. Vermin had never been very brave or very magically talented. He was mainly treated as a lowly servant in the WWS. “Vermin”, they billed him, because his father had been a warlock, but his mother had been an ordinary human. He found it indignant, but he was not brave enough to speak up against his betters in the Wicked Witch Society. If he showed signs of having “a smart mouth for a lowly rat”, he’d be punished by having to bend over so they would either kick him or give him twenty swats with the nearest object at hand. Or worse.
Vermin trembled with terror. Because, standing before him was one of the most renowned members of the WWS, Windi Inu. She had a beautiful yet hard face. Her curled blond hair seemed to move with the very wind she had been mere moments ago as she had sought Vermin out. Windi wore a red kosode and a flame-patterned hakama underneath. Her pitiless eyes fixed on the cringing excuse for a man before her.
“Where is Rin?” Windi’s voice seemed calm, but all who had ever known her could feel the restrained rage behind her words.
“I…I…I…” Vermin was too terrified to say much, but when Windi took a single step close to him, he cried out, “I don’t know, lady Inu! I swear I don’t! I was just watching him like you told me to while we were visiting your homeland and you were out. He must have wandered out of the house at some point and gotten lost!”
“Such lies, Vermin.” There was a growl in Windi’s voice and she began to draw her katana.
“All right!!” Vermin screamed in panic. “ALL RIGHT! A bunch of thugs broke into the house and said they wanted to bring back a young warlock to their Ghul boss so he could eat his soul and gain his power as well as expand his lifespan and knew that while you were away, Rin would be easy to take. I couldn’t fight them! MERCY, Lady Inu! I beg of you!!!”
Windi glared at the whimpering man. How disgusting he was. She walked over to Vermin and grasped his hair harshly in her hand. “You can beg me while I am punishing you,” she growled with full loathing in her voice. “I put you in charge of my son, Vermin. I gave you responsibility. I gave you a simple task when barely anyone else in the WWS would let you so much as guard a sandwich. But, maybe, and that’s a BIG maybe, if you help me retrieve him, I will reconsider flaying your worthless skin with the back of my blade.”
Vermin looked at her, sweat profusely pouring from him.
“But if you prove worthless,” Windi warned him, “you’ll be crying for your own mother when I am finished with you. Now, can you think you know who the Ghul who had my son taken was?”
Kuza was a yakuza leader, though he dressed in a manner similar to Chicago mobsters. He always wore a dark overcoat and bowler hat. And he smoked. He smoked so often, no one in his gang could ever remember seeing him without a cigar in his teeth or a cloud of smoke over his head. What he lacked in supernatural gifts like other Ghuls, Kuza made up for in scare tactics, often threatening to eat the souls of those who failed him once too often, and telling them never to tell anyone else what he was. He highly doubted normal authorities would believe it, anyway. Kuza himself could hardly believe it the first time he had killed someone and had been able to see, hold and eat his victim’s soul. He had taken over many opposing yakuza gangs this way, before turning on his boss and taking over the Aka Daimon. The only thing that worked against him…was his height. Kuza was no taller than a thirteen-year-old.
He sat in the room that had once belonged to his boss as three of his similarly-dressed flunkies kneeled before him.
“So, did you get the kid?” Kuza asked his men. “Were there any complications?”
“None, Boss,” the thug on the left said.
“It was like taking a baby from candy,” said the thug on the right.
“There was one warlock in the house with him at the time,” said the one in the middle. “But he was weak and cowardly. After we burst in, he turned into a rat and scampered away. I doubt we’ll be seeing him again.”
“A warlock?” Kuza furrowed his brow. “Idiots. If there was a warlock there, he was obviously meant to be watching the kid. If you had killed him rather than let him escape, there’d be no chance in anyone finding out what happened or who did it.”
The goons shivered with fear and put their faces to the floor, babbling various apologies and begging forgiveness for letting such a risk literally slip under their noses.
“Shuddap,” Kuza told them. “It don’t matter much now. I’ll have eaten the kid and we can get out of here before anyone connected to him comes after us. Brilliant, right?” His look demanded agreement, which he got.
“Genius, Boss!” said the middle thug.
“SUPER-genius!” said the right thug.
“Super-duper-genius!” finished the thug on the left.
Kuza smirked. “I know.”
Suddenly there was a noise from the ceiling. The mob boss and his men looked up. The roof came down and out jumped two kids.
One was a boy of sixteen with bushy black hair and sparkling dark eyes. He was dressed in a standard ninja shirt that exposed his naturally tan shoulders, wrist guards, dark pants and boots. The metallic section of his headband glinted in the light in the room. His face had full confidence in his rather sudden entrance and he wielded a chained kunai in his right and left hand.
The other was a girl of the same age. She wore a pale-tan top under a brown vest and had a ninja headband that could be seen against her long, dark hair. She was two heads taller than the boy and had a pouch settled on her right hip.
There was three minutes of stunned silence.
This is it, thought the boy. All my ninja training has led up to this moment. I must handle this mission with dignity, modesty, and above all, secrecy. “My name is Kintaro Hiro, and I’ve come to assassinate you, Kuza!” the boy cried out pompously, pointing to the crime boss.
“Kin-chan!” his partner cried.
Kuza looked at his men. “What’re you morons waiting for!? Stop sittin’ there looking brainless and attack!”
The thugs did not need telling twice. They pulled out revolvers and started to open fire. However, they had failed to remember Kintaro and his partner had landed in front of their boss.
“Don’t shoot at me too, you meatheads!!!” Kuza screamed at them as he and his assassins attempted to dodge the bullets.
Luckily for the two ninjas, they were able to deflect the bullets harmlessly away with their weapons. Kintaro with his chained kunai and his partner by throwing shuriken to knock the bullets off course. While Kuza was screaming and fuming at his men for their seeming incompetence at protecting him, and his men were making clumsy and awkward excuses, the two ninjas escaped the same way they had come.
There was a collection of hot springs a safe distance away from the Aka Daimon headquarters, and this was where Kintaro Hiro and his partner Tsukumo Gami had chosen to recuperate and come up with a new plan of attack. Kintaro and Tsukumo sat in different springs with their back facing each other, though Tsukumo had slid beneath the water up to her chin so Kintaro could not peek at her. She had caught him trying to several times.
“That didn’t go at all well,” Kintaro had a knack for stating the obvious.
“No, it didn’t,” Tsukumo confirmed.
Kintaro looked up into the sky. “I wonder what I did wrong.”
Tsukumo widened her eyes. “You wonder what you did wrong?? Almost everything! You didn’t wait until the target was alone and had let his guard down and you revealed your name and intentions to him. Now he’s more than likely going to sic some of his goons on us! Honestly, Kintaro-kun, you’re so reckless sometimes! It makes me wonder how you ever became a ninja and a Soul Mystic.”
Kintaro sat up and turned around in the water. “And what is that supposed to mean, Tsukumo-chan? My father was one of the greatest ninjas of our village. He was a take action kind of guy. And that’s how I’m going to be. I leave the thinking up to you.” He ducked as a small stone came his way. “And I wasn’t trying to look at you this time!”
“Then turn back around,” she told him, blushing as she always did whenever she caught him trying to peek. Not that she truly minded it when he did try.
Kintaro obeyed.
“This can’t go on, Kin-chan,” Tsukumo told him softly. “We need to asset the situation at hand if we are going to succeed.”
“Well said,” said a semi-nasal voice.
Both ninja Soul Mystics jumped and turned looking straight ahead of them to see a tall man with tan skin, slanted black eyes, long, white hair done in the style of a warrior, and wearing a green hakama and haori without a kosode underneath and wore wooden sandals. His face had long whiskers to symbolize he was not human.
He looked over his right shoulder into the tall grasses behind him. “Priestess, I found them!”
Out from the grass came a beautiful woman with long, black hair that rested on her shoulders, red lips, and gorgeous brown eyes. She wore a white kosode and red hakama and wooden sandals that were meant for women. It was Priestess Moki, a member of the Mystic Soul Society and mentor to both Tsukumo and Kintaro. She rested her left hand on the man’s head and moved it back and forth fondly. As she did so, an orange fox tail sprung out the back of the man’s attire and wagged happily.
“Thank you, Nar,” Moki said to her faithful kitsune. She looked at the two youngsters. “So, you were unable to slay Kuza?”
“N-no…” Kintaro told her embarrassedly. He sank further into the water as Moki’s brown eyes fixed on him. More than once he had had the impression she was looking into his soul. And, considering she was a priestess, she probably could.
“I see.” There was no trace of disappointment in her voice, but the indifference was more unnerving than that. “You know what sort of man he is. You know the threat he poses to, not just Japan, but potentially the world itself. He must not be allowed to go on. You have been entrusted, this being the land of your birth.”
“We understand,” Tsukumo replied.
Nar, who had looked as if he were enjoying seeing Tsukumo and Kintaro being treated like mere children, suddenly went rigid. His natural nose and ears appeared on his otherwise human face. He sniffed the air and his fox ears twitched several times. His fox tail swished back and forth with tension before turning to his mistress. “Priestess, I sense something. Do you as well?”
Moki was silent for a moment. “Yes,” she said quietly. She looked at her charges. “There may be more going on here than we originally believed.”
The headquarters for the Aka Daimon Yakuza was set in the deepest forests so none of the authorities could locate them. The original leader had also chosen to set up their base of operations in a forest it had long been rumored to be home to demons, goblins, hags, obake and other vile things. He had been banking on the old superstitions that, no matter how many people tried to suppress, still believed in. however, the old fat fool had never counted on one of his lackeys being able to have the power to consume souls as easily as any dark entity. This had been what led to his fall from power, and Kuza’s rise to it. The headquarters had a large compound in the back of the building with shacks identical in size and appearance to those used by American military bases where they kept prisoners. There was a wire fence behind the shacks too tall to be scaled. And if anyone tried? Just let them. The fence was also electrified. Anyone attempting to break in would be dead before making contact with the ground. Yes, Kuza’s men had been right in saying he was a “super-duper-genius”. He had planned for anything and everything. Or so he thought.
Kuza stood in his compound with his entire gang of eighty-nine men and women around him. He always invited his followers to watch when he ate someone’s soul. They found it a fascinating and terrifying ability, and had asked him to teach them to eat another person’s soul many times. He had always told them, “Ghuls like me aren’t made. We’re born.” Two of his minions were leading a fair-skinned boy of eight out of the shack they’d been keeping him in.
The boy wore a red changshan, red silk pants, and black silk shoes. His hair was stringy and black, and his black eyes were wide and youthful. He looked up at Kuza who was looking hungrily back at him.
“An 8-year-old warlock.” Kuza could not keep the delight and hunger out of his voice. “Eight more years of life to add to the eighty-eight I already have. And, being a magic-wielder, after I’ve eaten you, maybe I will develop some sort of other power.”
The boy said nothing.
There was a powerful rush of wind. The mere sound of it seemed foreboding and wicked. Kuza and his followers looked up as the recently bright and happy sky began to darken. They were frightened. Just what could this mean for them? There were booms of thunder, even though there were no clouds visible. Suddenly, a whirlwind descended from the sky and landed behind the boy. It twisted and wheeled about, sending Kuza’s minions flying either over the building to the front entrance or into the fence where they screamed from the pain of being electrocuted to death. Then it ceased, and there stood Windi Inu and her cowardly companion Vermin standing behind her.
“Mother!” Rin’s face brightened as he looked up at Windi.
“Get behind me, Rin,” Windi instructed her child. He obeyed and allowed Vermin to put his arms protectively around him. She looked over her shoulder at the deathly-pale man. “Fail again…” and she did not need to finish her threat. Vermin understood. Windi locked her eyes hatefully on Kuza and his remaining followers. It concerned her not that half their number were still on their feet and surrounding her and her son. “So, you are the Ghul named Kuza? The man who wanted to eat the soul of a young warlock? Answer me, mongrel,” she demanded softly when Kuza could make no reply from surprise and fear.
“Y-y-y-yes…” he stammered. “Yes I am. What of it?”
Windi narrowed her eyes. “You...DIE.”
The thugs rushed her to protect their master. Then they screamed as they realized too late how deadly she truly was.
Kintaro and Tsukumo noticed from their hiding place in the foliage at the front of Kuza’s building that something strange was going on, Priestess Moki and Nar hidden with them upon their insistence. The bodies of Kuza’s goons were flying from behind the building and landing before the only two guards that were stationed at the front doors. Those that did not die upon hitting the ground moaned and sobbed.
“What’s going on?!” Tsukumo was horrified by what she was seeing.
“Something very vile,” Moki stated in her casual voice.
“Vile or not,” said Kintaro, tensing his body, “I’d say the odds might have been shortened.” He gripped his Idol, the Japanese character “tsukumogami”, and it became a light katana. “BANZAI!” Without another thought or word, Kintaro sprang from his hiding place and dashed towards the entrance. He decked the two stunned guards and caused them to fall unconscious to the ground, rushing into the inner sanctums of the building.
“I can hardly believe they let a kid like that have all that power and responsibility,” Nar commented dryly.
Wide-eyed and concerned for her partner, Tsukumo was next to break cover. She ran around the dead or injured bodies through the door after Kintaro. “Kin-chan! Wait for me!”
“Shall we go assist them?” Moki asked her familiar calmly.
“If we must,” Nar returned.
Kuza fell back on the seat of his pants as Windi’s sword cut down the last of his servants. He was terrified. Truly terrified. Had this been the last emotion his victims had felt before he consumed their souls? The man who had stood behind Windi sat on the roof of one of the shacks with Rin by his side. All THIS SLAUGHTER because of a mere child!? She must be mad! “L-lady…lis-listen to me…” Kuza shivered as he looked up at the merciless face of the woman before him. “I…I apologize for targeting your kid, okay!?!? Th-there’s n-no need to…”
“Silence,” Windi commanded of him coldly. She pointed the tip of her katana right at his face. She almost seemed to be contemplating what to do next. Should she slice off his nose? Stab out one or both of his eyes? And if she did go for his eyes first, which one would be first to feel the sting of her steel? Or should she just run him through between them slowly? So many ways to may him pay. And she didn’t have anywhere else to be or anything else to do. She could take her time. She would make his dying slow as vengeance for what he had planned for her precious child.
“Behold! I, the great ninja and Soul Mystic Kintaro Hiro, have arrived!” Kintaro caused all eyes (save Kuza’s, who could not move his head, less he feel the kiss of Windi’s sword. Kintaro looked out on what lay before him. Dead bodies everywhere. But the frightening thing about them was, while it was obvious that their clothes had been slashed, there was no sigh of a cut on their bodies.
When Tsukumo arrived, she gasped and covered her mouth, her eyes wide with the horror of what she was seeing.
Moki and Nar calmly walked out of the back door into the compound.
“Windi Inu the infamous sorceress of the wind,” Moki said calmly as she looked at the blond-haired woman. “Represent of the dog as member of the Mages of the Zodiac belonging to the WWS.”
Windi looked coolly back at Moki. “I see my reputation precedes me. I have no quarrel with the Mystic Soul Society. It is this Ghul with whom I hold issue. Be gone.” She once again turned her eyes towards Kuza.
“No way!” Kintaro barked, seeming to recover from the shock. “He’s ours’!!”
“Is he, now? Very well.” Before it could be stopped, Windi swung, slashing Kuza in the neck. There was no blood, nor was his head separated from his body, but it was obvious Windi had killed him. His lifeless corpse fell to the ground sideways, and then it disintegrated. He had lived long past he had been meant to. His body could no longer exist without the souls he had consumed, and when he had been killed, all the souls had been snuffed out of existence, thus, ending his unnatural life. Windi looked coldly at Kintaro. “Apologies. I presumed once I slew him you could take his worthless corpse back to your boss. Apparently he was older than he looked.”
A look of uncharacteristic horror came over Kintaro’s face. He could not believe what he had seen. Windi had killed Kuza easily and seemingly without any remorse or second thought. She had also killed his followers in a tactless and cold manner. It was horrifying.
Tsukumo’s eyes became larger and her pupils and irises shrank. Her whole body shook and seemed to go pale from the deed that had been committed in front of her.
Windi merely sighed as if she had witnessed something dull. “It was my understanding that Soul Mystics make it their duty to arrest Ghuls for their crimes. If the charges are serious enough, the Soul Mystic is then to kill the Ghul. Also, I can tell by your attire you are ninjas.” She sheathed her weapon. “If that is how you are going to face when witnessing a death, perhaps you are in the wrong vocation. You will never be strong unless you can stomach and accept the ugliness that comes with being a warrior.”
“That….it….” Tsukumo whimpered faintly through her hands. “You….slaughtered them!”
“In a way, yes,” Windi agreed. “My Kamaitachi is of my own forge. It is designed to neither draw blood nor show physical wound. The foe never realizes they have been cut until they are dead. But what sympathy should you show scum such as them? The world is better with them dead and facing the punishments for their deeds.”
“You’re twisted!” Kintaro growled disgustedly. “You cut them down, and think little of it, and then lecture others? It’s sick what you’ve done.”
Windi had turned her back to inform Vermin they were going, but stopped. She looked over her right shoulder at Kintaro. “You think so? I can think of people who are far more deserving to be accused of mental illness.” She narrowed her eyes. “You said your surname was ‘Hiro’, yes?”
Kintaro nodded.
“You inherited your father’s looks, boy.” Vermin was startled to see Windi was smiling. “If things had been different,” Windi went on, “perhaps you and Rin would be brothers.”
“Kintaro, NO!” It was the first time anyone had heard Moki yell.
Kintaro flew at Windi with his sword raised. How dare this witch speak so familiarly and sexually of his father. And how dare she speak those words to him with a smile on her face. He would make her pay for mentioning him. She had no right to speak of his father.
Windi was swifter, drawing her sword again and blocking Kintaro’s strike. “Feisty like your old man, too,” she noted. “But do not be so full of your heritage to ever believe you have the strength to overwhelm me!” A wild wind surrounded them and she leaned forward, pressing her weight and power on her blade.
Kintaro could almost feel himself losing connection with the ground. He knew that if he were to move any part of him or if Windi were to suddenly slack off, he would be swept away by the wind she had control over. But no, he would not fall for her bait. He leaned in against her in return and dug his heels into the earth. To Kintaro, all there was in the world was Windi.
The wind dispersed and leapt back over the body of a thug she had put to death. “I must admit, I’m impressed,” she told Kintaro. “I never met someone who could fight against my wind so stubbornly.”
“Enough talk.” Kintaro’s face and voice were uncharacteristically rough and angry. “You’re going to pay for talking about my father in such a manner. How would a witch like you have known a great man like him?”
Windi studied Kintaro for a while. Almost with concern. “No one ever told you, did they? How your father left this world. I know. I should know. I was there during the events that led to Cain’s death.” She hardened her eyes at Moki. She had recognized the woman the moment she had appeared just as Moki had recognized her. “Disappointed. I am disappointed in you, priestess. Never telling him the story.”
“What are you talking about?” Kintaro asked.
“The question of the ignorant,” Windi said despairingly. “My heart weeps, Kintaro Hiro. It weeps for you.”
Kintaro was steadily becoming confused. What was this woman talking about? How did she know his father and what did she know about how he died? And what secret had Priestess keep keeping from him for so long? But…was Windi telling the truth, or was it merely a trick? Was she trying to play mind games with him? He would not let Windi play him for the fool.
“Tell me everything you know!” Kintaro demanded.
Windi closed her eyes. “Perhaps I will…should you defeat me.”
“Alright!” Kintaro rushed at her. But then he was blown back by her wind magic.
“I did not say now,” she told him. “We will meet and fight again, dear Kintaro. But in at a place and time of my choosing.” Now the wind began to blow her hair and hakama up, making her look truly dangerous and yet beautiful and desirable at the same time. The effect was enough to snap Kintaro out of his serious state and cause him to blush at how she had called him “dear”, which she had done in a soft and almost loving manner. “But for now, I must leave you.” She leapt back onto the shack which upon Vermin and Rin sat. Then a miniature funnel created from the wind engulfed the trio and spiraled upward, going higher and higher until it was out of sight.
They were gone.
Kintaro sat on his knees with the sword held loosely in his hands as he stared up in the sky.
Tsukumo rushed to him sobbing hysterically and hugged him from behind. “I was so scared!” she said between her tears, her face crimson. “Thought I was going to lose you!”
This made Kintaro crimson with embarrassment. “Hey, I’m alright. Don’t cry. You’re a lot better-looking when you’re happy.”
Nar and Moki were still looking in the direction that Windi had made her departure.
Then Nar looked at his mistress. “Shall you tell him? Questions have now been planted in his head.”
“They have,” Moki agreed. “But it is not I he wants to answer them.”

Cool. When are we going to be seeing the fourth?

It's very interesting and well-put together. I do have a question for you. When you say "Ghul," is its definition considered as: an evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believe to plunder graves and feed on corpses? Is that what you are referring to? If so, Ghul is spelled ghoul. Otherwise, very well done and I hope to see the next chapter!

Chapter 4
The New Kid




It was just another day in Soul City, really. School had let out and Anni had given Arti and Brian a ride on Widower Bill. Brian rode in the sidecar while Arti held onto Anni from behind, though, since neither girl trusted Brian much when it came to him and the opposite gender. Behind them came Debra using her Idol as an everyday set of rollerblades and very much enjoying the sunshine. It felt so good! Debra had an urge to sing “Good Day Sunshine”, but knew that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea right now.
“Hey, look at that,” Brian said as the group entered the parking lot of HQ. There was the fanciest limousine any of them had ever seen. It was out in broad daylight where passersby could take a look and gossip about it. The limousine had a miniature British flag on the front hood and lid of the trunk. Its’ windows were black and made it unable to see inside.
“Maybe Mr. Shin has some visitors?” Arti suggested.
“Well, I have to admit I’m feeling kinda jealous,” Brian said. “If only I had a car that nice.”
“You’d need to qualify to be paid for what you do, first,” Arti told him. “Soul Mystics don’t get paid for their work until they turn eighteen. And even then, you’d need to pass a driving test.”
“You know what I mean,” Brian told her back.
“I wonder who it belongs to,” Anni said as she found a parking space inside the garage.
The instant they stepped inside the building they heard Ms. Pristine’s voice over the intercom on the wall: “Ms. Oakly and Ms. Smith, report to Mr. Shin’s office for your new mission. That is all.”
“New mission?” Anni raised her right eyebrow. “We just took one step in the place and already we have to leave the building?”
“I don’t mind,” Debra said and gave her adoptive “big sister” a playful hug on the back. “It’d be nice to be out in the sun again for me.”
“Sure is a hyper thing,” said Brian remarking on Sunny.
“Be nice,” Arti told him.
As soon as Anni changed into her work attire, she and Debra made their way up to Mr. Shin’s office. Anni hadn’t had a mission in at least two weeks since she had adopted Debra. She had had to find a school for her to attend and also pick her up. For the girl who had once felt she needed no one, she had become quite fond of the blond little pistol that was her new roommate. Quietly, Anni hoped that the mission wouldn’t be anything too dangerous. Anni had become quite protective of Sunny some time after she had saved her from Barker, and Anni had seen it as her new duty to protect Debra from anything that might bring her harm. She looked Debra who was on her left. Debra was bouncing on her toes with her hands behind her back and humming cheerily. The kid was so amusing to watch sometimes.
The girls stepped out of the elevator when it reached the top floor and took the long walk towards the office. When Anni opened the door, the familiar scene greeted her eyes. There stood Mr. Hunter on the right of the golden desk and Ms. Pristine stood on the left of the desk. Mr. Shin sat in his chair, which, as usual, had its back to the door so one could not see his face. The only thing that was different in the office today…was the kid.
He was at least fifteen-and-a-half, making him an inch shorter than Sunny. He wore an elegant silk emerald and gold vest under a vibrant blue coat made of the same material as well as trousers, socks and footwear that looked like something that might come from Britain. His hair was blue—were kids his age allowed to dye their hair where he came from?—as were his eyes. And speaking of his eyes, they were slightly hooded and, though Anni thought she might be imagining it, a somewhat condescending manner in them. Anni could also tell from looking at his face that here was a kid who rarely, if ever, smiled or laughed. She also saw that his Idol was a bronze circular pendant which had two fencing foils crossing each other.
Mr. Shin’s voice came from behind the chair. “Ms. Oakly. Ms. Smith. Allow me to introduce you to Giorgio Monarch,” a white gloved hand indicated the boy.
Anni nodded her head at Giorgio.
Debra smiled openly. “Hiya! I’m Debra Smith, though everyone calls me Sunny, and this is my big sister Anni. Giorgio’s a cute name.”
This made Giorgio blush and turn his face from Debra. He looked as if he were intensely examining the golden buckles on his shoes.
Mr. Shin went on. “He will be your partner on this mission we have for you…”
“Come again!?” Anni realized she had sounded rude. “I…I…excuse me. What I mean to say, Mr. Shin, is, you can’t be serious. I mean, Sunny may be able to go on missions, but….this kid…is a….kid!”
“He graduated from all schools and college in less than a year,” Ms. Pristine told Anni. “Also comes from a very noble Soul Mystic family in London.”
“And, if I’m not mistaken,” added Prince, “got his Idol a week after graduating from grade school.”
“All this makes him highly qualified to join the Mystic Soul Society,” Mr. Shin finished.
Anni stared at Giorgio in disbelief. This preppy-looking pup!? No way. Someone’s gotta be pulling my leg here.
“That’s a lot of stuff to accomplish!” Debra cried cheerily. “I just stared Junior high in this city a while ago.” She sidled up to Giorgio and began giving him several playful whaps on the back. “Welcome to the team, buddy!” she said with a big smile.
This seemed to make Giorgio blush more.
The TV screen switched on to show a snowy region of Russia.
“You will be going to Anastasia Castle,” Mr. Shin told the trio. “The king there is an old friend of mine and contacted me yesterday that one of his children has apparently gone into some sort of comma.”
“A comma?” Anni repeated. This wasn’t normally the thing Soul Mystics were called for.
“It appears that way, on the surface,” Ms. Pristine said.
“But he and I have a different theory,” Mr. Shin went on. “He thinks someone may have taken her soul. She is still alive, but in a vegetative state. I entrust the three of you to find out what is going on.”
The scene on the screen changed to the exact location that the trio was to teleport to.
“Mr. Shin, if I may say one thing.” It was the first time Giorgio had said a single thing since the meeting. His British accent made Debra humorously picture him rather fat.
“Yes?” Mr. Shin said after a minute’s pause.
“Turn around, please.” Giorgio requested. “Ever since I got here, you’ve had the back of the chair to me. I think you it only polite you turn to face me when giving me instructions.
There was an awkward pause. Never, NEVER, had anyone sought to make a request like that of Mr. Shin. This kid obviously did not know how things worked in the Mystic Soul Society. All his achievements must have gone to his head and given him an inflated sense of self to make such a request with such confidence and nerve.
This kid is such a stupid and pompous prat, Anni thought.
“Very well,” Mr. Shin said after a while. “Prepare yourself.” The chair slowly began to turn. Six pairs of eyes widened. What would they see?
Mr. Shin was tall, at least a head shorter than a professional basketball player. He wore a glossy black suit with a black undershirt. Glossy black pants to match. But…the very last thing anyone expected….was a black mask that concealed all of his hair and had a cartoonish skull face on the front.
Anni felt nonplused.
Debra burst out laughing, falling onto her back and kicked her legs in a fit of laughter.
Giorgio’s eyes bugged out of his head in shock. “Wh-wh-wh-wh-What the HELL is with that mask!?!?”
Anni got Giorgio in a headlock and shoved her left knuckles into his mouth. “Shut up!!! You don’t go around saying stuff like that to or in front of your boss, brat!!!”
“For secrecy.” Mr. Shin seemed to have ignored Giorgio’s rudeness. “No one has truly seen my actual face in years. And, as a youth, my favorite fairytale was Godfather Death. I trust you are ready to go?”
Debra, who was wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, sat up. “I am.”
Giorgio’s eyes wandered over to Debra again, and again, he blushed.
Anni noticed and followed his gaze. “You little perv,” she growled.
He blushed worse and pulled her hand away from his mouth. “A-about…Ms. Smith. C-couldn’t she wear something…less revealing?”
“And just what do you think her current outfit is ‘revealing’?” Anni asked in a growling tone.
Debra looked at herself. “Isn’t what I’m wearing nice?”
Giorgio blushed more and trembled.
Anni noticed and released him and watched as Giorgio wheezed and was on his hands and knees. Was this kid having some sort of seizure!?
“I think a wardrobe change would be wise,” Mr. Shin said as Prince helped Giorgio back onto his feet. “Russia can be very cold.”
Some time later, Debra had changed into a silver-and-pink jacket and thick gray pants with thick boots. Anni had changed into a black jacket and thick boots.
Giorgio stood outside the changing room. “Are you two ready?”
“Keep your fancy pants on!” Anni barked back bad temperedly.
But Debra betrayed them. “Ready!”
They appeared standing in front of the castle. It was the second largest building Anni and Debra had ever seen. It looked exactly like the pictures of other Russian buildings; tall, statuesque. A red flag could be seen hanging limply on a pole in the exact middle of the construct. The very building itself was so dazzling and impressive, that it was beyond total description.
Two guards, a man on the left and a woman on the right, wearing brown military-looking uniforms with many medals on their chests and armed with bayonets stood in front of the main door.
“Halt,” the woman said when she saw the trio. “Who are you and what is your business here?”
“Giorgio Monarch and company,” Giorgio’s words caused Anni to fume inwardly. “Mr. Shin sent us to help your king.”
“Soul Mystics, eh?” the man said softly. He held a whispered conversation with his partner.
“Follow us,” the woman instructed the company as her partner opened the door for them.
They were led into the royal hall where a celebration seemed to be taking place. There were various peoples standing here and there, dressed in absolute finery. They were watching a clown girl juggle brightly colored balls. She wore a bright red shirt with Italian designs on the torso and sleeves, as well as the teal pants she wore. Her black hair was messy and unkempt and dyed red at the front and her turquoise shoes were particularly curled at the toes.
Upon seeing the clown, Giorgio ducked behind Anni, which she thought was odd.
“King Julian,” the female guard’s voice broke the festive music and chatter, “the aid you required has arrived.”
The crowd parted and saw that the king was a powerful looking man, dressed in pearl-white clothing with golden trimmings on the breast, wrists and shoulder and around the neck and ankles. His face and black eyes were strong and powerful, but at the same time, soft, gentle and considerate and fair. A thin brown beard ran from his chin to loop behind both his ears and meshed finely with his thick head of hair. He sat in the exact middle of a row of four throne chairs, though the fourth on the far right was vacant.
His queen, a light-skinned woman who wore what seemed to be a white dress so fine that it couldn’t have been made by anyone on this earth sat by his side. Her eyes were soft and so blue they were almost white. Her hair matched that of her husband’s, though pulled back into a braided ponytail that seemed to run down her back and resting on her right arm.
The king’s younger daughter, sixteen years of age, sat on his left side. She wore a semi-golden dress which exposed her shoulders with pearl rimming and a long, flowing skirt. Her hair seemed to be a far lighter shade in color than either of her parents and her eyes were a bright emerald.
There was also a man. He was tall and so pale, Debra at first mistook him for either a zombie or a vampire. And, dressed in dirty brown robes and sporting long, black, unclean hair and facial hair, one might have excused her for this assumption. Something about this man was very unsettling. There was definitely something that was not friendly or welcoming about him. If Debra had to define him in one word, it would have to be “scary”.
“Certainly,” Julian said in a voice like Mr. Shin’s. The revelers and clown departed the throne room. “Soul Mystics,” he addressed the trio as soon as the doors were closed, “I am glad you have come. Mr. Shin and I have been friends for a long time now, so I felt I could count on him to send me assistance.”
“Sir,” Anni began, but was interrupted by Giorgio.
“Sire,” Giorgio said, making a deep bow which Debra imitated, “I have indeed been sent with assistance on behalf of Mr. Shin. I am Giorgio Monarch, Soul Mystic extraordinaire. Please, tell me what I can do.”
Anni growled in frustration. Who the HELL did this kid think he was!? He’d only joined up five minutes ago. And now he was talking like she and Debra didn’t matter.
“Sire,” the voice of the black-haired man was like oil itself, slippery and ugly. Every time he said a word with an s, he slurred it as though he were either half-snake, or in a perpetual drunken stupor. It might have been the former, if you asked Debra. “Sire, they are children. Three, silly children. What good could they do for your daughter that I have not?”
“Speak not ill of them, Jamar,” Julian returned to the man before addressing the Soul Mystics again. “Please excuse Jamar. He has been our mystic for eight months, now.”
“He is excused,” Giorgio said. “Please, your daughter?”
His older daughter was at least twenty-four. She had skin like her mother and long golden hair. It seemed almost a shame that she be dressed in the most glamorous emerald dress that Debra and Anni had ever seen, yet confined to her room as if on her deathbed. Giorgio, Debra and Anni, along with Julian and his queen and Jamar stood in a darkened room with a solitary lamp on the bedpost by her bed.
Giorgio set his fingers on her neck and wrist.
“Stain not the princess with your foul hands, whelp!” Jamar spat furiously.
“Jamar!” Julian boomed in a dangerous tone, “You will not speak so to guests of mine. Hold your tongue or leave the room.”
Jamar became silent, but Debra felt she could see a look of hatred for the king in his eyes.
“She’s not dead,” Giorgio said. “But she’s not truly alive, either. She’s just…existing. If these were the work of a Ghul or another being, beast or creature who consumes souls, her soul would have been consumed and she wouldn’t have a pulse.”
“Is there anything you can tell us?” Anni asked the queen. “Anything that might help us discover what’s going on here and why?”
“She was to be married next week,” the queen said.
“To the prince of a rivaling kingdom,” Julian added. “We had been warring for two years until their queen and I had a parlay. It was discovered that her son and our daughter had been secretly in love since childhood. Queen Hart and I truly care for the happiness and welfare of our people and children. We agreed, if Prince Han and my daughter Mirabel were willing to the engagement, our two kingdoms would unite and cease all warfare against one another. They were.”
So, a marriage born from actual love, concern and political peace. That was a new one to Anni. She looked at Mirabel. She looked at the age to marry.
“What happened when Mirabel had her soul taken?” Giorgio asked before Anni could.
“Queen Hart, despite being a rivaling monarch, is a fair woman,” the queen said. “She said she would wait until the start of the next week for us to find a cure for our daughter. She knows not of things such as Ghuls and Soul Mystics. She just thinks Mirabel is seriously ill.”
“And if we cannot gain her recovery,” Julian went on, “the war resumes.”
“And today is Thursday,” said Anni. “That means we just have half a day and three days to find out what’s going on here.”
The day passed with Giorgio, Anni and Debra searching the castle. They searched for possible clues as to what might have caused the princess to lose her soul from the highest top of the tallest towers to the darkest depths of the dungeons—the latter made extra difficult by the fact that Debra and Giorgio had a fear of the dark and Anni had to carry Giorgio and coax Debra into following. Trying to use Soul Compasses was also quite useless. A Soul Compass points out a designated target or anyone of supernatural nature. The problem with that was that there was a mystic in the castle, so the needle tended to pick up traces of wherever Jamar had been in the castle. At first Giorgio had accused Anni of having breaking hers’ due to ill care at some point, ignoring the fact that it is quite difficult to break a Soul Compass, until he tried his own and found it too seemed to be useless. It was made doubly difficult by the fact that both Giorgio and Anni were constantly contradicting each other. They both seemed to think they were in charge of the mission and got into heated arguments when one pointed out an aspect of the case the other did not agree with, leaving Debra stuck in the middle and marveling on how silly they were being, as she thought they both had pretty good points.
If anyone asked Debra what she thought—and nobody did, it seemed—she’d had an uneasy feeling about that Jamar ever since they had seen him. Everywhere they went, it seemed like he was watching them.
It was towards night and most of the royal family had retired to bed, and the team was still working and getting nowhere.
“Look, you little twerp!” Anni snapped for the twentieth time after Giorgio had theorized that someone from the opposing kingdom had done it. “Weren’t we told that Queen Hart has no knowledge of Ghuls or magic-wielders or Soul Mystics? Besides, no one from her kingdom has been seen in this kingdom since last month.”
“It makes sense to me,” Giorgio argued. “Someone may have been disguising themselves as a merchant and gained access to the castle.”
“But merchants are necessarily invited to stay in castles long enough to impair someone’s status,” Anni countered. She turned to Debra. “What do you think?”
Debra was sitting on the floor cross-legged and looking at the right wall while she leaned against the left. “I think…” she started slowly, “that rat’s listening to us.”
Anni and Giorgio both said “What!?”
“That rat,” Debra pointed to a small gray rat sniffling about at the opposing wall. “I’ve seen a rat everywhere we went today. Just now, it was looking at us. I think it’s been listening to every word the two of you have said.”
Anni pulled a face of disgust at the rodent. Oh, how she hated rats! She would have liked to stomp on it if she didn’t have bigger concerns. Anni had killed plenty of rats from back when she was on the ranch with her parents.
“Don’t be stupid,” Giorgio dismissed. Then he gagged as Anni got him in a headlock and held the top of his head against her left breast.
“Don’t you go insulting Sunny!” Anni growled.
The rat ran off when Debra turned to see both Giorgio and Anni red as tomatoes, both for different reasons.
Anni and Debra had been given a spare bed chamber. It was wide and had two beds in it. Anni had changed into light pinkish-red pajamas while Debra had changed into pale-pink pajamas patterned with little hearts.
“I can’t believe Mr. Shin gave us that brat as a partner,” Anni grumbled. “He is such a prat!”
“I think he’s sort of funny,” Debra said.
Anni gave her younger partner a friendly smile. “You see the best in everyone, huh?”
“Not everyone,” Debra told her. “I think that Jamar guy is creepy with a capital cree.”
“Cree isn’t a letter of the alphabet, Sunny,” Anni told her.
They then went to sleep.
Sometime during the night, Debra woke up. She had to go to the bathroom. Being sure not to wake Anni, Debra made her way to the door and opened it.
“Squeak!”
Debra looked down and saw a rat by the doorframe. I don’t care what Anni and Giorgio think, she thought, I know I saw a rat watching and listening in on us.
She knelt down in an attempt to grab the rat, but the rodent jumped away from her hand and ran down the darkened hall. At first apprehensive about following anything down a dark hall, Debra stirred up her courage and ran after it, trying to be as quiet as…if you will not take it as a rodent-related pun, a mouse. As she chased it, she noticed five other rats were coming out of suits of armor and cracks in the wall. They all seemed to be going in the same direction. Debra followed them to a set of very fancy-looking doors. The doors were opened by just a crack, and there was a faint light coming out of the room. She peered in.
And all at once, all desire to find the bathroom left her.
It was the bedroom was Jamar. He was standing over the queen and chanting some sort of soft, exotic and frightening song. A small mass of ghostly bluish-white vapor, her soul, left her. Jamar held out a reliquary and the soul flowed into it.
The six rats stood by Jamar and merged together into a man who almost looked bald. He whispered something to Jamar.
Anni started awake when she heard Debra scream.
“SUNNY!” She threw open the door to her room and looked both up and down the hall. “SUNNY!? Come on, kid, where are ya!?”
Giorgio came out of his room from across the hall to the room the girls’ had been in. He was wearing silk satin purple pajamas. “What are you shouting about?”
“Debra is gone. I heard her scream,” Anni told him.
Giorgio became more alert. “You sure?”
Debra’s scream came down the hall again.
“Very,” Anni said uncomfortably. She went back into her room and came back out with her Idol around her neck and had Debra’s Idol in her left pocket. “I think it came from the left.”
“How could you tell?” Giorgio asked. “It sounded like it came from the right.”
“I have very good hearing,” Anni told him. “But you go whichever way you like. You’ve been getting in my way since we started.”
Giorgio glowered at her. “Fine. Go chase rainbows. I’m going back to bed.” And he did.
Anni ran down the hall and arrived at the royal bed chambers, finding the doors shut. She heard scuffling behind the doors and violent kicked them open. There she saw Debra being held by a pale man with a semi-shaven head and black sunglasses while Jamar stood in front of them, performing some sort of weird chant. All eyes locked on her.
“Vermin!” Jamar hissed at the man who held Debra, “I thought I told you to keep the mini-wench quiet!”
“I tried, Jamar,” Vermin told him. “But she almost bit me twice.”
Anni activated her Idol simply by touching it and a single gun appeared in her right hand. She fired over their heads and caused both men to jump. “Sunny, catch!” Anni cried, throwing Debra her Idol after Vermin had dropped her.
Debra activated her Idol and was outfitted in her skating gear in a flash. Just as Jamar stood up, Debra zipped over to him, struck him in the gut, and snatched the reliquary that held the souls of the king and queen.
“You little brat! Give that back to us right now!” Vermin made to tackle Debra from behind, but she zipped out of the way and instead he collapsed on top of Jamar.
“Get off of me, you filth!” Jamar boomed.
Now Anni had used her Idol to summon her second gun as Debra skidded beside her. “Alright, partner, what do ya say? Wanna see ‘em dance?”
Debra nodded.
“You heard the little lady,” Anni had a wicked look on her face. “She wants to see you dance. So dance!” She shot at their heels. “Dance!” Bang! Bang! “DANCE!” Bang! Bang!
“Anni, the souls of the entire royal family are in here,” Debra told her, showing her the reliquary she had stolen. “I saw Jamar suck out their souls and put them in it. He’s a Ghul!”
“Is he?” Anni kept her eyes on Jamar and Vermin. “So, take the souls of the royal family and let the kingdom fall to warfare and ruin? That the plan?”
“Like I’d tell you what our intentions are,” Vermin sneered. “Harlequin!”
A streamer launched out from a chest that stood by the right bedroom door and wrapped mercilessly around Anni, causing her to drop her guns. The harlequin from earlier stood up out of the chest with the other end in her white hand.
“Now,” Jamar directed to Debra, “give me back that reliquary, and I will make the dying of you and your friends quick and painless.”
Debra stuck out her tongue. “Only way I’d give this to you would be if you shoved it in a bad place.”
“Insolent brat!” Jamar roared. “Harlequin, tie her up as well. I will suck out both their souls and leave them to become Earth-Bound Specters for the remainder of time!”
Debra was faster. She zipped away before the second streamer Harlequin aimed at her made contact and skated down the hall.
“Should we go after her?” Harlequin asked in a childish voice.
“No,” Jamar told her and Vermin, who had been in the middle of turning into a giant rat. “She’s not going anywhere. We have her comrade.”
Debra pounded on Giorgio’s door for him to wake up. When he opened the door, she accidentally rapped him on the temple.
“Did you wake me just so you could beat me?” he asked in a bad mood.
“Anni…magic-wielders…Ghul…souls…in here…” Debra showed him the reliquary.
Giorgio looked at the object in confusion and bewilderment. “Debra, slow down.” He put his hands on Debra’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Now, what’s going on?”
Anni was tied up in streamers and hanging from the ceiling. Vermin had become a rat again. He had chewed tunnels all throughout the castle and had created a tunnel that led from the bottom of the back wall of the bedroom to the ceiling. He poked his head out of the ceiling next to the first streamer and began to chew. Harlequin and Jamar watched with wicked delight. Jamar held Anni’s Idol in his right hand.
Then Jamar felt something against his back.
Giorgio had activated his Idol, turning it into life-sized twin fencing foils. Debra stood behind him.
“We have discovered you and your comrades, Ghul,” Giorgio told him coldly. “Let her down.”
“And if I do?” Jamar asked coolly.
“I will allow King Julian to decide your punishment after we have returned his soul,” Giorgio answered.
There was a silence.
Then Jamar gave his own answer. “No, I don’t think that will work well in my favor.”
Harlequin turned to face them, and Giorgio faltered, then backed up with a scream.
Debra looked at him curiously. “Giorgio? What is it? What’s wrong?”
Giorgio could only say one thing. “Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown. Clown, clown, clown, clown, CLOOOOOOOWWWWNNN!”
Anni swung back and forth in her bounds.
Debra was grabbed from behind by Harlequin. “Ack! Let go of me, you clown college reject!!” She spun on the spot, taking Harlequin with her. Soon they were a blur of red, turquoise and pink, witch Harlequin screaming for Debra to stop and how she was going to be sick. Debra stopped, and Harlequin was flung away towards the wall.
As Vermin chewed the last strand of the streamer, Anni lunged herself at Jamar, her foot catching him on the chin and causing him to fall backwards and drop her Idol. She landed hard on his stomach and seemed to knock the wind out of him for the moment.
“Snap out of it!” Debra told Giorgio, characteristically harshly. “The clown’s down for the count and so is Jamar. You look pathetic standing there shaking. You’ve been acting like you’ve been in control since we got here, but fall apart when you see a clown. If you’re really as great as you say you are, ACT LIKE IT!”
These words seemed to bring Giorgio back to himself. “You’re right. Sorry.” Aiming at Anni, he cut her free of her bonds.
When Anni made to take back her Idol, Jamar grabbed her by the hair.
Debra zipped around behind Jamar and wrapped both her arms around his neck as she tried to make him let go of Anni.
“None of you will leave her alive!” Jamar vowed. “The souls of the filthy royal family will be put to a higher purpose, and all you disgusting Soul Mystics and foul common humans will bow to us! GIVE ME THE RELIQUARY!!!”
Debra reached in her back pocket where she had been keeping the reliquary and pulled it out. “Giorgio, think fast!” She threw it.
Giorgio did indeed think fast. He jumped and swung with his foil, breaking the reliquary in half. The souls that were held inside were released. For a moment they flocked about the room, before returning to their rightful bodies.
Jamar screamed. It was not only a scream of rage, but also of true terror. He had used his own singular soul as fodder to create the reliquary. As long as it existed, so did he. The reliquary hit the floor and shattered, then it began to melt into a puddle of green ooze. All that remained of him were the robes and boots he had worn.
When Vermin saw what had happened, he retreated into the crack in the ceiling.
Harlequin, who had been awakened by the scream, took a kerchief out of her right pocket and pulled it over herself, vanishing.
With the Ghul and his cohorts gone, Mirabel and the rest of the royal family awoke and were informed of what had happened. This was met with both a mixture of fear at what had happened to them in their sleep, and vast appreciation at having been saved.
“You truly saved us, Giorgio,” King Julian told the young man. “Thank you.”
“You’re truly welcome,” Giorgio replied. “But…while I was the one who broke the artifact, Debra Smith was the one who stole it from Jamar in the first place. I suppose you could say she saved you.”
Debra hugged Giorgio and kissed his left cheek in appreciation.
Giorgio went the brightest shade of pink a person can go.
Vermin and Harlequin had returned to Hagfeild West, the location of Sabbath Tower. Sabbath Tower was very much like a castle. It was created from black stones with gargoyles and statues of vicious-looking cats, wolves, snakes, birds of prey, dogs, and demons that diagonally decorated every tower and outward-facing wall. The inside was dark and dank with torches that emitted black firelight in brackets of every wall in every room and hallway. The cavernous portion of the building was known as Master Cauldron. It was shaped like the Roman Coliseum, but made from black marble and twelve yards wider. The Master Cauldron was also stationed underground with a statue of a demon with the torso of a man, hands that were more like the clawed feet of a predatory bird, head of horse with the horns of an ibex and protruding fangs of a viper, legs of a goat with three tails—scorpion, serpent and lion—and vast leathery wings. Whether they were the wings of a dragon or a bat could not be said.
Harlequin watched in fright as Vermin was being punished, cracking streams of green light coursing over his body and causing him to howl in anguish. The tears of fear and concern for him that had struggled to escape her eyes the minute they had returned to Hagfeild West were now flowing from her face like a waterfall and she put her face into her hands.
“Enough!” she begged. “Please, stop! I was to blame, too. Punish me, too! Just stop, or you’ll kill him!”
Vermin fell to the ground and moaned as his friend came over and helped him sit up.
“One loser showing concern for another,” Marvo said in his snake’s hiss of a voice in the most mockingly thoughtful voice he could manage. “How sweet.” Marvo had skin so white it made snow look pale. His pinkish-red eyes slanted in his face in a constant evil and sadistic leer.
While all Necros of the Wicked Witch Society were required to be in possession and wear black robes, masks of green horned demons, feathery black ruffs to put around the neck, gothic black boots, black hoods, and skeleton-patterned gloves, Marvo, second-in-command under Eris, wore only the robes and boots. He looked like a white snake that had tried to become human. And he had the sadistic nature of a serpent, seeming to enjoy punishing failure almost as much as giving orders and commands.
“This is the second time we’ve had run-ins with Soul Mystics,” he noted. “I still don’t understand why Windi didn’t kill that boy, but I do understand why you two weaklings were forced to flee after Jamar died. Be thankful I spared you, Harlequin, and that it was not my intention to take your life, Vermin. Perhaps now that you two have experienced pain, you will do better next time. Yes?”
The weak replies of confirmation were like honey to Marvo.

I was wondering about that too xD
very nice story.

looks good, keep up the good work Xd

((Sorry about the long wait. Thunderstorms.))
Chapter 5
A Night Of Fright And Confusion





Eastside High was the high school for Soul City. It was quite like any other high school in appearance, and in truth, it had quite typical students. Jocks, nerds and geeks, popular guys and popular girls, and then there were regular attendees. It was this school which Brian, Arti and Anni attended.
Anni drove her colleagues to school early that morning and arrived twenty minutes earlier than usual.
Brian looked around through the crowd of students as Anni made the precautions to make sure her bike could not be snatched by some grubby thief. “I think I can see Mari,” he told Arti.
It was. Mari Louise was Arti’s best friend at school. She was four months older than either Arti and Brian so she was a head taller, had dark hair that with braids resting on her shoulders, fair skin, a sweet smile and kind red eyes, and, though it often embarrassed Arti to know it, a more curvaceous figure, but still had a modest physique. Mari wore a red Hawaiian shirt and coal-black pants with matching athletic shoes as her regular attire.
“Hey, guys!” she cheerily greeted Arti and Brian after Anni was done securing her bike and had moved off inside the building. “How are the two of you doing today?”
“Fine so far,” Arti told her friend.
“Same old, same old,” Brian answered.
The three of them walked towards the front doors which had a bush on either side next to the steps.
Then, she appeared. One of the things that could have possibly put a damper on Arti’s morning was her showing up just then. She really didn’t feel she had the energy to put up with this so early in the morning just after getting to school.
“Good morning, everyone,” said Sandi Mys, who was considered the prettiest girl in school. She had red hair that traveled down in two long ponytails and often wore a tan sweater vest that had a white flower right on the chest, as well as dark tan pants and little black shoes. Her eyes were two different colors; the left was aqua while the right was gold, and they sat in the sweetest and most innocent face of a fifteen-year-old girl.
It was not that Arti disliked her. On the contrary, Sandi was probably one of the nicest people Arti knew at the school, even if they were not exactly friends. It was her “popularity” with most of the boys. They would gossip about her good looks, high marks in all her classes, skill in P.E. and personality. It made them all fantasize about a date with her. And that mostly sickened Arti.
Right on cue, Brian elbowed past Arti to approach Sandi.
“It most certainly is a good day,” he said taking one of her hands. “Now that I’ve seen you, Sandi.”
Sandi smiled sweetly. “What a charming thing to say! You’re too sweet, Brian.”
“Sweet” my hairy aunt Fanny! Arti fumed inside.
Mari looked at Arti. “Arti, you okay? Your face is a bit red.”
Arti gasped inward when she realized her face was feeling a tad warmer than usual.
Completely unaware that it might make things worse, Sandi laughed lightly. “Brian, I think I got your girlfriend jealous.”
“I’m NOT his girlfriend!!!” Arti didn’t mean to bark, and looked embarrassed afterwards.
“That’s right,” Brian agreed. “Like I’d go for an unappealing, flat-chest tomboy? I’d much rather be with a full-figured woman with brains to go with the looks.”
He was treading on thin ice.
Now Arti was starting to growl inwardly. Brian, you jerk!!! You are so a dead man later.
Then someone came up behind her and Mari and put an arm around both their shoulders. It was Duke King. He had suave brown hair that had obvious signs of being combed to the left in order to give him a cool look. The typical wanna-be-popular-guy of the school, he wore a blue variation of Brian’s school outfit. Duke was also known to be a trouble-maker and not all that bright.
With him was his portly friend Gus Pork belly. Gus had a red, semi-shaven-looking hairstyle, dark eyes, a simple look on his flabby face, and a big nose. His most notable characteristic was that he was fat. He was so fat, his stomach poked out between his white t-shirt and gray-blue jeans. Gus was often seen hanging around with Duke, though it was often to either help Duke build up his would-be cool guy reputation or to take verbal abuse and orders from him.
“Shame, isn’t it?” Duke asked Arti, turning his brown eyes on her with what he clearly meant to show understanding and compassion. But Arti had heard before that this was his way of trying to flirt. “To be cast aside by the one you spend so much time with.”
“What are you blabbing on about!?” Arti asked angrily.
“Brian doesn’t really seem to care about—” Before Duke could finish that sentence, Brian had his fingers up his nose.
Brian said just four words. “Let go of them.”
Duke obeyed, lifting up his arms and Mari and Arti walked over to stand on either side of Brian.
“Think you’re so tough, O’Brian,” Duke growled. “Just you wait. One day I’ll show you how much of a weak wimp you are.”
“That’s right!” Gus chimed in. “Duke will make you cry and you’ll drop to your knees and beg for forgiveness as you kiss his sneakers. But it won’t immediately come, you’ll see how much of a wussy you are! He’ll make you pay for trying to show him up! He’ll—”
“He’s got the idea, Gus,” Duke barked at him. Then set his eyes on Sandi, who looked rather confused about the whole incident. “Sandi, what you doing tonight?”
Sandi seemed to take the question without really noticing how quickly Duke had gone from flirting with Arti to flirting with her. “Nothing. Why?”
Duke approached her. “How about you and me go to the local burger place tonight?”
“Then she’d still be doing nothing.” A tough-looking Chinese girl with black tomboyish hair and hard eyes came out of the doors behind Sandi, wearing red slip on shoes, tan thick jeans, and an undershirt that made her look like she was in the military. Sandi’s best friend, Jacki Chan. She was often near Sandi, protecting her from guys who wanted dates with her, but had less than honorable intentions. The mere presence of her made Duke back up a few steps. “Thought I told you to back off, Duke,” she said with a wicked mix of a scowl and smirk on her face.
Duke didn’t say a word. He’d heard that Jacki took combat lessons in the gym/dojo down town, and had heard what she had done to guys who hadn’t backed off.
Jacki walked past Sandi and Mari, Arti and Brian and stood right in front of Duke. She had a hooded look around her eyes and that same nasty smile. She leaned in close looking right into his eyes until their noses were an inch from touching. Lightly, and almost seductively, she said, “Boo.”
Duke fell flat on his butt from shock and nervousness while Brian laughed and pointed.
“Heh.”
Jacki looked at the bush on the left. “Come out, Rita.”
Rita Sawyer, one of the photographers for the school newspaper, stood up out of the bushes. She had amber hair that looked almost circular and ended in two bangs on either side of her face, thick square glasses, and wore warm lean jeans, an olive-green t-shirt and salmon-pink sneakers. Rita was rarely seen without her camera, and was often seen sulking around campus during breaks to see if she could find anything juicy to take photographs of.
“Spying as usual, I see,” Jacki commented. She sighed. “How’d I get into a school with so many freaks, geeks and weirdoes? Not that I think of either of you being on that list,” she told Arti and Mari.
“HEY!” Brian said offended.
“We’d better get inside,” said Sandi, who always tried keeping the peace. “First period is going to start in ten minutes.”
Arti and Brian had science class first on the second floor. It was just unfortunate for both of them that they were classmates with Rita and Albert Oxford, one of the geekiest geeks in geekdom. His glasses were almost as thick as Rita’s, but circular. He wore a white pinstriped polyester shirt underneath a copper vest, light gray trousers and brown classy-looking shoes. Albert had a hairstyle similar to Gus and had dark eyes that could be best described as “beady” and as nerdy-looking that ever sat in the pasty-skinned face of a person his age. What truly made Arti and Brian dislike him so much—mostly Arti—was his know-it-all attitude. He almost always seemed to know the answer to questions asked. He also had a disgusting habit of flashing his classmates a smile that seemed to say, “Don’t feel bad I raised my hand first. You probably didn’t know the answer anyway”. It was perhaps the misfortune of Arti and Brian that they sat right behind Albert and Rita in class.
“Morning, Hunter,” Albert said in that nasal voice that made it sound like he was fourteen rather than fifteen. That was another thing Arti disliked about him. No matter how quiet she was when coming into class, he always knew when she arrived, even if he was reading one of his books. “Aren’t you going to say morning back?” Albert asked when he got no reply.
“Morning,” Arti grumbled under her breath.
“Pardon?” Albert put his right hand to his ear. “I didn’t catch that.”
You’re kidding, Rita thought as she sat next to him. You didn’t hear what she said? And all this time I’d thought you were part owl. Actually, she had been planning on printing an untrue tabloid story about how Albert was part owl.
“Settle down!” their teacher told them. “Now today we’re going to continue our lesson. Now, can anyone tell me where we left off yesterday?”
Arti raised her hand, but Albert’s blocked it.
“That little…” Arti growled. “What!? Is his arm some sort of….of…arm-in-a-box!?”
“That neither sounded clever or made sense,” Brian commented.
“Shut up,” she snapped.
“Yes, Mr. Oxford,” the teacher pointed to him, ignoring the interplay between Arti and Brian.
“We were talking about how an object in motion tends to stay in motion,” Albert was saying.
Just then, one of the test tubes on the desk to the left of the classroom slid out of its stand. The entire class stared at it in surprise and confusion. Then they cried out as it streaked over their heads, made a right turn, and smashed over the head of their teacher against the blackboard. It wasn’t over. Now all the test tubes were popping free of their container and were flinging themselves against the ceiling, causing the students and teacher to duck under their desks. When one of the girls in class thought things couldn’t get worse, she felt a bony finger tap her on the left shoulder. She slowly looked up and screamed. The skeleton that was kept in the back of the class, right behind her seat, to be exact, was holding out its’ hand as if asking for a dance or something before it collapsed on top of her.
Almost everyone in the class couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Except for Arti and Brian.
The two of them ate lunch under a tree in the courtyard of the school that day. They had chosen to eat there because they felt it would be too risky to talk about what had been happening up until then in the cafeteria.
“Poltergeist,” Arti said flatly before eating one of the many the cocktail wieners her father had packed for her.
“Says the girl who doesn’t believe in UFOs,” Brian remarked before taking a bite out of his ham sandwich he had made himself.
“I believe in UFOs,” Arti countered, “I just don’t believe in aliens.”
“Don’t UFOs and aliens go hand-in-hand?” Brian asked.
“UFO can be any unidentified flying object, not just an alien ship,” Arti told him.
“Well, I don’t buy the poltergeist thing,” Brian said.
“Says the boy who fights magic-wielders, goblins and soul-eating humans with magic gloves.” Arti enjoyed teasing Brian that way, and even laughed when he gave her a sour look. If she had stopped to think about it, to an outside observer, this looked very close to couples’ behavior.
“Okay, I’ll give it to ya,” Brian said after both their food was gone and he leaned against the tree. “But say it is a poltergeist? What can we do about it?”
“We can tell Mr. Shin and he can probably send some of those exorcists he has to exorcise the school,” Arti told him. “One thing is for sure, if this poltergeist continues hanging around, it could cause a lot more trouble than it currently is.”
Mallory Royal was the mean girl around school. She was seventeen and thus saw that as her right to bully and intimidate all the “little brats” that she was forced to be in contact with at school. She had wispy red tomboyish hair, an eye-grabbing figure which she often showed off around school by wearing a red athletic shirt and olive-green athletic shorts that exposed her long legs, and also wore blue track shoes. Mallory had dark blue eyes that would have otherwise been lovely, if they didn’t often had the look of dislike or cunning in them.
“You’re saying what!?” she asked her best friend Rita as they sat on the right side of the school. Rita had come to her telling her of all the weird things that had been happening since first period. “A ghost!? Rita, did you take stupid pills today?”
“But that’s the only explanation that keeps coming to me,” Rita told Mallory. “I’ve heard that the ceiling lights went out and then broke in the literacy classroom and library, something spooked the animals in the FFA barn, and, freakiest of all, what happened during first period…”
“I have to admit,” said Duke, who had been part of the discussion from the start as he and Gus leaned against the school wall, “I have been hearing weird stuff’s been going on.”
Mallory quite disliked Duke, but hung out with him since it seemed to be expected of her to be around one of the most popular guys at school. Still, she considered him beneath her due to being sixteen and that he sometimes showed his stupidity. She also disliked Gus, who she considered to be a fat dummy that did nothing but eat and go along with whatever Duke said.
Gus nodded after Duke had finished talking.
“A ghost!?” Mallory repeated. “I can’t believe in that. Maybe weak-minded children can, but I am not a weak-minded child.”
“But Mal,” Rita began, then she got a frightened look on her face as she stared over Mallory’s head.
Mallory now showed a bit of concern, as Rita, Duke and Gus seemed rather upset. “What? What is it? You guys okay?”
Duke closed his eyes and looked away. “Look behind you!” he said through gritted teeth and pointing above her. “Look behind you!”
“Behind me?” She turned and felt a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. Two black eyes were staring down at her from between the jutting branches of a tree. And, considering that the tree was five times taller than Mallory, it was easy to understand why the other three had been so scared. Mallory shook all over before sinking to her knees. She continued to stare up at the eyes even after they had faded away. “R-Rita…did…you get a picture of that!?” Mallory asked after coming out of her shock.
Rita shook her head meekly.
“This is big,” Duke said. “The school is haunted, and the ghost showed itself to us.”
Mallory’s face flashed with an idea. “We could be famous. We could be celebrities. We could all get filthy stinking rich!!!”
“Shame I doubt anyone may believe us,” Gus said in his thick fat voice.
“He’s right,” Rita added.
Mallory snapped her head between Gus and Rita. “What are you two talking about!?”
“I didn’t get a photo,” Rita told her. “And besides, who’d take a photo of two eyes between a tree branch seriously? They’d say it was doctored.”
Mallory smiled softly and put both her hands on Rita’s shoulders. “Is this the Rita I’ve known since grade school? The Rita who caused so many tears to fall from the eyes of pathetic toddlers? The Rita who said that the green ham in the lunchroom in fourth grade was really people?”
“I got suspended for that for a week because it was really Dr. Seuss Day at school,” Rita told her.
“You’ve stretched the truth so much,” Mallory continued. “Even if we didn’t get a photo this time, we can get one tonight.”
“What are you saying?” Duke asked.
“I’m saying we’re coming back tonight and seeking out that ghost,” Mallory told him rather aggressively.
“But…isn’t that…trespassing and breaking an entering?” Guys asked uneasily.
Mallory glared at the two boys. “Since when did you two turn into goody-goodies?”
“We’re not goody-goodies!” they objected. “We….just don’t like ghosts…”
“Well, you’re coming with me and Rita tonight,” Mallory told them. “Or I’ll make you more scared of me than any ghost you can imagine.”
Arti and Brian traveled to the top floor after they entered the HQ building and knocked on the door.
Ms. Pristine peeked out when she cracked the door open. “Ms. Hunter? Mr. O’Brian? What is it?”
“We have something we need to tell Mr. Shin,” Arti said.
“Mr. Shin is currently attending a serious matter,” Ms. Pristine told her. “You’ll have to come back.”
“But this is important,” Arti said. “It could be very serious to public security.”
“As does this matter,” was the response.
“Who is at the door?” Mr. Shin asked from out of sight.
“It’s Ms. Hunter and Mr. O’Brian,” said Monica as she turned to face her boss. “Ms. Hunter says she has something important to say.”
“Then let them in,” Mr. Shin told her. “I feel our business is concluded, anyway.”
Ms. Pristine opened the door wider and Arti and Brian entered.
There was a man in the room standing before Mr. Shin’s desk. He was middle-aged and wore a suit similar to Mr. Shin, but it sported a long black tie and he wore spats, whereas Mr. Shin wore thick shoes. The man had black hair and wore a black bowler with a red rim in the middle. A thick black mustache sat between his upper-lip and crooked nose. His black eyes completed the look that this man would rather be anywhere other than here.
“Benjamin,” Mr. Shin addressed the man, “I will have my people on the look out. Thank you. You will tell Cloud, I presume?”
“Of course!” Mr. Benjamin’s voice was old and cracked. He turned and walked past Arti and Brian. Brian felt he saw Benjamin give them a slight look of contempt.
“Who was that?” Brian asked after Monica closed the door.
“Mr. Benjamin Wright,” Mr. Shin answered. “Vice-minister under Moses Cloud, minister of the Magical Ministry of Peace.”
“The ministry of magic-wielders who try to keep peace between themselves and regular people?” Arti could not help but feel excited. To think that another important organization had come here. Her face was somewhat flushed. “What did he want?”
“Classified,” Ms. Pristine told her.
“No, no,” Mr. Shin waved a hand at Monica. “I will need to tell the Soul Mystics later.” He looked at Arti. “The werewolf Gulo Savage is on the loose.”
That seemed to bring Arti back to reality. “A werewolf?”
“Yes,” answered Mr. Shin. “He has been sighted in the area lately, mostly at night. Mr. Benjamin told me he has been attacking couples in Central Park recently and leaving them with nasty scratches. I told Benjamin that I would have skilled Soul Mystics patrolling the city every night. Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?”
This seemed to bring Arti back to her own concerns. “There have been some weird things going on at school, especially this morning. Mr. Shin, I think it’s a poltergeist.”
It was hard to read Mr. Shin’s expression through his mask, but Arti imagined he had raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yes,” Arti confirmed. “And I’d like to go and combat this specter, as it is my school.”
“You mean our school,” Brian corrected her.
“Out of the question!!!!” Prince boomed as he stood next to Mr. Shin, looking as if he could intimidate his daughter with his would-be furious face. In reality, it looked more like he needed to use the bathroom. “I’m not going to let my only daughter out at night with a werewolf running around.” His eyes locked with dislike on Brian. “Especially not with a guy like that.”
“Excuse me!?” Brian looked scandalized.
Arti glared back at her father with more successful results. “I was talking to Mr. Shin. What he says goes around here.”
“Denied,” Mr. Shin said.
Arti stared at him. “Pardon?”
“I agree with your father,” he told her. “It is too dangerous to send two sixteen-year-olds out at night with a dangerous werewolf on the loose. Someone could be seriously injured. Or worse.”
“But sir,” Arti said pleadingly.
“What he says goes around here,” Prince shot back at his daughter, a little too smugly.
Arti glowered at her father and stormed out of the room with Brian following her. She shut herself up in her room with the door locked. The walls of her room had been painted pale pink and had shelves that held one or two childhood toys such as a teddy bear she named Jimmy and a picture of her parents. In her annoyance at being denied and teased by her father, Arti had considered taking the picture out of the white frame that said “We R Family” and cut him out of it. But reconsidered. It represented a happier time to when she had been in the third grade. Right before Mariah had died. The thought of her mother almost brought tears to her eyes. She slumped facedown into a pillow on her bed.
“Go away, Daddy!” Arti said through a voice that was fighting not to cry from the sorrow she often felt from missing her mother and the annoyance that still lingered.
“‘Daddy’? I kinda like that.”
Arti’s face blushed brightly and threw open the door to see Brian standing smirking on the other side.
Brian flashed the peace sign. “Hey babe.”
“Don’t call me that. I’m not in the mood.” She wasn’t. “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to know when I should tell Kintaro and Tsukumo to get ready to move out tonight,” Brian said.
Arti looked at him. She was still blushing, but not as much as at what he had said after she had mistaken him for her father.
Kintaro and Tsukumo were not ninjas for nothing. Even if Kintaro could sometimes be rash and something of a boar, they could move about without a sound when it was absolutely needed not to alert anyone to their presence. They were also skilled at picking locks. The pair entered the Hunter apartment noiselessly and entered. Tsukumo approached Arti’s room and lightly rapped the door with her knuckles.
Arti stepped out in her work outfit, and she went with her friends.
Duke and Gus had found difficulty with the lock on the school doors. For whatever reason, neither of them had thought that the lock would be so hard to undo. Rita and Mallory stood behind them, Rita looking bemused and Mallory looking frustrated with the typical stupidity she had come to expect from her “male companions”. Though in truth, considering Twiddle Dumb and Twiddle Dumber almost made Mallory scream in horror and frustration.
“Tell me, Duke,” Mallory asked as he struggled to pick the lock with a bobby pin Rita had handed him, “how many years were you held back in Jr. High?”
“Three,” Gus answered for Duke, and Duke punched him hard in the arm. “Well, it’s not like I told her you wet the bed ‘til you were fourteen,” Gus grumbled.
“You just did, you idiot,” Duke growled.
Rita heard something. “Someone’s coming.”
Gus’s eyes widened. “What do we do!? We gotta hide! I can’t go to jail!! I can’t live on bread and water alone!”
“SHUT UP!” Duke barked.
“Into the bushes!” Rita instructed in a low voice.
Mallory looked at her with hooded eyes. “If you think I’m going into those bushes…”
Gus was surprisingly strong despite how out of shape he looked. He bodily picked up Mallory and tossed her into the bushes against her will before jumping in himself, though he landed on her stomach.
Duke and Rita followed them.
Kintaro, Tsukumo, Brian and Arti arrived at the school doors five minutes afterwards. They were quite unaware they were being watched from the bushes and from a tree nearby.
Tsukumo inspected the lock. “Pretty standard. We shouldn’t have too much—Eep!!”
Kintaro had activated his Idol and turned it into his sword, slashing through the lock. “Excelsior!” he cried and dashed off the darkened hallway with Brian bring up the rear.
“We’re here to kick butt and chew bubblegum! And I don’t like bubblegum!” Brian shouted.
The girls stood at the doorway staring after their partners.
“Kin-kun’s so reckless sometimes,” Tsukumo sighed. “Forgiveness, Arti-chan.”
“What do you see in him?” Arti asked.
“Same that you see in Brian-kun, I suppose,” Tsukumo answered before following the boys.
Arti blushed brightly again. “It’s not like that!” she called Tsukumo as she ran after her. “It’s NOT!!!”
“Was that Hunter and O’Brian?” Duke asked as he poked his head out of the bushes.
“I think so,” Rita’s head popped up next to him. “I wonder what they’re doing here at night.”
“Who cares?” Duke had a mean look on his face. “We’ll just follow them and take a few pictures of them being on school grounds after hours. With any luck Brian will get suspected, maybe even expelled! I never thought I’d get my revenge so soon!”
Rita didn’t think to mention the obvious to him.
“Get your foot off my stomach, you tub of fat!” Mallory screamed at Gus.
The lowlife quartet snuck after the Soul Mystics.
A dark shadow followed them.
The cafeteria was at least twenty yards from the main front and back doors to the school and was in the center of the building. At night the tables were rolled up and placed in a large storage room until they would be needed the next day. It was a very large room with glass walls. There were two doors for students to come in and go out with a window for trays that was now closed.
Tsukumo poked her head inside after undoing the lock, Kintaro, Brian and Arti behind her and they entered the room so they were in the exact middle. “Hello? Any ghosts in here?” No answer.
“That’s not how you call a ghost out, Tsu-chan,” Kintaro told her. He filled up his lungs. “GHOST! COME OUT! THE GREAT AND MIGHTY SOUL MYSTIC AND NINJA KINTARO HIRO HAS COME TO DRIVE YOU AWAY!” No response. Kintaro stared at the empty room in disbelief. “It’s ignoring me!?”
“It wasn’t loud enough,” Brian said. “Let me try. “HEY, YOU POLTERGEIST! COME ON OUT AND FACE US!!!”
Arti had been growling in annoyance. “WILL YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP!? THE WAY YOU’RE SCREAMING, SOMEONE OTHER THAN THE GHOST IS BOUND TO KNOW WE’RE HERE!!!!”
Brian, Kintaro and Tsukumo screamed in pain and held their hands over their ears as Arti’s scream echoed around the room.
“Damn it, Arti! I think you almost blew something out!” Brian was drilling his ear and hoped the ringing would stop soon.
Then it happened. The window slid out and trays starting shooting out at them. Tsukumo, Brian and Arti dodged and even struck out against the trays as Kintaro slashed several of them in half and they fell harmlessly to the floor. The trays continued coming at greater speed, but thankfully the reflexes of the four young Soul Mystics were able to avoid being seriously injured.
As they fought, they were being watched from a safe distance by Mallory, Rita, Gus and Duke. None of them could believe what they were seeing.
“Rita, get ready,” Duke said with a hand on her shoulder. “We’re going in. I wanna see Brian’s face when I bust him.”
“And you intend on using me as a human shield?” Rita couldn’t help but notice how firmly both his hands were gripping her shoulders. It was the sort of grip one uses when they want something sturdy to hold onto when they are very frightened or anxious.
The trays stopped.
“What happened?” Brian asked. “Did it go somewhere else?”
“I’m not sure,” said Arti, checking her Soul Compass. “It says it’s still here.”
There was a flash.
“Got you!”
Brian and Arti turned to see Rita armed with her camera, with Duke, Gus, and Mallory behind her.
“What are the four of you doing here!?” Brian asked angrily.
“I don’t think that’s what the principal is going to care about when we show him pictures of you on school grounds at night,” Duke gloated. “Rita, make sure to develop the pictures as best you can.”
The flashing of Rita’s camera had stopped.
Mallory looked at Rita. “Rita? What is it?”
Rita looked at Brian with soft red eyes. She dropped her camera, causing it to make loud contact with the floor and the film to pop out. She was holding onto Brian a lot more than he—and Arti—felt comfortable with. Looking up at Brian, she said in a light and airy voice, “I love you.”
The faces of Brian and Arti went crimson with shock and embarrassment. Everyone else looked at the scene with wild surprise.
“G-get off!” The more Brian tried to free himself, the tighter Rita held.
“I love you,” Rita told him again. “I have fallen in love with you.”
“Briiiiiaaaannnnn….” Brian recognized the tone of Arti’s growl.
“I’m not doing anything!” Brian told her. “Get her off!”
Mallory marched over to Rita. “You heard the loser,” she snapped. “Let go of him!” She put a hand on Rita’s shoulder to pry her off, but then Rita fell to the ground. Now it was a red-eyed Mallory looking with adoring eyes at Brian. “Did she do anything naughty to you, my love?”
Brian took several steps back. “What!?”
Mallory came towards Brian, stepping over Rita, while Duke and Gus just stood where they were in total confusion and Kintaro was trying to retrain Arti, who looked like she could kill both Mallory and Brian.
Tsukumo got between Brian and Mallory. “Leave Brian alone!” She locked hands with Mallory when the latter tried to push her away. Then it was Tsukumo whose eyes became red. Mallory fell to the floor softly and turned on Brian. “Are you alright, Brian-kun?” She hugged him softly. “I love you. I’ve fallen in love with you.”
Now Kintaro looked as furious as Arti. “HOW DARE YOU, BRIAN!!” He released Arti, causing her to fall back a step and ran over to Brian, gripping him by the shirt collar. “What do you think you’re doing with Tsukumo-chan!? MY Tsukumo-chan!?”
“Nothing!” Brian said, becoming very confused. “I’m not even sure this is Tsukumo. Look at her eyes.”
Kintaro looked at Brian, then deactivated his Idol so it once again became a pendant around his neck, and turned Tsukumo around after getting hold of one of her hands so she would be facing him. Then…his eyes became red and he was the one looking sheepishly at Brian. “Brian-kun…”
Unlike the other girls, Tsukumo had not fainted after her hand had been touched. She looked at Kintaro confusedly. “Kin-kun?”
Kintaro moved past her, and advanced on Brian, who was backing away.
Arti could not believe what she was seeing. She looked down at her Soul Compass. The needle seemed to be…..swaying back and forth. As if there were two supernatural entities in the room. She didn’t have much time to think about it, as she noticed with uncomfortable familiarity that Duke had his arm around her waist.
“Come on, Arti,” Duke said. “Let’s get out of here. Something weird is going on.”
“No,” she said. “Brian needs me.” She fought against him as he tried pulling her away.
Gus looked at the unconscious girls on the floor. “What about Rita and Mallory?”
“Who cares?” Duke returned. “They’ll be fine. But I never liked Mallory. The bossy cow.”
Arti continued to fight Duke. She couldn’t leave her friends. Something had been happening to them. Something strange. And she would not leave them. She stomped on Duke’s foot and ran towards Brian after she was free from his grip.
Duke attempted to go after her, but Tsukumo jumped in his path, her Idol having taken the form of a sharp katana. One look at the blade and the foreboding look in the girl’s eyes was all Duke needed. Giving in to the fear from everything he had seen so far, he fainted dead away.
For his part, Gus gave a high pitched scream and ran out of the cafeteria, his cries of “save me, mommy!” and “I think I wet myself” very audible.
“Kintaro, stay away from him!” Arti ran at Kintaro from behind. Kintaro turned around, a frustrated look on his face as he had been a step away from embracing Brian whom he had backed up against the wall on the other side of the room. He threw a punch at Arti, which she dodged. He aimed another strike at her, and she blocked his fist with her hand. This seemed to cause some sort of disturbance. The eyes of Kintaro and Arti became unfocused, both their eyes switching from red to their natural color. They were both breathing heavy as if they were in serious combat. Finally it seemed Kintaro could no longer take it. Closing his eyes, he threw Arti down on the floor and she seemed to go unconscious.
“ARTI!” Brian pushed past Kintaro and set to her, holding the back of her head and her back.
Kintaro opened his eyes, which were now back to their natural color. He looked at Arti, then at his own shaking hands. “B-Brian…I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I…I didn’t mean to…do that stuff….especially….I especially didn’t mean to hurt Arti.”
Tsukumo picked up Arti’s Soul Compass from where it had fallen on the floor. “It wasn’t you, Kin-kun,” she told him comfortingly. “It was something controlling you.”
Brian was shaking Arti. “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake up! Artemis Hunter, please wake up!”
Arti groaned and her eyes fluttered open. They were their natural color, but looked lightly and softly at Brian. “Brian…I…love….you…” Before Brian knew what was happening, Arti’s arms were around his neck and he felt her kiss his lips softly.
((Continued in "I Love You Brian"))

from what i read from the first part it looks like it'll be interesting ^^ keept it up and ill read more later ~

Chapter 6
I Love You Brian




It was perhaps a good thing that Mr. Shin had sent out people to patrol Soul City, otherwise, had one of the patrollers not been passing by Eastside High and seen the doors were open, it might have been very hard for any of the kids who had broken an entering that night to get out. Several Wipers, who wore flowing white robes and hoods with blank white masks that hid their faces, were called and they erased the memories of Duke, Mallory and Rita so they would forget everything they had seen and heard that night before turning on Brian, Arti, Kintaro and Tsukumo. Brian knew there was no point in trying to resist them. They had been caught disobeying Mr. Shin. They were brought into Mr. Shin’s office where Mr. Shin took his usual seat behind his desk and Prince and Ms. Pristine standing in their usual spots on either side of their boss, while the kids stood in front of them waiting for the lecture they knew was coming.
To say Prince was displeased to be awoken in the middle of the night and brought to Mr. Shin’s office to be told his daughter, her partner and their friends had been caught in their school after Mr. Shin had told them not to go in there would be untrue. He was quite livid. “I thought I raised you to know better!” he scolded Arti. “Mr. Shin said it was too dangerous to be out at night. Especially when there’s a werewolf running around! Arti, are you listening to me?”
It didn’t seem she was. Since they had been brought back from the school, Arti had been holding onto Brian’s left arm fondly and pressing close to him, much to Brian’s discomfort. Why was she doing this? Did she really like him? But then, so many strange things had been going on tonight.
Prince looked at his daughter, then at Brian. “What is she doing?”
“I wish I could tell you,” Brian answered honestly. “She’s been like this for a while now.”
“I love Brian.” These words coming from Arti caused Brian to blush again and Prince to look taken aback.
“Don’t take her too seriously,” Tsukumo spoke up in the defense of her friends. “I don’t think she knows what she’s saying.”
“Please explain,” requested Mr. Shin.
Tsukumo told them the entire story of what had happened at the school. How after they had avoided being hit by the poltergeist and encountered Rita and the others, the girls had seemed to start falling in love with Brian. She wasn’t quite sure how to explain it. It had felt like someone had entered her mind and was intent on being with Brian no matter what. During her story, it seemed Mr. Shin was listening closely.
“I understand,” Mr. Shin said. “I haven’t decided any action on the four of you disobeying me as of yet, but I will want to see you four tomorrow. For now, back to your apartments.”
Prince tried to take Arti’s hand, but she refused him. “I don’t want to be separated from Brian!” she cried out. “I want him to come with me!”
“Absolutely not!” Prince exclaimed. “Arti, I am not about to let him in our home. He has his own apartment to sleep in.” He tried pulling her off Brian, but it seemed the more Prince tried to pry his daughter away from him, the tighter Arti held onto Brian.
“Prince,” Mr. Shin said to him, “it seems Arti doesn’t want to be separated from Brian. I know it is not my place to get involved in family affairs, but perhaps you should allow Mr. O’Brian houseroom for tonight.”
Prince looked between his daughter and his boss, and then gave a defeated sigh.
He took them both back to the Hunter apartment. It consisted of a door-less room on the right with a large white couch and two chairs facing each other as they sat against either wall. The room on the left had a wooden door. There was a flight of stairs that led up to the bedrooms on the second floor in the middle of the main room, but there was also space on the right which led to the kitchen and downstairs bathroom directly across from it. Although it looked small, it was actually decently spacious considering it was an apartment.
Prince told Arti to go to bed. As soon as her door was closed, he pulled Brian close. “Listen, boy,” he said quietly. “I’m only doing this because it seems like I have no other choice. Got me?”
“Yes sir,” said Brian.
“I don’t like the idea of you and my daughter being under the same roof, hear me?” Prince asked.
“I hear you,” Brian answered.
“You’re sleeping on the couch tonight. It should be big enough for you,” Prince told him.
“The couch!? Come—” Brian faltered a bit under Prince’s glaring eyes. “Yes sir.”
“And if I hear any doors opening or anything I don’t want to hear during the remainder of the night…” Prince went on.
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Brian assured him.
Brian could not believe he had to sleep on the couch. Prince hadn’t even brought him a blanket and pillow. He had to lay on the couch, feeling a bit cold and in the dark. Not that Brian was afraid of the dark. He just didn’t like having to sleep in it. There was also another thing troubling him: the kiss. Arti had kissed him. Although she had said they’d never be dating, she had kissed him as though they were. Brian found he was blushing and his heart beating a tad faster at the memory of the kiss. Then he sat up and shook his head. What was he doing!? Boys didn’t blush or experience rapid heartbeats as if…they just didn’t. Besides, this was Arti. His partner. His schoolmate. His friend. He could not, would not think of her like that. But after he fell asleep, he kept seeing her love struck face in his dreams.
When Brian woke up, it was to be met face to face with a familiar pair of brown eyes. He screamed and stared up as Bagi looked down at him. “BAGI!? What are you doing here!?”
“I figured I’d just watch you sleep,” Bagi told him cheerfully, smiling and her dark hair jiggling a bit as she pulled her face away from his. “I watch Master Edwin wake up every morning. Though, granted, I’ve never changed to my human form when watching him.”
“That’s not what I mean!” Brian snapped. “How did you get in here!?”
“I let them in,” said Prince as he stood in the doorway.
“‘Them’?” Brian looked to the chair on the right wall and saw Edwin Flamel was sitting in the chair sipping a cup of tea.
Edwin lifted a hand in greeting. “Joy. Long time no see, kid. What’s it been? Two weeks? Three? I can never keep count.”
Brian felt very confused. What were Edwin and Bagi doing here in Soul City? Last he remembered, they lived on the outskirts of a town whose name he couldn’t remember. It seemed he had been going through weird experiences one after another lately. Then the thought of what action Arti might take if she came in and saw Bagi on top of him came unbidden to his mind.
“Bagi, you got to get off me!” Brian told her.
“Don’t wanna,” Bagi lay down completely on Brian. “You’re so nice to cuddle with.”
“Don’t you have Edwin to cuddle with!?” Brian tried not to think how soft her breasts were. She was a cat, after all, and there was no way a human could be seduced or aroused by a cat. Even if Bagi could take on a human form.
“Not in her human form,” Edwin said as if the three of them were discussing the weather. “It wouldn’t be proper.”
“And this doesn’t look improper!?” Brian barked at him.
Edwin didn’t answer, but instead looked towards Prince. “Good morning, Arti.”
Brian looked up and saw Arti hadn’t changed out of her clothes from last night. He expected to be screamed at and lectured any minute and closed his eyes in uneasy preparation. But it never came. Arti did not scream. She did not rage. She did not shout. Brian opened his eyes and looked at Arti. She looked pale and sunken-eyed. Had she not been sleeping?
Edwin seemed to notice this as well. He gave Arti a studying look and then turned to Prince. “Has she been well?”
“Well, now that you mention it, she’s been acting strange since last night,” Prince told him. “She was clinging to Brian and saying she loves him.” He looked at his daughter and put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
Arti had her eyes on Brian. There was no anger or shock in them. If anything, they seemed half-awake and unfocused. Then she sniffed a few times. After the fifth sniff, her eyes widened and her mouth, which had been sagging open due to apparent lack of sleep, closed quickly. And then she said something no one would have expected. “I smell a cat!!!!” she screamed in a high voice, and fled back to her room, slamming the door in fright.
“You say she’s been acting strangely since last night?” Edwin asked calmly, as if nothing had happened.
“Y-yes.” Prince was confused by his daughter’s first words of the day.
“I think I know what’s going on,” Edwin said. “Does the Mystic Soul Society have an alchemy lab?”
“Yes,” Prince answered. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you while we’re in there,” Edwin told him. “But please, send someone to direct me to the lab and then gather everyone she had contact with last night.” Then he looked to Brian. “I feel you know what happened better than Prince, so please, tell me everything that went on last night.”
The alchemy lab was a large white room. It had upper and lower cabinets at the back full of foreign minerals, vegetation and liquids and beakers and burners and an examining table. Art sat on the table as Prince, Brian, Kintaro and Tsukumo stood at the wall by the door while Edwin stood in front of her with Bagi by his side, Edwin having convinced Arti Bagi would not hurt her. Edwin gently propped the lids of her left eye open and looked at her fully.
“Her eyes are a bit red-rimmed and red-tinted. The color is hard to notice, especially in darkness, but in the light, it’s quite obvious. She’s also sluggish but swift if she feels she’s in potential danger,” Edwin told the group behind him. “Bagi, I want you to smell her.”
Bagi obeyed, and Arti cringed a bit as the cat-woman sniffed close to her neck.
“Recognize the smell?” Edwin asked. “Whisper it to me.” He leaned in close as Bagi whispered what scent she had caught into his ear. He nodded. “I thought so.” Edwin went over to the cabinets and started pulling out various plants, a knife, and a pot. “Arti’s possessed by a specter bat,” he told the group as he worked.
“What’s a specter bat?” Kintaro asked.
“They look like ordinary bats, but with semi-human faces and a white spot on the chest.,” Edwin answered as he began chopping up the plants. “A specter bat has the body of a bat but the emotions, minds and hearts of a human. They flit about at night and never think of harming a thing, being peaceful insectivores and nectar eaters. But they can possess humans by jumping into them, though for beginners it’s a rather unstable and random action. Not really something they can control the first time they do it. If the possessed person is touched by another person right after the specter bat enters them, the bat enters the other person and leaves the previous unconscious for an hour.”
“So then why didn’t Tsukumo or Kintaro pass out after the bat left them?” Brian asked.
“I’d say because they are mystics,” Edwin guessed. Now he was putting the plants in the pot and filled it with hot water before taking a small bottle of instant broth from a pocket from inside his coat. “Specter bats don’t go around possessing mystics all the time, and mystical energy can prevent a full possession. If a mystic were to be possessed by a specter bat, they’d be aware of what was going on, just not able to stop it from happening. There are a few things about specter bats…”
“And that is?” asked Prince.
“They’re able to take on human form after a sufficient amount inside a person,” answered Edwin. He put the pot gently over the burner and began to cook the broth within. “When a specter bat finds a host it likes, it tends to stick around, sometimes reacting to the hosts personality, such as Kintaro’s combative traits, which was why it attacked Arti when he was possessed. But not to worry, she’s in no danger. The bat will leave on its own when it has a human form.”
Prince sighed. “That’s a relief.”
Then Tsukumo asked, “How long does it take for a specter bat to leave its host?”
“About twenty-five weeks,” Edwin answered, turning off the burner now that the broth was starting to bubble.
“Twenty-five weeks!?” Prince shouted. “That is too long!!!”
Edwin looked angrily at Prince as his cry echoed around the room. “Don’t shout!” he instructed. “Right now Arti’s hearing is like that of the bat inside her. Do you think I’d think you’d wait that long? That’s why I’ve been making this stuff.” The broth was now an unappetizing shade of brown. It looked as thick as mud and bubbled unpleasantly.
“What…what is it?” Tsukumo could smell it from where they stood.
“Brown Bat Bog Brew,” Edwin answered her, taking a spoon out from one of the drawers. “Only thing documented to speed up the ‘growth’ of a specter bat that is possessing someone so they’ll leave the body immediately.” He approached Arti with the spoon. “Now this may not taste good, but I need you to open your mouth, please.”
Arti whimpered and shrank from Edwin on the table.
“Let me do it,” Prince took the spoon from Edwin. “I know how to get her to take it.” He looked at his daughter. “Now, Arti, open up. Come on. It’s good for you.”
She whimpered more. Then her eyes looked at Brian as if pleading for rescue.
“I don’t think she’ll take it from anyone but Brian,” Bagi observed.
All eyes looked at Brian.
“Me?” Brian felt his face color in embarrassment. “Okay, I’ll do it.” He took the spoon and approached Arti.
“I love you,” Arti said in that same sweet voice that did not seem to suit her.
Brian blushed. “Then open up and take the medicine.”
She opened her mouth.
Brian put the spoon inside and titled it up so the brew went sliding down her throat.
There was a flash of light and something flew out of the top of Arti’s head that looked light a semi-dark light. The light took on human shape, growing arms, legs, shoulders, hands, fingers and a neck. Then a girl, a month younger than any of the kids there landed behind Brian. She wore a black picnic dress, a crimson skirt that hid her legs, and a long cape that looked like it was made in London. Her hair was long, stringy and the same color the light that shot from Arti had been, her skin fair but also pale, and her hooded eyes were a light shade of red.
Everyone was surprised to see how beautiful this girl was.
Brian looked at the girl over his right shoulder.
The girl looked back.
Then she hugged him from behind. “I love you,” she said in a voice like the lightest breeze of wind in mist.
“Brian?” He turned his face back to Arti. Her eyes were hooded in that suspicious and disapproving look she often gave him. “Who’s that girl, Brian?”
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Bagi said cheerfully. She approached the girl. “Hi. My name is Bagi. What’s yours’?”
For a moment the girl didn’t speak, but then she lightly replied, “Elizabeth.”
“That’s a pretty name,” Tsukumo said smiling. She approached Elizabeth. “I’m Tsukumo. But you can call me Tsu-chan.”
Elizabeth blinked at Tsukumo. Then she hugged Brian more tightly, as if for security.
“Hey, you!” Arti snapped at Elizabeth sharply, “Don’t go cling on him!”
“Don’t bark at her, Arti!” Edwin scolded her. “A bat’s hearing is much better than a human’s, especially the hearing of a specter bat when you’re talking to one.”
Arti looked at Edwin confusedly. “A specter bat? You…don’t mean…” She blushed upon remembering what had happened last night. How she had held Brian and…and….and….Arti rounded on Brian with clenched teeth and glaring eyes. “You lousy jerk! Couldn’t you tell there was something wrong with me!?” She pulled back her fist and prepared to slug him in the nose, when Elizabeth spun Brian away and grabbed Arti’s balled fist calmly and easily in her hand. Arti blinked in confusion. What’s with her?
“I won’t let you hurt my beloved Brian,” Elizabeth stated firmly.
Arti blinked.
Elizabeth turned to and embraced Brian once again. “I fell in love with you last night when I saw you break into the school. As a bat, it is difficult for me to express my feelings or adapt to the switch from night to day unless I took possession of someone. I couldn’t help myself. I just had to let you know that there was someone out there thinking about you and wanted to be with you.”
Tsukumo and Bagi blushed from how Elizabeth spoke so beautifully and how openly she was about her feelings towards Brian.
“How beautiful,” Tsukumo said breathily. “I always loved hearing confessions of the heart.”
“It’s like something out of a romance novel,” Bagi added.
Edwin looked at Arti, who had now focused her displeased look on Elizabeth. “You okay?”
“Fine!” Arti answered a bit more harshly than she meant and turned her face away from the bat girl who held Brian, closing her eyes to the sight. Just fine!
Elizabeth was given clothing more fitting for going out in public. A black button up shirt, black cargo pants, red high tops, and sunglasses to protect her sensitive red eyes from the black sun were all given to her by Anni, who had long outgrown them and was an only child, yet had never brought herself to throw them away for sentimental reasons. She looked hauntingly lovely in the outfit, which was something that annoyed Arti, though Arti was unsure why. She was also instructed on how to behave human by Bagi so she would not draw unwanted attention to herself. Although she was afraid of Bagi at first, Elizabeth soon began to become comfortable around her. The one person seemed to want to be around more than anyone, though, was Brian, to whom she clung whenever the two were in the same room together.
This greatly annoyed Arti.
What felt like the killing blow to Arti was hearing that Elizabeth was now enrolled in Eastside High so she could interact with humans. This had been decided by Mr. Shin, who had been told of the whole situation by Edwin Flamel. Since specter bats are social and peaceful creatures, no potential harm could be seen if such a venture were allowed.
Elizabeth walked abreast with Brian to school that day, since the noise of Anni’s Widower Bill scared her and hurt her ears. She held onto his arm and smiled happily, her heart beating peaceably from being close to the one she loved.
For his part, Brian felt awkward and blushed.
Arti was standing at the entrance of the school with Mari standing next to her. “Here they come now,” Arti said gruffly when Brian and Elizabeth came into view.
Mari looked at Elizabeth and Brian before looking at Arti.
Elizabeth stood in front of the science class and bowed. “My name is Elizabeth Mir. Very pleased to meet you all.” It could not be denied that Bagi’s teachings had not been to waste. There were three seats to each table at which the students sat, and Elizabeth took the empty seat between Arti and Brian, resisting the urge to cling to Brian during the lesson.
Rita put a hand to her temple and groaned.
This did not go unnoticed by Albert. “You okay?”
“I think so,” Rita said. “I just had this weird dream last night and woke up with a peculiar headache. The dream seemed so weird yet so real.”
Arti felt a little nervous. The Wipers should have erased Rita’s recollection of what happened last night’s events completely, not cause her to believe it was a dream. As a Soul Mystic, a part of Arti felt it was her duty to protect the security of the supernatural and paranormal less something very bad happen and innocent people get hurt. But then she remembered the last time she had tried taking on such a task, it had gotten her bat-turned-human who was now stuck to Brian like a tick to a dog.
When it came time for lunch, Arti looked for Brian so they could discuss what she had overheard Rita talking about. She asked Mari if she had seen him, and Mari pointed him out in a secluded table in the cafeteria with Elizabeth. Of all the nerve!!! He was feeding her the French fries on her tray! It made Arti fume and growl lightly. Then Arti stormed off with Mari following her.
Brian had seen what had happened. He had only been trying to teach Elizabeth about human food, but she insisted that Brian feed her a bite. Well, so what if Arti had looked angry about him having lunch with Elizabeth? She often got mad at him when he didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t like he and Elizabeth were doing anything wrong. But then, why did it feel like he had?
Arti sat under the tree where she and Brian normally had lunch with Mari by her side. She angrily drank her soda as Mari watched her.
Mari looked at her friend for a while before saying, “You don’t like that Elizabeth is so close to Brian, do you?”
“So what?” Arti asked between gulps.
“You don’t…you don’t…” Mari was trying to choose her next words carefully. “You don’t think you might be….jealous, do you?”
Arti choked and spat out the remainder of her soda and beat her chest until she stopped coughing. “Me? Jealous that someone likes Brian!? Don’t make me laugh.” She gave false laughs at how silly the idea was. “Like I would be jealous of anyone that jerk goes out with. It’s not like I like him like that or anything.”
“Oh,” said Mari. “Well, I always wondered. You know, there have been a few rumors going around that you and Brian make a cute couple.”
“Oh?” Arti was smirking as if the notion was a large joke, but she was blushing faintly. “Well I hate to break it to you, but those rumors are just rumors.”
“Well, I always thought you and Brian looked good together, to be honest,” Mari admitted.
“You need glasses,” Arti told her. “He’s got no fashion sense, he’s overconfident, reckless, loud and annoying, a show off, and worst of all, a skirt-chaser. Who could ever be attracted to a guy like that?”
“I guess he does have his flaws,” Mari agreed.
“There a lots of better fish in the sea than that wounded guppy,” Arti concluded.
Mari got a sly look on her face. “Liiiike...Alberto Charming?”
Now Arti blushed wildly. “Don’t joke around like that!!” she snapped at Mari.
“I’m not,” Mari told her. “You do think he’s good-looking, right?”
“‘Good-looking’!? That’s an understatement!” Arti sighed.
Alberto Charming was the handsomest boy in school, and the most popular. He was kind, thoughtful, talented, athletic, intelligent and considered a real gentleman. Probably the last gentleman in existence. All the single girls at school adored him.
Just the thought of him made Arti’s heart thump loudly in her chest and her face to become as red as an apple. She sighed and looked somberly at her friend who was grinning openly. “Why did you do that to me?”
“To see what you’d do,” Mari teased.
“You can be so mean to me,” Arti pouted. “It’s not nice to mess with a girl’s heart. Besides, like I’d have a chance with Alberto.”
“How do you know unless you try?” Mari asked.
Arti looked at her. “What?”
“You heard me,” Mari said. “Ask out Alberto.”
“You can’t be serious,” Arti replied. “I can’t ask him out. Guys ask girls out. Girls don’t ask guys out.”
“According to what logic?” questioned Mari.
“The world’s logic,” answered Arti.
“I can do this all day after school, Art,” Mari told her.
Arti sighed. “You’re relentless, aren’t you?”
Mari smiled. “Yup.”
Arti walked home from school that day. She could hardly believe what had happened. The images and words still echoed in the corridors of her mind. Had it really happened? Or had she just imagined the whole thing?
“Arti!”
She was brought back to reality and looked over her shoulder to see Brian running after her with Elizabeth by his side.
“Arti, you left for school without me,” Brian said as he drew level with her.
“Yeah. So?” was her reply.
Brian looked at her. “You okay?”
“Fine,” Arti told him. “Couldn’t be better. How are you and Elizabeth?”
“Arti, it’s not like that,” Brian told her. “You really need to get over seeing me around other girls.”
“I don’t have a problem with you being around other girls,” Arti said huffily. “In fact, tonight I’m going out with Alberto Charming.”
Brian stared at her for a minute. “Could you repeat that? For a minute I thought you said you were going out with Alberto Charming.”
“I did,” Arti told him.
“Going out?” Brian repeated. “As in, ‘on a date’ going out?”
“That’s right,” Arti answered, a nasty smile on her face. “Why should it matter to you who I date?”
“Date?” Elizabeth had drawn level with Brian. “What is ‘date’?”
“Nothing,” Brian told her.
“Don’t lie to the kid,” Arti told Brian and walked right up to Elizabeth. “A date is when two people go out to have fun. It’s usually at night and sometimes involves romantic events.”
Elizabeth blinked. “I like that word,” she said softly, then turned to Brian. “Do you want to go out on a date with me?”
Brian blushed. “I…would I!? I…Elizabeth…”
“What’s the matter, Brian? I’ve never seen you act this shy before.” A part of Arti was enjoying watching this. “Isn’t she good-looking enough? I know you go for girls with a good figure, and she has that. Or…” the smirk widened, “Or could it be you like me?”
Brian let out an awkward-sounding “Huh!?”
Elizabeth looked at Brian. “Do you?”
Brian looked between Elizabeth, who looked as if he answered wrongly, she’d cry and Arti, who had that smug look on her face. Finally he said, “Of course not! How could any guy like a loud, overbearing tomboy who’s flat as a board? If Charming wants to go out with her, he’s welcomed to her. I’ve never had any interest in Arti and I doubt I ever will, no matter what anyone says.”
Arti looked at Brian for a minute. Then turned her face and continued smirking. “I see. Glad to know how you feel.” She turned on her heel and continued walking away.
Elizabeth was still looking at Brian. “Brian, could…we…go…on a…date….tonight?”
“I…I guess…” he answered. Brian had to admit she had lovely red eyes.
Arti kept her face lowered. Her teeth were set in a semi-grit and she fought the urge to give into her tears of anger at Brian’s words. At least she told herself they were tears of anger. “Brian, you jerk.”
Edwin and Prince were sitting at the round table in the kitchen enjoying some late afternoon coffee while Bagi curled up on the floor in her natural form at Edwin’s feet.
“This reminds me of the old days,” Edwin said fondly. “Back when you and I and Mariah were kids and hung out at your place after school since we were in grade school. Who knew you and I would meet each other again down the long road?”
“Well, me and Mariah were sort of hoping we’d see you again since we had decided to make you Arti’s godfather,” Prince told his old friend.
Edwin looked at him. “Me? A godfather? What an honor. I proudly yet humbly accept.” They clinked their cups together.
Bagi playfully said “Cheers.”
“So, what brings you here?” Prince asked Edwin.
“My house had pests in it,” Edwin told him. “Me and Bagi were coming home from some nighttime bird-watching and Bagi said she smelled rats in the house. She went ahead, peeked inside and when she came back, she told me rats were inside and taking the place apart. Like they were searching for something.”
Prince looked at him. “Familiars?”
Edwin nodded. “Probably belonged to Vermin or Nezumi-Onna.”
“What’d you do?” Prince asked.
“I have a few booby traps in the house,” Edwin told him. “And I always carry a little detonator. After Bagi killed all the rats, we packed up all that was precious and needed to us, I pressed it. And then we came here to Soul City looking to see if I could be of use to Mr. Shin.”
Prince looked incredulously at his old school friend. “You….blew up your own house!?”
Edwin nodded. “Didn’t want to, but I also didn’t want any of my secret stuff falling into Eris’s hands.” He took another sip of coffee. “No offense, Prince,” Edwin went on, “but back then I never thought you and Mariah would get together. I mean, you were always such a flirt with the girls from second grade to our final years of college. I guess Mariah was worth settling down with after all?”
“Yeah,” Prince confirmed. “That and she said if I didn’t stop flirting so much, she, her brother, boy cousins, girl cousin, step-sister and father would all take turns punching me in the nose.”
“How come I wasn’t in that list?” Edwin laughed.
“Oh, I’m sure you just slipped her mind because you were away that weekend when she made me propose,” Prince chuckled.
“Hi, Arti!”
“Hello, Debra. Sorry, but I can’t talk now.”
“You okay? Your face looks kind of red.”
“I’m fine. I just can’t talk right now.”
The door to the Hunter apartment opened and closed violently.
“DAD! I want to talk, NOW!”
“Sounds like the little lady’s home,” Edwin observed.
Prince looked a bit nervous from the volume and tone of Arti’s voice. “Only one thing could make a girl sound that irritable.” He turned to Edwin. “Could it be?”
Edwin leered with a bit of distaste at him. “Are you really asking me what I think you’re asking me?”
Arti came into the kitchen and marched up to her father. “Dad, I don’t care what your objections are, I’m going out on a date tonight. He’ll be here at six.” She marched out again.
“You know,” Edwin said after they heard her go up to her room, “if Artemis inherited her mom’s looks, talent, feisty personality and brains, what’d she get from you, Prince?”
“My hair,” Prince said sheepishly.
“Ah.” Edwin took a sip of his coffee. “And here I was wondering about genes.”
“I’m going to forget you said that,” Prince growled.
Elizabeth had insisted that they go at five o’clock, it being her favorite time of day since that was when the sun went down. She had been given a black dress and plastic decorative rose by Bagi and looked so lovely that Brian actually wished he had changed out of his jacket and put on some different pants, which was a first for him.
They had chosen to walk a bit in Central Park before getting something to eat at a local restaurant Brian new. To Elizabeth, that sounded very nice and she held onto his arm as they strolled.
A few moths had begun to flit about, attracting Elizabeth’s notice. Her stomach growled on instinct. No! No. No, she had a human body now. It wouldn’t do to be chasing after and eating bugs anymore. She was just happy being on the arm of Brian, the man she had fallen in love with and was taking her out on her first ever date.
Arti stood in front of the full-length mirror that stood in a corner of her room while Bagi curled up on her bed. She had put on a short dress that exposed her shoulders and looked like a sunflower with a light powder-blue skirt and purple heels with turquoise fluffs near the toes.
“Aren’t you dolled up?” Bagi smiled from where she was curled up. “Nice guy?”
“Yeah,” Arti answered. “One of the most popular guys at school.”
Bagi purred. “You must be really excited, then.”
Arti looked at herself in the mirror. “You’d think that, wouldn’t you?”
“You aren’t?” Bagi asked.
“I…was…when he said yes…” Arti found she was lowering her face to look at one of the shoes she was wearing as she stuck out her foot. “I mean, he’s handsome, smart, funny and kind. Any single girl would give her right arm to go out with him. So why aren’t I excited?”
“Maybe you feel a bit jealous that Elizabeth’s always hanging on Brian,” Bagi mused. “Not that I blame her.”
Arti looked at the cat on her bed. “How many times do I have to say it? I am not j--” She stopped short when Bagi gave her a very cool and steady look.
“Are you sure about what you say?” Bagi asked.
Elizabeth sniffed the air. “Brian, I smell something funny.”
“Sorry about that,” said Brian. “I guess I should have gotten this jacket washed the other day.”
“No, not that,” Elizabeth said. “Something…bad. Very bad. Almost…”
“Wicked?”
Brian and Elizabeth turned to see a woman in her late twenties with curled silver-white hair and gray eyes standing twelve feet away from them. She was wearing a black robe, gothic boots, skeleton-patterned gloves, and a cloak with a crescent moon on the right corner.
“A Necro,” Brian said hatefully.
The witch nodded. “Luna Illwill.”
Brian moved around in front of Elizabeth. “Stay behind me. I’m pretty sure I can take her.”
Luna smirked. “Maybe you can take me on, but can you take him?”
She pointed over their left shoulder to a man with deathly pale skin. He was dressed like Luna, but also sported a black hood that hid a bit of his face. His boost were also blood red rather than black, and two, bestial red eyes glowed in the pale face that was shadowed by the hood. Rather than the skeleton gloves that were a part of the standard uniform for members of the WWS, he wore crimson gauntlets that had long, savage-looking metal claws on the wrist.
“Meet Gulo Savage,” Luna’s gray eyes sparkled wickedly. “It was nice meeting the two of you. Goodbye.”
Arti looked down at the cat on her bed. “Okay, let’s say I am jealous. So what? It’s not like I’m attracted to Brian in any way.”
“Never said you were,” Bagi said.
“But he’s such a…a….horse’s tail sometimes,” Arti went on. “And he can be such a dummy. He’s also reckless and impatient. He never stops to plan ahead.”
“I’m sure you’ve known him a lot longer than me to make those judgments.” Bagi stretched and yawned.
“And he’s a skirt chaser.” Arti had a bit of contempt for those two words in her voice. “Any pretty girl who crosses his path turns his head.”
“But that’s to be expected with most boys his age,” Bagi reasoned.
“Not Kintaro,” Arti argued. “To him, Tsukumo is the only girl in his world.”
“Are they boyfriend and girlfriend?” Bagi asked.
“Well…not really,” Arti answered. “Tsukumo says she doesn’t want to rush into anything.”
“Sounds reasonable,” the cat observed.
Brian had activated his Idol and sent bolt after bolt of electricity from his gloves as he kept Elizabeth behind him.
Gulo came on all fours’ like an animal and lunged.
Brian shot him with electric blasts that caused the werewolf to fall back and land awkwardly on his feet.
“Looks like we’ve got a Soul Mystic here.” Gulo’s mouth was full of disgustingly yellowed, fang-like teeth, one or two of the upper teeth protruding over the lower-lip when his mouth was closed and his face a tad more wolf than human. Brian was uncomfortably sure he could see Gulo’s top gum bleeding a bit, too. He spoke in a thick Moscow accent, but it was still easy to tell what he was saying.
Luna’s look of shock betrayed her for a moment. “A Soul Mystic? Gulo, he may have had contact with the Magical Ministry and given a whistle to call them. Maybe we should flee.”
“Not a chance,” Gulo replied. “My great-grandma was killed by a Soul Mystic last month. I’m not about to pass up a chance for revenge.” His red wolf-like eyes also focused on Elizabeth. “And besides…that girl looks delicious.”
Luna gave her relation a look of pure disgust. She loved him, but every now and then he said things that she would rather not hear. “Then make it quick! And maybe we’ll take the girl back with us and see what Marvo says about her.”
Brian glared at Gulo. “You’re not sinking those snaggled teeth in anyone, mutt-man.”
Gulo grinned, showing just how unhealthily red his gums were. “Oh? It’s not a full moon, so even if I do change, even though my bite won’t make you like me, it won’t hurt any less. What do you say to that, punk?”
“Come on, needle-mouth,” Brian challenged.
“If he has so many flaws and you fight so much, why are you two partners?” Bagi asked. “I’m sure you could join with the blond three doors down to the right of your apartment.”
“Anni wouldn’t need me on her team,” Arti reasoned. “I’d just be another person she’d have to worry about. Besides, if I did leave Brian, he’d be totally helpless. He’s such a fool.”
“Then why do you hang out with him then?” asked Bagi.
Arti turned to see the cat laying on her left side and licking her right front forelimb. Arti didn’t answer immediately.
“I mean,” Bagi went on, “if he’s such ‘a jerk’, as you put it, don’t you think you’d be better off not knowing him? If you didn’t know him, what he does probably wouldn’t bother you as much.”
Brian struck Gulo when he charged with ten volts of electricity to keep him at bay. When Luna had tried to grab Elizabeth while Brian was busy with the werewolf, Elizabeth had leapt into the air as if she were lighter than a feather. Luna was surprised at first, but then flew off the ground as well and began to chase Elizabeth back and forth in the air as Brian struggled to keep Gulo from attacking him with those foul but dangerous looking teeth and those long sharp fingernails of his.
Arti looked down at Bagi. “Be better off without Brian? I….I don’t think I’d agree with that.”
“Why not?” Bagi asked. “You have the brains.”
“But….but….” she picked up Bagi gently. “Promise not to tell Brian what I’m going to tell you?”
“I swear it on my first life,” Bagi lifted her right front paw.
Arti whispered into Bagi’s ear, “His Idol is stronger than mine and better for combat. An Idol grows and develops new powers along with its owner. There’s only so much mine can do right now.”
“So you need him?” Bagi purred.
“I didn’t say that,” Arti told her.
“You didn’t not say it,” Bagi retorted, ignoring her double negative.
Arti set Bagi back down on her bed and seemed lost in thought as Bagi looked up at her.
“Stay still, you little mosquito!” Luna screamed at Elizabeth as the girl seemed to slip from her grasp whenever Luna was about to grab her. “You’re as annoyingly swift as a bat being chased by an owl!”
Brian couldn’t keep up using his Idol power for much longer. It felt like it was running out, and fast. But Gulo didn’t seem to be tiring out at all. Sure, he was a bit charred looking and starting to smoke, but he barely showed any signs of fatigue. That worried Brian. He had always heard Weres had more endurance than regular humans. Was he seeing that same endurance in Gulo now? If Brian slacked off the power or showed sign of weakness, he was dead.
“Damn it.” Arti grunted in annoyance. “You saw Elizabeth last, Bagi. Did she say where she was going on her date with Brian?”
“She said they’d start with a walk in Central Park,” Bagi told her.
Arti’s eyes widened. “Central Park!? But it’s not safe! There’s a werewolf hanging around there!” Without thinking about it, she grabbed her Idol and Soul Compass off her dresser and ran out the door. “DadifahandsomeguycomestothedoortellhimI’msorrybut Ihadtocancelourdate.I’mofftorescuemydumbpartner.Il oveyou.bye!” Arti said as she ran past the living room where Prince and Edwin where sitting as they continued reflecting on their youth and out the door.
Prince looked at Edwin. “Did she say ‘I love you’ to me?”
“You understood all that?” Edwin asked.
Arti ran as fast as she could towards Central Park which was a full block and two yards away. She hoped she wouldn’t be too late.
Gulo broke free from the electric currents’ hold and rushed Brian again. He knocked the boy over ran right over him. The werewolf turned, skidding on all fours’, and came back for the lunge that would decide the outcome.
Elizabeth watched from high overhead. “No.” She screamed. This was no mere scream. It was of a supersonic level. Fortunately, for Brian, it caused Gulo to stop an inch away from where the boy lay helplessly on his back and the werewolf howled in pain. Elizabeth continued to scream loudly and higher, seeing how it affected Gulo.
“That NOISE!” Gulo screamed and growled as he clutched his hands to his ears. “What IS IT!? I HATE IT!!! WHERE’S IT COMING FROM!?” He looked up at Elizabeth. “It’s that girl! Luna! Throttle that banshee!”
Luna flew straight at Elizabeth.
“No. You. Don’t!”.
A spear whizzed between Luna’s hands and Elizabeth, the latter flying further away by ten feet. The spear spun like a boomerang and returned to the awaiting hand of Arti as she stood ten feet from Gulo and Brian. A gust of wind ran behind Arti and caused her dress to flutter about her, making her look both fierce and beautiful.
Brian blushed as he looked at her. “Whoa...Arti…never thought I’d say this, but….you look hot.”
Arti looked at him when he said this and realized what was happening to her dress. She blushed crimson and pushed her dress down. “Don’t look, you jerk!” She screamed. “I break my date just because stupid you decided to have yours’ in the werewolf’s hunting ground! Idiot!”
“Who are these kids?” Luna asked herself. “They’re showing up like weeds! Gulo!” she called to him, “Hurry up and kill one or both of them!”
Gulo was looking at Arti’s Idol. “What do you think you can do with that toy stick?”
“The tip is made of pure silver,” Arti told him.
“You believe those old corny stories?” Gulo laughed. “Three of my own teeth are made of pure silver, girly, and they don’t hurt me one bit.” His laugh turned to a howl of annoyance and mild pain as Brian shocked him in the back with his Idol.
“Did that hurt?” Brian asked.
Gulo growled, and then Brian by the shirt collar. “Little bastard!”
“NO!” Arti ran at Gulo with her spear held high.
At the same moment, Brian sent out one last surge or electric power with his Idol. The current focused on the main source of metal and surged into the head of Arti’s spear. Anyone expecting Arti to fall back injured would have been disappointed. Instead, the electricity crackled and seemed to cause the spearhead to glow with a bluish white light. Arti felt a different sensation running through her. She felt as if her Idol had become more powerful. Was it starting to enter its’ next stage of power?
“ARTI!” screamed Elizabeth.
Arti looked up and saw that Gulo had a hand clamped on Brian’s throat, preparing to strangle him. “LET GO OF HIM!!” Arti screamed as she swept her spear in a downward strike. The electric current came to the surface of the spearhead and surged towards the werewolf. It hit Gulo, causing him to arch his back and eyes to bulge in agony. But fortunately, it also made him drop Brian.
Gulo fell over backwards, completely having passed out from pain which he had never known existed.
Frightened that Gulo had been defeated, Luna teleported away.
Arti ran to Brian and helped him sit up. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. He barely got started when you got him.” Brian’s smile made her blush. “Looks like your Idol moved to the next power stage. Good for you.” Then he seemed to go unconscious”
“Brian!” Arti shook him a bit.
“He’s okay,” said Elizabeth as she landed next to them. “He’s just exhausted from all the power he used up.” She looked down at them. “You really care about him, huh? I couldn’t do much to help, but you saved him.”
“I guess a part of me does care about this dope,” Arti admitted.
Elizabeth smiled. “In bat circles, when one saves the life of another, that means that bat is a fit mate. I suppose I should step aside, regardless of my feelings.”
Arti blushed. “Wait a minute. It’s not like that! It’s not!”
Elizabeth leapt into the air again. “I’ll go tell Edwin what happened.” She flew off, leaving Arti with Brian in her arms.
“It’s not like that, Elizabeth!” Arti called after her. “You got it wrong!” She sighed and looked down at Brian. “Oh man. This is really embarrassing.”

Very Nice Joey. :yes:

((This is a chapter I wrote for Halloween. I'll post chapters in Mystic Soul later to explain parts you may not understand.))


Trick Or Treat!
Or
A Mystic Halloween Treat!





Before classes started one school day, Elizabeth found Brian and Arti and was in quite a state of excitement. They couldn’t get her to say what it was that was getting her so worked up, so she gestured for them to follow her.
On the wall of the main hallway was a poster that had written in thick black letters on bright orange paper with bats, a ghost and skeleton added for decoration, so it was certainly meant to have something to do with Halloween. It read;
To All Students of Eastside High!
Don’t Forget Tomorrow Is Our Annual Halloween Party/Dance!
Make Sure You Find Yourself A Partner For Tomorrow.
Trick Or Treat!
“Does it mean anything special?” Elizabeth asked them. “I mean, what’s a Halloween party/dance? And for that matter, what’s Halloween?”
“Well you see, Elizabeth,” Brian told her, “These days Halloween is where people like to dress up in costumes and pretend to be something they’re not. Then they go out at night and roam their neighborhoods going from door to door saying ‘trick or treat’.”
“What for?” Elizabeth asked.
“Candy,” Brian answered.
Elizabeth still didn’t look like she understood completely, but was willing to take Brian’s explanation. Being a bat, there was much she did not understand about human culture. But she did understand one word.
“Who do you think will be going to the dance?” asked Elizabeth.
“Anyone who’s anyone, I suppose,” mused Brian. “Normally I might not be into it, but for the sake of being the cool and sociable guy I am, I’ll go.”
“No, you won’t,” Arti told him sternly. Then she whispered in his ear, “Did you forget that Halloween is when Ghuls, Magic-Wielders, demons, goblins, and other dark forces are almost at their strongest? And that as Soul Mystics it’s our job to make sure none of them harm the innocent?”
“Oh yeah,” Brian said upon reflection. “I guess I did.”
“Tomorrow,” Arti said to herself, “the only tricks we should concern ourselves with are the ones pulled by people who think trouble is a treat.”
Elizabeth’s ears picked up the sound of something around the corner. “Someone’s been listening to you,” she told Arti conversationally.
“What!?” Arti felt her heart stop a bit. “Who!? From where?!” She looked around the corner and locked eyes with…“Rita!” Arti shouted after the girl who ran off as soon as she had seen she had been discovered. Arti turned on her two friends who were standing there. “Why didn’t either of you tell me she was snooping on us?”
“I didn’t know it was Rita,” was Brian’s defense.
“Neither did I,” said Elizabeth meekly.
Arti sighed. Great! Now Rita is bound to tell Mallory, and I’m going to be teased whenever that redheaded cow gets the chance.
At lunch Mari joined the Arti, Brian and Elizabeth. Although she was unfamiliar with the latter two, Mari could not fail to notice that lately Arti was quite close to them. Not wanting to feel left out of anything, and feeling she should get to know Brian and Elizabeth better, Mari sat between them and Arti.
Soon they had the unwelcome arrival of Mallory and Rita.
Mallory had a look on her face like a child who has been allowed to open all her birthday presents as soon as she woke up and had her eyes on Arti. It was a mean and condescending look that was just eager to draw Arti into a cat fight. Provoking girls into fights and then feigning innocence was one of Mallory’s favorite activities. And she was good at it.
“So,” Mallory drew out the word, “I hear you’re not going to the dance tomorrow, Hunter.”
“I’m not going either,” Brian said in Arti’s defense.
Mallory gave him a sourly dismissive look. “Yeah. Well, that’s no surprise to me, O’Brian.” She swung her eyes back onto Arti. “But I thought even a stick-in-the-mud like Hunter would want to go to a party. What’s the matter, Hunter? No one to go with?”
“She does!” Mari had gotten all eyes drawn to her after she had said it. She felt her face glowing a bit.
Mallory had looked surprised at first, then her face slid back into its’ usual tactless leer. “Who?”
Mari didn’t need to think about that. She said the first name that came to her mind. “Alberto.”
Arti looked as though a cherry had exploded on her face and she stared at her best friend with a look that said “I can’t believe you just did that to me!”
Brian raised an eyebrow.
Elizabeth blinked, not totally understanding what was going on.
Rita’s mouth had fallen open in surprise.
For a moment Mallory looked shocked, then she laughed out loud. “Like Charming would go out with a tomboy!? NEVER! Why would he want to go with someone like her when he could go with me?”
“He’s already been on a date with her once,” Brian told Mallory, bringing her laughter to a halt.
Mallory stared at him. “Liar.” She hissed, though didn’t seem to believe it herself.
“He’s not,” Mari argued.
Mallory looked between the two of them, frustrated. The fun at Hunter’s expense she had been coming for had been taken from her much too soon. Now they were saying the most popular boy in school was going to be going to the Halloween party and dance with Hunter. Trying to process this made Mallory’s brain hurt, and made her angry.
Mallory looked to Rita. “Come on,” she said angrily, and stormed off with Rita following her.
Brian and Mari leaned across Elizabeth who sat between them and shook hands in congratulations on standing up for Arti and backing each other up.
Brian…Mari…Arti thought furiously, I…am going…to KILL THE BOTH OF YOU FOR THIS!!!!
“How could the both of you do that to me!?!?” Arti screamed at Brian and Mari later on. “That had to have been the most embarrassing situation of my entire life!” She put her face in both hands and gave a muffled cry of humiliation.
“Like you’d rather have had Mallory picking on you?” Brian asked her. “I figured going along with Mari’s story was the only thing to shut her stupid mouth.”
“That’s not the point of the matter!” Arti barked at him. “How am I supposed to ask Alberto Charming if he’ll go to the Halloween dance with me without having a mental blowout?”
“You can do it,” Mari told her. “Me and Brian will be there to back you up.” She turned to Brian. “Right, Brian?”
He nodded. “Sure.”
Alberto Charming was incredibly handsome. He had well managed orange hair, deep blue eyes, fair skin, and he often wore a white preppy shirt with white pants and athletic-looking shoes.
He was also very popular, not just for his looks, but because he was helpful and polite and intelligent. Often he would volunteer to tutor anyone who was having trouble with their schoolwork. Alberto had passed so many of his assignments, many of the other students wondered what he was still doing in high school. Those who he had helped and those who admired him said that such a “genius” should be in college. And even then, they’d say it wouldn’t be too much of a challenge for him.
Arti had followed him to his locker after the final bell with Brian, Mari and Elizabeth.
I can do this, Arti told herself mentally as she watched Alberto going through his locker. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. She turned around and tried to walk away. “I can’t do this!”
“Well you’re gonna!” Brian and Mari told her forcefully as they both looped an arm around one of hers’ and dragged Arti towards him.
Elizabeth hung back and watched.
“Hey, Charming!” Brian called to him.
Alberto looked up when he heard Brian and gave the sight of Arti being arm-in-arm with O’Brian and Louise as they approached him a curious look. “Yes?” The very sound of his voice almost made Arti’s heart want to leap out of her chest.
“Arti has something she wants to ask you,” Mari said, turning the crimson-faced and wide-eyed Arti around to look at Alberto.
Alberto smiled at Arti. “What is it?”
Arti squeaked inwardly as she looked at him. She shook. “Habba…da….like….me…you….holler?” STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! Arti mentally screamed at herself. Now he thinks you’re a weirdo…and he’s looking right at you!!! FIX IT! Fix it, NOW!!! “Mika…amoru, tiki dance….?” THAT WASN’T EVEN A SENTENCE, YOU DUMMY!
“I CAN’T DO THIS!” Arti turned around again and attempted to run, but Brian hooked both his arms under hers’ from behind and kept her in place. “LEMME GO, BRIAN! He’s gonna think I’m an idiot!”
“I’d say that ship has already sailed,” Brian told her.
“YOU JERK!” cried Arti.
Mari blushed in embarrassment for Arti and cleared her throat. “What she’s trying to say,” she said to Alberto, “is if you’d like to go to the Halloween dance with her tomorrow night.”
Arti’s pupils contracted. She said it. She said it. She said it. She said it. She said it. She said it. She said it! She said it! She said it! But he never even got to go out with me last time we had a date. He’s gonna turn me down!
“Sure,” Alberto said cheerily. “I’d like that.”
Arti went limp against Brian.
Brian had the impression if he left her go, Arti would fall to the floor.
Mari walked home with the trio that day. She assumed the apartment building had nothing to do with the large office building next to it and was welcomed inside by Prince.
Prince made sure to wear casual clothes when not by Mr. Shin’s side as not to arouse suspicion. He wore a brown shirt under a dusty yellow windbreaker and orange-brown pants with brick-brown shoes. The look made him look rather laid back, though his outfit did indeed clash with itself.
“So how was school today?” Prince asked his daughter.
“She has a date for tomorrow night’s Halloween dance at school,” Mari answered for the still red-faced Arti.
Prince looked at both the girls, and then fixed his eyes on Brian.
Reading the look, Brian quickly stated, “Not me, sir!”
“Oh, that’s okay, then,” sad Prince. He turned his attention back to Arti. “So what is this young man’s name?”
“A-Alberto…Charming…” Arti said timidly. She was still in shock that he had said yes. Did this mean….could it mean….that….that….Alberto liked her!?
Prince rolled that name around in his mind. “Alberto Charming. Isn’t that the same boy you had to cancel an earlier date with?”
“That’s the one,” Brian confirmed.
Mari looked at Arti. “You never told me the date was canceled. How come?”
“Something….came up….” Arti told her.
“Well, I’ll forgive you,” said Mari, pretending to pout for having a secret kept from her. “But only if you let me help you pick out a costume.”
“Okay,” Arti said, still feeling a bit in disbelief.
An hour later all the Soul Mystics were called into the auditorium for the annual pre-Halloween briefing that was given by Monica. She went on her usual speech of how darker beings, beasts, people, spirits, and creatures would use Halloween to their advantage to cause trouble and possible harm to the non-magical public and how both the Magical Ministry of Peace and Mystic Soul Society were to patrol all corners of the city tomorrow night to look for any signs that such dark forces did not cause any tragic events.
Arti sat between Brian and Kintaro and was only half paying attention, still fantasizing about how it would be tomorrow night at the party.
Monica’s eyes fixed on her. “I’m sorry, Ms. Hunter. Am I boring you with this little speech about the safety of our fellow man?”
“What!?” Arti blushed as she came out of her daydream. “Oh! Oh…oh no, Ms. Pristine. I was…it’s nothing…”
“You were just thinking about your date at the party at school tomorrow night,” Brian teased her.
That got the attention of Kintaro. “A party tomorrow? In this town? Well, now I want to go! It’s not a party without Party Animal Kintaro!”
Tsukumo blushed on his behalf, but said quietly, “I…I wouldn’t mind going…”
Hearing that there was going to be a party, Debra began bouncing up and down in her seat next to Anni. “I want to go! I want to go! I want to go! I want to go!” She hugged Giorgio who was sitting in the other seat next to her around the neck. “Giorgio can be my date!”
Giorgio blushed.
“I read those silly things,” Anni reflected. “It said students can invite family and friends if they want to.”
“SILENCE, PLEASE!” Monica requested loudly, and silence she got. She looked out over the crowd. “Am I to understand that all of you want to a high school Halloween party, the busiest night of the year for those who strive to keep the world peaceful?”
There was a unanimous “Yes!”
Monica huffed. “I’m sorry, but that cannot be allowed. Being Soul Mystics, we have a responsibility to…”
“Ms. Pristine,” said Mr. Shin from the dark background of the auditorium, “I do not think that allowing them to go to a party would mean the end of the world. There are plenty of older members of the Mystic Soul Society who can cover the entire city. Let them go if they wish. Halloween is about having fun. And, after all, we are only young once.”
Monica daren’t challenge Mr. Shin, but she was not going to be beaten easily. “Very well,” she said. “But if they go, they must have a chaperone.” Her eyes scanned the crowd and fixed on the face of…
Arti moaned in humiliation the next day. She could not believe that her father would be the chaperone Ms. Pristine had chosen. Monica certainly knew how to hit someone where it hurt.
Mari had helped Arti pick out a pearly-white princess dress; stating Alberto would most certainly be going as a prince. She had tied Arti’s hair back in a bun towards the hairline of her neck and set a silver tiara with jade stones in the three points on top of her head.
Looking in the mirror, Arti had to admit she looked beautiful in it.
“I look like I came right out of a storybook,” said Arti. She did not have a tone of annoyance, but of amazement of how wonderful the costume looked on her.
“I knew it would suit you,” Mari told her. “One look at you and Alberto will fall totally in love!” She gave Arti thumbs up. For her costume, Mari had applied orange face-paint and wore an orange cat costume complete with a tail and set of ears that sat in her hair.
There was a knock on the door and Prince’s voice came through. “Your friends are here, Arti.”
“Thanks, dad,” Arti replied.
The group was gathered in the living room.
Brian had changed out of his usual red jacket only to change into a blue one and had a matching football helmet on his head and white smears under his eyes.
This costume came as no surprise to Arti.
His date, Elizabeth, wore a black silken dress that looked like it was imported from Egypt with golden bracelets on her wrists and two more up near her shoulders. She had also gotten a spray-on tan from Edwin who acted as her guardian. It was so good hat for a moment Arti hadn’t recognized the normally shy girl.
Anni and Kintaro were passing off their work clothes as Halloween costumes.
Tsukumo had painted her face white, done her hair up in a Chinese done, and wore an auburn kimono with white socks and sandy wooden sandals.
Giorgio wore a fencing uniform complete with mask.
Debra had made the same choice as Mari, but rather go as a mackerel tabby, her face and costume were gray in color.
Mari examined all of the costumes with interest. “You all put serious thought into your costumes. Like these looks are second nature to you guys or something!”
“You could say that,” Giorgio commented.
Prince had not changed out of his casual attire and came into the room. “You guys all ready to go?”
They were.
Prince had a standard six-seat car which led the way to Eastside. Tsukumo sat in the front with him while Mari and Arti sat in the second seats, and Brian and Elizabeth sat in the far back.
Giorgio rode in the sidecar of Widower Bill as Debra hung onto Anni from behind while Anni followed the car.
Not being one to do what was easy, ran after the motorbike ahead of him.
The party was held in the large gym building on campus. Inside was decorated with orange and black streamers, paper and plastic bats and skeletons, and white cloths meant to be ghosts hanging from the ceiling. On the far left wall was a long table with trays of Halloween-themed food and a bowl of orange punch. The speakers on the walls were playing instrumental versions of classic Halloween songs. The gym’s windows were covered with decorative cobwebs with plastic spiders in the center and surrounded by flies. All in all, it could be said that this was indeed a traditional party for all Hallows’ Eve.
“Alright, kids,” Prince told the group after entering the gym, “have fun. You’ve earned this.”
Kintaro rushed off to the table of food with Tsukumo following him and Anni sundering her.
Debra grabbed onto Giorgio’s arm and made a purring noise. “Come on! I wanna dance!”
“Uh…sure,” replied a furiously blushing Giorgio, and the pair of them moved out to the center of the gym where varied costumed couples were dancing.
They were followed by Elizabeth and Brian.
“Your neighbors sure don’t waste anytime, do they?” Mari cheerily asked Art.
“You have no idea,” Arti replied.
Then Arti saw the person she didn’t want to see.
Mallory was dressed like the Queen of Hearts and approached her with a tan boy with blond hair who was dressed as the King of Hearts. The redhead leered meanly at Arti.
“Where’s your date?” Mallory asked in a nasty voice. “Didn’t meet him at your place? Julian was out on my doorstep when it was time for us to go.” She smirked and looked rudely at Mari, who was growling in her threat. “Buzz off, pussycat.”
“Why don’t you?” retorted Mari challengingly.
“Now, now, girls,” said Prince peacefully, “let’s not start any trouble. This is supposed to be a party after all.”
Mallory was about to say something catty regarding Prince’s outfit, when she heard a voice that curdled her blood.
“So here’s where you and Julian snuck off to!”
A woman with long red hair that rested on her shoulders and kind green eyes rested a hand on Mallory’s right shoulder. She wore a blue shirt under a deep green blazer and sandpapery work pants and white sneakers.
The instant this woman touched Mallory, Mallory tensed up and looked as though she had something stuck in her throat.
She looked at Prince. “Hello,” she said kindly. “I’m Samantha Royal, Mallory’s mother.” She held out her hand.
“Rinse Hunter,” a blushing Prince said, shaking her hand. “I…I mean, Prince Hunter. Arti’s father.” He set his other hand on Arti’s shoulder. “Nice to meet you Samantha.”
“And it’s nice to meet you,” Samantha continued smiling. “Stuck with chaperoning?”
Prince nodded.
“Me, too,” Samantha said. “I brought Mallory and her cousin Julian here to the party.”
Arti and Mari tried not to burst out laughing as Mallory’s face went an indignant and infuriated crimson.
Mallory stalked off with her cousin.
“Uh, excuse me,” Prince said as Samantha tried to follow them, “would….you care to join me by the punch bowl?”
Samantha smiled. “Not at all.”
Mari and Arti watched the pair go off.
“Excuse me,” said a polite voice behind Arti. “Would you care to dance?”
Arti turned and wouldn’t have been surprised if her entire body went as red as a tomato and had steam coming out of her ears.
Alberto was dressed in an elegant purple prince costume, looking as though he had stepped right out of every girl’s fantasy. Mari had been right in assuming what he would come as.
Mari gave Alberto a thorough looking over and said the one thing that came to her mind. “Mrow!” She set a hand on Arti’s shoulder and smiled. “The man asked you a question, Princess Artemis. It’s rude to keep a gentleman waiting.”
I think I’m in love! Mentally mused Arti as her eyes took in Alberto. I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven, and all the angels look like him.
“Hey, Arti. Arti? Earth to Artemis Hunter. Yoohoo!” Waving her hand in front of Arti’s face, Mari snapped Arti out of her dazed state.
“I…I’m sorry….” Said Artemis blushingly. “What was the question?”
“Dance,” Alberto said, his hand held out to take hers’. “Would you like to?”
An intense blush covered Arti’s face all the way up to her hair and down to her collarbone.
“She’d be delighted,” Mari answered for her.
Smiling, Alberto took Arti by the hand and led her out onto the dance floor.
Elizabeth rested her head on Brian’s right shoulder as they danced.
Giorgio tried to keep from shaking as he danced with Debra.
Anni leaned against the wall next to the snack table while Kintaro sat in a chair with a plate full of party food with Tsukumo sitting next to him.
Prince and Samantha chatted amicably by the punch bowl while keeping an eye out for their daughters.
“You dance quite well,” Alberto told Arti.
“You’re just being nice,” Arti replied. She dearly hoped she wasn’t going to start sweating. That was all she needed at a time like this.
“No I’m not,” Alberto told her. “You’re good. Is this your first time dancing with someone?”
Blushing at the compliment, Arti nodded.
Arti felt nothing could go wrong.
Outside the gym stood several figures on the rooftop of the school. They comprised of masked Necros, Spook the goblin, and the Itachi Ninja Sisters.
One figure was skeleton-thin. He did not wear the cloak or mask that went with the robe, ruff and gloves, and in the light of the moon his boots were a deep purple rather than black, and his face was hidden in the shadows of the night beneath the hood. The man grinned at the building before them.
Behind the Necros were a collection of night walking monsters, demons and spooks that they had gathered.
Kami smirked. “Boys, we’re going to show these kiddies what a real monster mash looks like.”
Spook broke through one of the glass windows and following him were seven man-sized crows, a phantom-ish black wolf-like apparition, ten cat-sized rats with bat-like wings covered in black feathers, twenty imps, three other goblins, six howling vaporous ghosts seven green balls of slime, and a flock of leaf-nosed bats. The criminal goblin and his horde circled over the heads of the partygoers and Spook cackled with evil glee.
“When people ask me ‘Don’t you just love Halloween?’, I answer, ‘It’s what I live for!’” Spook crowed.
In empty spaces on the floor, the Necros started to appear among the partygoers.
Kami and her sisters appeared in front of Kintaro as he was stuffing his face with food. “So, we meet again.”
The blob balls bounced on top of various peoples’ heads, leaving a nasty slimy feeling behind.
The wolf-like specter howled and caused many to cringe with fright.
One of the crows attempted to attack Brian, but he thrust his right arm across its throat and laid it out flat.
“Everybody get out of here!” Prince cried out to the whole gym.
Nobody needed telling twice. Every student began leaving as fast as they could.
“Let them go,” one Necro told another who held up a hand that had begun to glow an eerie green. “I think we did enough damage just by showing up. We can fight the Soul Mystics.”
This order was passed around and none of the other Necros or their allies attempted to stop the students from fleeing. Some of the Necros even made snide remarks and catcalls after those who were retreating and rushing for their means of transportation.
Alberto tried to shield Arti beneath him as students began evacuating the gym, but she slipped away from him.
“Arti, what are you doing?” Alberto asked. “We need to get out of here.”
“You find Mari and go on ahead,” Arti told him. “I need to find my father.” And she left the man any girl would die to be with, pushing through the rushing terrified crowd to stand alongside her father.
Prince had activated his Idol and was pointing the ice gauntlet that ran to his elbow at a group of flying rats, bats and crow monsters. He shot several icy rounds, catching half their number and causing them to drop to the floor with a crash.
“What are you doing here?” Prince asked his daughter. “Run for it.”
“And leave you and the others here to fight them alone? I think not,” Arti retorted. “Besides, they interrupted my dance.”
Prince rolled his eyes and reached into his left pocket, pulling out Arti’s Idol. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to use these, but better safe than sorry. Hey!”
One of the bats ducked low and snatched Arti’s Idol by the chain attached to the pendant and flew off. That same bat was grabbed by Elizabeth who had flown after it and she wrenched the Idol from the bat’s teeth, tossing it to Arti.
Arti jumped and caught her Idol, activating it to take on its’ Lightning Rod upgrade. She then began blasting as many of the monsters and bats with jolts of electricity as she could reach, felling them so that only one of the crow monsters was left.
Anni had launched herself onto Kimi and began striking the less-than-powerful ninja witch about the face and neck with the back of her hand as she held her down.
Kitti and Kami stood back, aghast at what they were seeing.
“Don’t just stand there!” Kami barked at her blond sister. “Help her!”
“Right!” Kitti nodded. She threw up her hands and the thin string began to extend from her wristbands. “Time for my Cat’s Cradle!” Kitti then screamed in fright.
Giorgio had jumped right in front of her, slashing at her wrists with both his fencing foils after having activated his Idol.
Startled and shaking, Kitti sat on her cat’s tail and stared at the serious-faced boy. “Are you crazy!? You could have cut my hands off!” That was when her wristbands fell off, the underside of them cut neatly before she could perform her magic.
Frightened that one of her sisters was on the floor and being slapped senseless, and another had had her magic charm broken, Kami fled across the gym as fast as she could.
“Big sister!” Kitti cried after Kami.
“Don’t worry about her,” Giorgio told the catgirl. “Worry about me.”
Shaking and whimpering, Kitti looked to her sister who Anni now was holding by the back of her shirt. She vanished from being towered over by Giorgio to next to Anni. Kitti shoved Anni away and wrapped an arm around Kimi before teleporting away in retreat.
Kintaro and Tsukumo had leapt from their spots after Kimi had been floored.
Using the speed and power of a ninja, Kintaro quickly felled several Necros that had surrounded him..
Arti and Brian struck the wolf specter with an electrical charge for having dared to menace Tsukumo after she had tripped over her kimono, causing it to vanish.
“Anni!”
Anni was picking herself up off the floor after Kitti had pushed her to see Debra was being chased by the slime balls and Spook. Activating her Idol and causing it to upgrade, she shot at her adopted sister’s pursuers, destroying the balls of goo and causing Spook to go flying back into a wall and sliding down it unconscious.
All around there were the unconscious and hexed figures of monsters and Necros. The only ones who had escaped were the Itachi Sisters, but that was no problem.
“Well that wasn’t too hard,” Brian commented.
“You think so?” a high squeak of a voice behind him questioned.
Brian turned and saw behind him was a tall and skeletal Necro with a monkey-like face, perpetual toothy grin and purple gothic shoes. He backed off seven steps.
The Necro scanned the entire gym. “I’d say all that was rather impressive. You beat them all and you were totally outnumbered. Your powers are increasing, aren’t they?”
A jagged patch of ice appeared by his foot.
He looked across the gym at Prince, who had a furious look on his face.
“Get away from Brian, Loki,” Prince ordered. “If you touch one hair on his head…”
“My dear Hunter, I wouldn’t do anything now,” the man named Loki replied. “None of you are any fun at all. I wanted to terrify a school of students on Halloween, and when we saw there were Soul Mystics here, we got very excited. But you had to go and spoil my fun.” He gave them all the look of a bratty child. “I’m going home!” And he vanished.
Prince breathed heavily and took out his cell phone. “Monica? This is Prince. A few Necros and their buddies decided to crash the Halloween party. We’ll need some clean up down here.” Then under his breath he said, “And one of the Commanding Council was here.”
By the next morning, the Necros, monsters and Spook had been carried off, the damaged floor and window had been repaired and those who had seen the party crashes behaved as if nothing had happened.
How, you ask? Mr. Shin has his ways of making sure such things are not revealed.

This was down right awesome.
When the Halloween dance began to turn sour and the fighting was going to happen, it became even more interesting.
I like the characters different abilities and I can't wait for more!

This was pure awesomeness! The first chapter was an amazing set up to the whole story and the Soul Mystic society. I love the subplot about Arti and Brian's relationship and true feelings they have for each other. The fighting and abilities each character have help shape the uniqueness of the story and it's totally different from any story I've read.

Chapter 5 is my favorite chapter! :)

Chapter 7
Anni In Love




For a month now Anni had been partnered with Debra Smith and Giorgio Monarch, two kids who were far younger than herself. They could be a handful at times, but she was starting to grow accustomed to being around them. Well, she was accustomed to being around “Sunny”, as Debra was often called, at any rate. Giorgio struck her as a priggish, pompous, overbearing, condescending little twerp who always seemed to think he knew better and thought he deserved to be team leader rather than Anni. At times Anni would have dearly loved to give Giorgio a good bop on the head and kick in the pants.
It just so happened that Arti and Mari had their last period class with Anni, even sitting next to her. It was in this class on a bright day that the two girls found Anni with her elbows on her desk and staring vaguely off into space. Like always, she had her rather uninterested look, but somehow it seemed as if she were in another zone and was unaware of what was going on around her.
Arti poked Anni in the side as she sat on the left of her. “Anni, you okay?”
Anni seemed to take sometime answering. “What? Oh, oh yes. I’m…I’m fine.” Her answer came in an airy and light voice which was uncharacteristic for Anni. It also seemed she had a faint flush on her face.
It was after school when there was a rap-tap-tap on the door to the Hunter apartment. When Arti opened the door she found Debra and Giorgio standing there.
“Hi, Arti,” Debra said. “Can we talk?”
Arti led the pair to her room and sat on her bed while Debra sat on the floor, hugging a sleepy Bagi softly in her arms, and Giorgio slumped against the wall by the door.
“So what do you two want to talk about?” asked Arti.
“It regards Miss Oakly,” Giorgio informed her. “Recently she has been exhibiting mannerisms and characteristics that are most unexpected and unpredictable of her.”
Arti looked a bit lost.
“She’s been acting weird,” Debra said bluntly.
“Weird as in how?” Arti asked.
“Her argumentative personality when it comes to the issue of my authority to lead the group hasn’t arisen, her demeanor seems unfocused, she says peculiar things in a monotone manner, and often times her focus seems fleeting,” stated Giorgio.
Debra translated for Arti. “Whenever we aren’t on missions she seems to be a bit loopy. She’ll sit in her room just staring at the wall or ceiling, moan, and say stuff under her breath. I think the only times when she seems herself is when she makes dinner. Though, she doesn’t seem to eat much” She looked at Arti. “Has she been the same at school?”
“She has been a tad strange at school,” Arti confessed. “Is she around?”
“She said she was going down the block and a right at the corner,” said Giorgio. “Miss Oakly said she was running a ‘personal errand’, whatever that means.”
Debra looked at Arti. “I say we follow her.”
“You sure?” Arti asked. “If it’s personal, it may be something she doesn’t want to talk about.”
“But she’s my big sister,” Debra pouted. “Okay, I know technically she isn’t my real big sister, but that’s what she feels like to me. I’m worried about her and want to know what’s up with Anni.”
“And as leader of Team Monarch,” Giorgio put in, “I feel I have a right to know why Miss Oakly has been exhibiting such peculiar behavior. I will join you as well.”
Arti sighed. She felt as if there were really now arguing with these two and wondered how Anni was able to manage them.
Taking out her Soul Compass and giving it instructions to locate Anni Oakly, Arti led Debra and Giorgio half-way down the block. She found Debra was a polite little girl who would do as she was told, but Giorgio was another matter. At first he had pondered aloud why they were using a Soul Compass to find a colleague when they were normally meant to locate supernatural criminals and Arti had had to tell him that since Anni was a mystic, the compass would lead them to her by focusing on her mystical wavelength and aura if instructed to do so. Then he had grumbled that he didn’t walk anywhere. He was used to being driven around, and insisted that they take his limousine. Arti had argued that a limo would attract too much attention. Giorgio then stated that if they must travel by foot, then it was Arti’s job to carry one of them if either were to tire. Arti flatly refused to do that. She could see how Anni might, on an ordinary basis, have rows with this kid. Finally they rounded the corner and the needle of the Soul Compass was pointing to the shop they stood in front of.
It was tall and coated in vanilla paint with a large window looking in on shelves and shelves of books. There was a sign above the door that read in light pink cursive letters, “The Poet’s Heart. Where all with beauty in their hearts, minds and souls come to find what is within each of us.”
“Anni’s in there?!” Arti tried to keep the surprise out of her voice. She had never begged Anni as the poetic type.
“It would seem Miss Oakly has been keeping a facet of her personality hidden under layers of unsociable and unladylike behavior,” noted Giorgio. He past the two girls and entered the shop.
Anni stood in front of the check out counter. A boy her age, maybe a month or even year older, stood behind it. He had beautiful blue eyes she felt she could get lost in, a gorgeous head of brown hair that was just a little messy and a well-groomed beard that was a deeper color of brown. His attire consisted of a white sleeveless shirt, faded blue pants and black shoes.
“Here for the latest poetry book?” the boy asked.
“Y-yes,” Anni answered, blushing softly. Her heart was pounding as she looked at him.
He smiled and ducked down, coming back up with a book with a pink cover that had the title “Romantic Poetry for the Soul” written with a rose protruding through the o of romantic and the words that seemed to shine with a golden sheen if held in the proper light. It was at least thirty-nine pages thick, indicating vast works of the poetic art.
“It’s a fabulous book,” he told her smoothly. “Take it from me, poetry will really changer your life.”
Heart still racing, Anni paid the amount that the price sticker on the book’s cover state, and reached out to take it. She dearly hoped he wouldn’t be able to hear how loud her heart was pounding or notice her blush and trembling hand.
“Miss Oakly…”
Anni was wrenched from her world of beauty and bliss when she heard that voice. NO! Not HERE! What is he doing here!? She looked around to see Giorgio coming towards her and also saw Arti and Debra in the window outside, even though they ducked down after they saw she had seen them. She grabbed Giorgio under her right arm and ran out of the store, pulling Arti and Debra around the corner so they could not be seen through the window.
“What the heck are the three of you doing here!?” Anni demanded, seeming to revert to her usual self. Her face was colored with both embarrassment and annoyance. “Did you follow me here?!”
“Well, yes,” admitted Arti.
“We were concerned about you, Anni,” Debra said, putting on her “cute little girl” face.
Anni covered her face with her right hand. “I’m so embarrassed right now.”
“Why?” questioned Giorgio. “I think it is a marvelous thing.”
Anni peeked between her fingers. “You…you do?”
Giorgio nodded. “At last you are shedding that uncouth and unsociable Texan behavior and beginning to enter normal, sociably acceptable society. I greatly look forward to having more refined conversations with you from now on.”
Anni narrowed her eyes. “Don’t tread on me.”
Arti thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “WAIT! I just figured it out!”
Everyone looked at her.
“The flushed and dreamy look, the uncharacteristic behavior, staring off into space, lack of appetite.” Grinning widely, Arti looked at Anni. “You’re into that guy in there, aren’t you?”
Anni let a slight cry escape her clenched teeth and the blush on her face ran down her neck to her shoulders and her pupils shrank. EXPOSED! She thought.
Debra looked at her adopted big sister. “Are you interested in him, Anni?”
“Now, wait just a minute, Sunny,” Anni said to Debra.
“No use in denying it,” Arti smirked. “You’re so red it looks like you were out in the sun too long! Oh, this is sooooo like something out of a fairytale or a romance novel.”
“No, it’s not!” Anni tried to protest.
Giorgio lifted an eyebrow. “You mean Anni is attracted to that scruffy-looking man in there?” He seemed to give the matter some thought. “Well, I suppose it is a fitting match.”
Anni fixed her angry eyes on him. “And just what is that supposed to mean!?”
“Anni and bookstore guy, sitting in a tree!” Debra sang teasingly. “K-I-S-S-I-N-”
“NOW, WAIT JUST A COTTON-PICKING MINUTE!” Anni screamed, her face red with embarrassment and annoyance and she was breathing heavily, her breasts and arms moving up and down. “You want me to say it!? FINE! I like the guy, okay!?”
Arti and Debra giggled and locked hands in pleasure.
“BUT,” Anni interrupted, and then went back to her calmer and infatuated look. “But…” she blushed softly. “But I’m not sure if he could feel the same way about me.”
Debra looked at Anni. “How do you know?” She took Anni by the right hand and tried to tug her around the corner to the store. “Come on, we’ll go in right now and tell the guy you like him.”
“Sunny,” Anni sighed lightly.
“It’s not that simple,” Arti told the younger girl. “If Anni is going to tell him, she has to do it on her own and on her own terms.”
“Well said, Artemis,” Giorgio agreed with his arms crossed.
The blush had receded slightly and Anni sighed. “Now, if we’re done, I have a book to buy.”
Marvo had an audience with Dr. Splicer, one of the alchemist magic-wielders in the WWS. He lived down in a dungeon a floor above the Master Cauldron. In there he kept cabinets, both average and built into the very stone walls of the dungeon, skeletons, rats and bats and a large cauldron in which he liked to brew whatever he had literally “cooked up” that could aid the WWS into plunging the world into chaos.
Harlequin had reluctantly accompanied Marvo. Splicer almost scared her more than the white snake-like commander.
This was mostly because Splicer had experimented on himself once or twice. He had skin so pale he looked like he was dead, clownishly black lips, wore a violet robe with a hood and two pink pieces of fabric that ran from the shoulders to the waist in the front, clunky unfashionable black boots, black gloves and triangular glasses. Perhaps his most distinctive feature was his nose. In some unknown experiment, Dr. Splicer had ended up with his rather large nose ending up being completely metal. He could still breathe, but it made a rather nasty sound and gave his voice an echoing effect.
“You’d better not be wasting my time, Splicer,” Marvo warned the alchemist. “Lately the Mystic Soul Society and Magical Ministry of Peace have been making double efforts to strengthen their securities since the defeat and capture of Gulo Savage.”
“We may not need the werewolf with the scheme I have concocted,” Dr. Splicer informed his superior. “I have been working on various poems for the past month.”
Marvo raised his right brow. “Poems!? Don’t play me for a fool, man. I’m in no mood for foolishness.” His fingers flexed, as if itching to hex the man who stood before him.
“Let me explain,” said Splicer. “Teenage girls are always looking for an outlet for their emotions. One of these categories just so happens to be poetry. Just a couple of flowery words and a girl’s entire personality can undergo a radical change, as if by overnight.”
Despite being in the presence of superior coven members, Harlequin could not resist and give Dr. Splicer a disparaging look. Did he really think that way about girls?
This look was not missed by Splicer. “You scoff, Ms. Harlequin?”
Harlequin blushed through her face make-up. “N-no, Dr. Splicer. I-I think…it’s…a….genius idea! Don’t you, Commander Marvo?” She looked up at him wringing her hands, but she could tell by the look on his face that this was one of the few times a lowly grunt member such as herself would have been allowed to be smart mouthed to a higher up.
“Alright, doctor. Demonstrate your latest experiment for me.” Marvo picked Harlequin up by the back of her shirt and held her before him. “Here’s your guinea pig.” He dropped her so Harlequin landed on her tailbone on the stone dungeon floor.
Dr. Splicer knelt in front of Harlequin and handed her a parchment that looked as if it were made of paper gold.
Harlequin read the poem aloud;
“Maria sat and said to herself, ‘If only I had the courage to achieve my goals.
What an accursed fate and lot in life have I.
To be born in a society where man is the dominant force…’”
Suddenly Harlequin’s irises became an unfocused red and she dropped the paper from her hands. She seemed to be staring off into space. “Hail Grand High Lady Eris. I will serve in her name and for the goals of the WWS.”
Marvo stared at her as she continued to repeat this. He looked at Dr. Splicer. “What happened? I thought she was reading poetry.”
“I wrote the poems with a special ink,” Splicer informed him. “This ink has a type of scent that can alter the reader’s personality and compel them to swear loyalty to us and cause mischief in our name.”
“Then why did it affect Harlequin?” Marvo asked.
“It only works on those with a magical and mystical nature. And it works especially well on weak minds,” he replied. “I’ve only printed and published one draft of the book, however, and saw to it that it was placed in a public shop. My apprentice and Grand High Lady Eris’s most loyal follower will contact me when the poems take affect on someone.”
Anni sat in her room that night at her desk. She had a small book in front of her with pencil in hand. Breathing slowly as a way of telling herself to calm down, Anni closed her eyes. Although she had never told anyone before, she had always had a secret liking for writing poems. Anni had kept this hidden from everyone after moving out of her parents’ house because she did not want anyone to feel she was soft and easy to push around. Many of the previous pages had poems about what was important to her. Tonight she would undertake what felt like her greatest poetry challenge. Okay. Here I go.
“What are you doing?” asked Giorgio as he looked over her shoulder.
“Gah!” Anni swung around in her chair and glared at Giorgio. “What are you doing in my room!? I don’t want company right now!”
“Well the door wasn’t locked,” Giorgio said.
“That’s because it’s my apartment!” Anni snapped angrily. “I’d think just closing the door of my room would be as subtle a way of saying ‘keep out’ without seeming rude as possible.”
Giorgio looked at Anni with hooded eyes. “I hope you are aware of how rude you are acting right now. With a temper like that, it will be very very hard for you to find anyone to settle down with.”
A flush of embarrassment covered Anni’s face. Then it deepened to express her anger as her teeth clenched, a growl grew in her throat, and she closed her eyes while her hand balled into a fist. “And just what would a child your age know about ‘settling down’?”
“Well, truthfully, nothing,” Giorgio confessed. “But I do know enough about relations between men and women to know that men prefer women who are demure rather than loud, argumentative, and often have an expression of perpetual boredom. You could never find yourself a boyfriend unless you become a proper lady.” Then he noticed Anni had her head down as if she were facing the floor. “What is it? Did you drop something?”
“Out,” Anni growled.
“Excuse me!?” Giorgio said indignantly. “You don’t tell someone ‘out’ when they are simply trying to make a point…”
“I said ‘out’ and I meant it!” Anni screamed, looking very much like an enraged beast. She stood up so fast from her desk that the chair fell over and she advanced on Giorgio, who retreated. “All you EVER do is talk about yourself and how great you are!” she shrieked. “You never seem to stop to think or even consider that other people may have ideas or opinions or that they might be content being the way they are! Ever since you arrived, you’ve been making stereotypical comments about me because I’m a Texan! I held myself back because you’re a kid and one of my partners, but you just NEVER seem to get that what you say to and about me may be insensitive and insulting! But why should you!? Why should the great Giorgio Monarch think about anyone other than himself!? No, that’s for lesser people.” She lowered her face and seemed to be….crying? Crying? Why am I crying? She asked herself.
“Miss Oakly…calm down,” Giorgio said. “You’re being irrational and emotional.”
“I think I have EVERY RIGHT TO BE EMOTIONAL!” Anni screamed. “You’ve disrespected me every since we became partners! Then you make fun of me liking someone and saying I could NEVER land a man because of how I act!? Do you REALIZE how INSULTING it is to say that to a woman!?”
“Miss Oakly, please!” Giorgio pleaded. He had never seen anyone this angry before. It was alarming.
“OUT!” Anni shrieked. “Get out of my room, Giorgio!” She grabbed him by the back of his coat, opened her door and threw him out into the hall, causing him to take three steps away from her room and glared at him with a red tear-stained face. “I don’t know why I wasted my breath on you,” Anni growled. “You don’t understand the feelings of other people.” She slammed the door loudly.
Giorgio stared at the door in front of him. I don’t understand the feelings of other people?
Debra had heard the whole fight from her room and sighed. Even if Anni was older than her and Giorgio smarter than her, sometimes the two could get into such childish fights.
Anni sniffed and wiped her tears away before going back to her desk, setting the chair right-side up again. She had been writing for a while, before she set her pencil down. What was she thinking? She couldn’t write a poem of her feelings now. Not when she had blasted Giorgio. What did she know about love and beauty? She was a cynical hothead who often fought monsters and wicked magic-wielders and rode on a motorbike. Maybe someone like her wasn’t meant to be with someone. No! She wanted to be with someone.
Then it came to her. Maybe the book she had bought could help her find the inspiration she needed. The shop bag the book was in was still on her bed. She walked over, pulled the book out and began to read;
“‘Oh how I struggle to escape the bonds of the man controlled world.
I know in my heart that my efforts are in vain,
For man is dominant in power over woman,
As has been the will of the grand scheme since the start of life’…”
Anni glared with disgust at the words she was reading. What was this garbage!? Was this meant to be beautiful poetry? Then her mind cleared of indignity. It cleared of, almost, everything.
The next day at school Gus hung around the side of the school with a brown paper bag in his hands. He checked around to see if anyone was watching, then reached in and pulled out his treasure. A delicious jelly-filled, glazed, black-frosted donut with sprinkles. It was perfect.
It was also snatched form his hand by Anni, who had an unfocused red tint to her eyes today and a nasty smirk on her face. “Nice pastry,” she commented. Then she took a bite. With a look of wicked glee, Anni devoured the donut right in front of Gus’s devastated face until only a tiny piece with a single sprinkle was left. She dropped it to the ground, then stomped on it and ground it into the dirt before leaving Gus on his hands and knees, staring in disbelief at the mashed crumbs before him.
Arti had track with Mallory and Anni. When they started to run, Mallory jogged right up beside Arti and began to make fun of her because of the relationship that Elizabeth had had with Brian. However, Arti ignored this. She was good at that. She had been ignoring Mallory for a long time now.
Mallory jumped suddenly. “Ow!” She glared Anni over her left shoulder. “Did you just knee me in the butt?”
“What if I did?” Anni asked with a callous smile. “Going to go crying to the teacher on me?” Then Anni did something very unlike herself, she pushed Mallory.
Mallory fell forward and felt Anni tread on her, planting her face in the dirt as Anni stepped on the back of her head.
Arti could just stare at Anni.
As if that weren’t enough, at lunch, it seemed pretty interesting that Anni had challenged Jacki to a fight. They were in the courtyard with many students gathered around them, enclosing them in a circle. Sandi stood on the inner depths of the crowd behind her best friend.
Jacki looked fully at Anni. “What’s with you today? You’re acting like one of those punk chicks.”
“Maybe I’m tired of people thinking they know what it means to be bad,” Anni answered. “Maybe I want all these brats to know that they aren’t all that.” She locked her eyes on Jacki. “Not even the school’s champ of martial arts and the boxing and wrestling team. I’m going to let everyone know that I’m number one around here.”
Arti, Elizabeth and Brian forced their way through the crowd until they were at the very edge of the inner ring.
“Stop this, Anni!” Elizabeth called out to her. “This isn’t like you! Tell us if something’s wrong so we can help you!”
“Don’t start a fight with Jacki, Anni!” Arti told the older girl.
“This is a very unattractive side of you, Anni!” Brian commented.
Jacki noticed Anni was ignoring them. “They seem concerned about you. I’d listen to them.”
Anni smirked again. “Why would I care what brats like them think? They don’t think enough of me to stay out of my private affairs.”
“I don’t want to fight,” Jacki said. “Nothing will come of it. But I also won’t let you bully people.”
A Necro watched from the rim of the school roof down on the scene in the courtyard. He took a black heart-shaped cell phone out of his robes and flipped it open, hitting speed dial.
“It’s me Dr.” he said through his mask. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the girl who bought the book yesterday. She’s becoming a beautifully wicked witch. She’s already bullied several of her schoolmates and is now about to get into a fight with another. Shall I bring her back to Hagfeild?”
“Negative,” Dr. Splicer answered from his end. “Maintain observation. If she’s been infected with the spell, it means she’s a mystic, and if pushed far enough, will use her powers. I want her to do that. Radio back after she does.”
The Necro hung up. Then noticed someone was behind him.
Giorgio stood five steps behind the Necro. “So, it’s that stupid book she has that’s making Anni act this way,” Giorgio noted. “Now I understand why she stuck that rude sign on my back this morning.” He activated his Idol and held his foils in a samurai-like stance. “If you surrender now you may get time off for good behavior.”
Although the Necro’s face was hidden by the green demon mask, it sounded by the sound he made that he was smirking. “Shouldn’t you be in school, pipsqueak?”
There was a flash of purple light and the Necro and Giorgio came flying off the roof, the Necro keeping his face to his miniature foe and Giorgio with his right foil stretched outward as if to run his enemy through. They landed right in the center of the ring of students.
Immediately Arti took charge of the situation. “Everyone get inside!”
The students were only too willing to agree, rushing inside the school and not one of them looking back. Soon the only one left were the Necro, Arti, Elizabeth, Brian, Giorgio and Anni.
Anni looked at Giorgio and his opponent. “What gives? What’s going on here?”
“This Necro was on the school roof talking to his boss,” Giorgio said, not talking his eyes off the magic-wielder. “That book you bought had a spell in it that caused you to become bad, Anni. They wanted you to become one of them.”
Elizabeth looked shocked.
Arti looked disgusted.
Brian narrowed his eyes at the Necro in distaste.
But Anni glared at Giorgio. “You’re wrong, Giorgio. There’s no spell over me. Last night I simply decided I was done taking crap from anyone. But you broke up my fight before it even started. And now I have to punish you.” She grasped her Idol with a single hand, and a gun formed in her right hand. Anni pointed it at Giorgio’s back.
“ANNI, NO!” Arti screamed.
“Butt out!” Anni snapped back.
“Sorry to do this, babe, but you’re leaving me no choice!” Brian activated his own Idol and gripped Anni’s weapon in a tight magnetic hold with both his gloves. He looked at the girls next to him. “Don’t let her touch her Idol again.”
Arti and Elizabeth acted swiftly. Arti had the shaft of her spear against Anni’s neck and held her left arm in a hammerlock and Elizabeth, having reverted to her natural form, flew in front of Anni and took hold of the strap connected to her Idol firmly in her teeth. Arti let go of Anni and Elizabeth flew high into the air, still holding onto Anni’s Idol as Brian kept the red-eyed blond from using the gun she still had.
The Necro fired glowing green spheres of magic the size of a bowling ball from his hands at Giorgio, who dodged them expertly. Wherever the spheres fell, they left a small crater. “It doesn’t matter if she believes you or not,” the Necro taunted them as he continued his barrage on Giorgio. “The spell will continue to have grasped over her unless she experiences an emotional shock.”
An emotional shock? That’s it! “Artemis, attack the Necro!”
Arti looked at him. “You sure?”
“Very!” Giorgio told her. “Knock his mask off.”
“Okay.” Arti focused her energy as she had done when practicing to control the new powers of her Idol from yesterday. The head of her Idol began to crackle and spark with electricity like it had when facing Gulo. Arti had chosen to call this upgrade “Lightning Rod”. She rushed past Anni and at the Necro, countering each magical blast he sent her way with an electric blast of her own. When she was ten steps away from him, she turned her spear around so she held the butt of it in a combative gesture. “Let’s see what you look like behind that silly Halloween mask!” She swung with all her might and struck the Necro across the face, his mask flying off and his hood flying back.
It’s...him!
Arti stared at the true face of the Necro that stood before him. “It’s…it’s…you!” she said as her trembling hand at his face. “You! The guy at the bookstore Anni liked!”
Brian’s eyes widened. “Arti, get away from him! I recognize him from a wanted poster I saw once.” He glared at the Necro. “That’s Jack Cobbler, an alchemist member of the WWS.”
Jack smirked carelessly as Arti leapt a full twelve feet away from him to stand next to Giorgio. “So now you twerps know who I really am. For all the good that does you. Do you think knowing my true identity is going to win this fight for you?”
Giorgio locked eyes with Jack, then smirked. “I was kind of baking on it.”
“YOU!”
Jack looked up to see Anni staring at him.
“So it’s true,” Anni said, her voice cracking as she spoke. “You’re a Necro? And the book you sold me had a spell on it?”
Jack grinned spitefully back. “Yeah. What’s a little fool like you going to do about it?”
That was the wrong thing to say. Anni gritted her teeth and lowered her face. Then a silver aura surrounded her and she began to breathe heavily and gruffly like a beast. The amount of energy she was giving off was so powerful it broke the magnetic hold Brian’s Idol had on her hands. A surge of magical energy crackled over her right arm and the gun she held. The crackling of this energy became louder and larger as it engulfed her right arm and hand, gun included, growing so big it seemed to become a blue electrical sphere cage. When it broke apart, Anni’s right arm was incased in a mechanized riffle, the portion on her shoulder shocking white with a red circle in the center, the barrel of it a glistening jet black.
“Arti, Giorgio!” Brian called to them, “You seeing what I’m seeing? It looks like Anni’s Idol got a post in power.”
When Anni lifted her face, her right eye was covered by her bangs. Her left was as wide as it could go, the iris having expanded almost to the same level and the pupil having shrunk to a pin prick. Her teeth were bared so her gums were exposed, and her nostrils were flared. She looked truly frightening. But then, a black aura began to flow around Anni.
“I loved you!” she growled at Jack in a shockingly gruff voice. “I believed you cared for me the way I did you. You grasped my heart away the minute I saw your face. But now all that is in my heart when I look at you is a desire to punish you as badly as you deserve.”
As she spoke, Jack became frightened and began to back away.
“I actually thought I had a chance to be with a mature guy my age,” Anni continued. “I wanted to tell you how I felt….in a poem…because I felt that that was the best way to express my feelings to you!” She glowered hatefully at Jack. “It was a big mistake to make me your guinea pig!” The barrel was pointed right at his heart. “Hasta lavista, bastard!” She fired.
“Anni, no!” Giorgio jumped in front of Jack, his foils crossed in front of him. “Cross Barrier!” His foils glowed with a royal blue light.
The bullet struck the light and pressed against it with mad force. At last it could no longer hold out and the bullet detonated, causing Giorgio and Jack to sprawl backwards. Jack was completely knocked out when he hit the ground and Giorgio dropped both his foils which flew harmlessly sideways and lay on the ground as Giorgio fell on his back and winced and trembled in mild pain.
Seeing Giorgio put himself in harms’ way and fall back seemed to snap Anni out of her rage. Her eyes and face resumed normal state and the weapon on her shoulder vanished along with the dark aura. “Giorgio!?” Anni ran to him and held him against her. “I’m sorry! Giorgio, are you alright!?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “My Cross Barrier took a lot of the force out of the shot. Though I may just have a bruise on my back.”
Anni looked at her younger partner. “Dumb kid. What’d you do that for?”
“I didn’t want you to kill him,” Giorgio said. “I didn’t want you to use your Idol after it reached its’ second power level when you were in such an enraged and emotional state.”
“So that’s why you jumped in the middle of that!?” Anni asked indignantly.
Giorgio shook his head. “Would killing him really have made you feel better? I don’t think it would have. He was your first love. Realizing who he really was really confused you and scrambled your emotions. I didn’t want you to look back on this with any regrets.”
Tears welled up in Anni’s eyes. “You dumb kid.” She hugged Giorgio to her. “I’m sorry,” Anni whispered to him. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Giorgio blushed and replied, “So am I.”
Dr. Splicer got a call. “Report.”
“Ah, Dr. Emile Splicer. Long time since I heard your voice,” said the person on the other end.
Splicer’s eyes widened upon recognizing the voice. “Flamel!”
“Glad you remember me,” Edwin said teasingly.
“How did you get this line?” Splicer demanded.
“Oh, once Jack was unconscious after the failed attempt to corrupt one of our Soul Mystics, I didn’t think he’d mind if I made a call on his phone,” Edwin answered. “You’re busted, Doc. We found the book of poems and burned it so the girl will never fall under its influence again and Jack is being carted off to a detention facility as we speak.”
“You haven’t one anything!” barked the mad scientist.
“We’ll see,” was all Edwin said, and then the line went dead.
Splicer looked at the phone in annoyance and hurled it at the wall. How dare anyone hang up on him!
“Can I ask you two things, Giorgio?” Anni asked as she, Giorgio and Debra sat around their kitchen table later that day.
“Of course,” Giorgio said.
“How did you know Jack was a Necro?” asked Anni.
“I didn’t,” he confessed. “But I felt like taking a little risk on the off chance he was. What’s the other question?”
Anni smirked. “What were you doing at my school during the middle of the day?”
He blushed.
Debra laughed. “I think he likes you, Anni!”
Giorgio rounded on her. “I do not!”
“What? Am I not cultured or classy enough?” Anni teased.
Giorgio blushed again. “It’s got nothing to do with that! I already li—” He stopped short.
The girls looked at him.
“Who?” Debra asked.
Giorgio didn’t answer.
“Who do you like?” Debra repeated. “Come on, Giorgio, tell me!”

I'm going to merge this thread with your other one, since we prefer that you only have one thread for short stories in Lit Spot. :yes: Since they're in the same setting with the same characters, I think it'd be okay to put them together.

Chapter 8
Enter The Itachi Ninja Sisters
And
The Cursed Sword!





In Hagfeild Castle there was a darkened room that was lit solely by three candles. This was the room of the three best members of the WWS. They were rumored to be the best when it came to field work, stealth, secrecy and had dabbled in the dark arts since they could comprehend the concept of evil. These three were utterly loyal to Grand High Lady Eris and had vowed to serve her until fate parted them all. They had been given a specific mission, and they knew they would succeed.
“Born in darkness…”
“Living in darkness…”
“Such is the fate of those who practice the dark arts.”
“And so darkness will be the fate of this word.”
“So say we three.”
“So say we all.”
“So say the Itachi Ninja Sisters!”
Like bats, they flew from their room and sprinted down the darkened halls, complete blurs to all others. Upon reaching the courtyard of the castle, they leapt high into the night sky, sailed over the castle wall, and teleported to their destination.
Kintaro and Tsukumo had been called to Japan by Priestess Moki. She had discovered an ancient artifact and had requested her best two warriors to come and guard it for her. Moki had place the treasure in a drawer in her room that had magic seals on it to impress just how powerful this artifact was. Tsukumo and Kintaro knelt before their mistress and her kitsune familiar who sat on his knees two steps to the right behind her in a room that looked very much like a typical modern bedroom in Japan with a cabinet built into the wall.
“Thank you for coming,” Priestess Moki said to her charges. “I felt as though this was a mission that the two of you would be able to undertake.”
“I don’t think it will be that hard,” commented Kintaro. “I mean, you’re a priestess, Priestess Moki. If we can’t cut the mustard, I’m sure you can repel anyone who tries to steal the artifact.”
“Impetuous as always,” Nar commented despairingly. “Listen, Kintaro-kun, just because your friends get all the major action missions, not every mission has to include a major battle. True ninjas understand that and accept it.”
Kintaro looked at the kitsune who took the form of a man with long, fox-like whiskers. “Are you saying I’m not a true ninja?” Kintaro asked, an edge to his voice.
Nar opened his eyes a crack and had a sly smile on his face. “Is that what you think I’m saying? There are two old sayings you should consider, Kin-kun. ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread’, and ‘look before you leap’.”
“Are you calling me a fool!?” Kintaro snapped.
Tsukumo put her right hand on Kintaro’s left shoulder as he started to stand up. “Kintaro-kun.”
Kintaro looked at her and returned to kneeling and put his hands together in apology. “Forgive my manner, priestess,” he said of Priestess Moki.
Priestess Moki pretended as though she hadn’t witnessed or heard the confrontation between Kintaro and Nar. “I will be gone on a journey for three days,” she said in her calm voice. “It is up to the two of you and Nar to guard the artifact for me while I am away.”
Nar looked at his mistress with a bit of a surprised expression. “I’m not going to be going with you!?” A whine like a dog escaped from within his throat and his mouth and eyes became downcast as if he might begin to cry.
The priestess put a hand on his head. “Kintaro-kun and Tsukumo-chan need you more than I,” she told him. “And I assure you, the separation will be short.” She then stood up, signaling for the other three to stand as well. “I have full confidence in you,” Moki told Kintaro and Tsukumo. “I wouldn’t have considered asking Mr. Shin to assign you to this mission if I didn’t think otherwise.”
“Thank you, Priestess Moki,” Tsukumo said, flushed with pride. “Your confidence is very meaningful to us.”
“You won’t regret your decision,” Kintaro stated. “If necessary, I will give my life to protect the artifact.”
Moki smiled lightly. “I don’t think you will need to take that extremity. I shall now be off. Be well.” And she teleported out of her house.
The whine that had been in Nar’s throat continued, until he shook himself and looked at the two children in front of him. So, he had to spend three days with these two goofball kids, did he? Well, he daren’t go against the word of his mistress, but he also didn’t have to be happy about it. They were just two kids who hadn’t succeeded in their last mission because a wind sorceress had gotten involved and slain the Ghul they had been assigned to assassinate. To Nar, that hadn’t proved either of their merit. It had also furthered his impression that Kintaro was reckless and weak, as Nar felt Windi had held back on her power during her fight against the boy on purpose.
How could Priestess Moki leave such a powerful and dangerous item in the safety of two bozus? Nar asked himself mentally. He turned his back on the two ninjas and knelt down, his hands covered completely by the sleeves of his haori and covering his mouth with the right sleeve. His face began to slide back to its true shape as he thought to himself. Especially the boy? He’s an impetuous fool. And a pervert for always trying to peek at his partner. Wait! I’m thinking about this all the wrong way. They have no idea what the treasure is, and I’m the sempai here. That means...He giggled. THAT means…they have to do what I tell them to do.
“Nar-sempai?”
“Nar, you gonna pout because Priestess Moki didn’t take you along with her all day?”
Resuming his human face, Nar stood up and turned to the two ninjas. “Alright, you two. I’m sorry to say this, but I do not feel you are ready for this assignment.”
Kintaro stared at Nar in surprise and annoyance. “Excuse me?!”
“Why not?” Tsukumo asked with a sweet expression of confusion on her face.
Nar held a hand for silence. “But, you could be, with training.”
“Training?” Tsukumo asked.
“What kind of training?” asked Kintaro.
“I can’t tell you unless you swear to be totally obedient to me if I do train you,” Nar told the two ninjas.
This was part of Nar’s plan. He had watched Kintaro grow up for years since the time when his mistress had been in her late adolescent years. The kitsune knew he could bank on the boy’s eagerness to become stronger through training, and Kintaro’s knack for acting first and thinking later. This would be very fun for Nar. A part of him almost regretted that the sweet and innocent Tsukumo would be caught up in his little pranks as well, but, oh well. He could always do something nice for her later like send her flowers or tell her he could put up a one-way barrier around any hot spring she bathed in so Kintaro could not try to peek at her.
Kintaro’s natural curiosity and love of training caused him to get on his hands and knees. “Nar-sempai, please train us. We’ll follow your every whim and command.”
Tsukumo got down on her hands and knees as well. “Yes, please train us.”
Nar looked down at them both. “You’ll do anything I say?”
They nodded.
“Alright, then,” Nar said. “I’m pretty hungry. Go out and bring me back some sukiyaki.”
They stared at him.
“Sukiyaki?” Tsukumo seemed rather confused.
“What’s bringing you fast food got to do with our training?” Kintaro asked.
“Nothing is free,” Nar told them. “Sukiyaki is my fee for teaching you two.” He lay down on his left side and his fox tail swished against the soft carpet of the floor. “Of course, if you’re not willing to do what I ask, then I guess you’re not ready for a mission like this and can just go back to Soul City.”
Kintaro stood up. “NO! If sukiyaki is what you want, sukiyaki is what you’ll get!” He rushed out of the room with Tsukumo following behind him.
Nar guessed he should have felt a little ashamed for tricking two gullible kids. But then, he told himself, it’s in a kitsune’s nature to perform such falsehoods.
Kintaro and Tsukumo walked down the quiet street of the nearest suburban town. Tsukumo was carrying the plastic container with the sukiyaki inside.
“Do you really think Nar-sempai knows some sort of training regiment that we don’t?” she asked Kintaro as she walked by his side.
“Of course,” Kintaro told her. “He’s familiar to a priestess. Why would he lie?”
“Well, he’s also a kitsune,” Tsukumo told him. “And I don’t think even a priestess can cause a kitsune to forsake its’ trickster nature, even if she can keep it from doing bad and harmful things.”
“Hey, come back here, you little weirdo!”
“Make me, cueball!”
The pair looked up. Down the road up ahead was a house with a high stone wall. A light was on in the house and a dog was barking and suddenly an eighteen-year-old girl was vaulting over it.
She was quite oddly-dressed. The girl wore a black ninja outfit and white ninja gloves, but she also seemed to be wearing face make-up to make her look like a cat, as her nose was pink and there were also pink whisker tattoos on her face. Two black cat ears stuck out of her short and wispy blond hair and a black cat tail was attached to the seat of her pants. The girl had a fish tail sticking out of her mouth, and she swallowed it whole, causing Kintaro and Tsukumo to flinch with disgust.
A large bald man in a white shirt and maroon pants ran out of the exit to his front yard and chased after her. “Those fish were for my dinner, you freaky feline filcher! How’d you get in my house, anyway!?”
“All part of being a good cat burglar and ninja!” the girl answered looking over her shoulder. She should have looked where she was going, as she ran into Kintaro and fell back hard on the seat of her pants. “Me-Ow! That really hurt!” she whined as she put a hand to her backside.
“Serves you right,” Kintaro scolded her. “Who do you think you are, slinking around in the night, breaking into houses and stealing fish?”
She looked up at him. “I’m Kitti Itachi! Youngest of the Itachi Ninja Sisters!” Kitti sprang up, spun in midair and landed before Kintaro and Tsukumo, posing her hands like cat paws in a cartoon style, finishing off her introduction with a cute “nya!”
Kintaro looked at Tsukumo. “You ever heard of them?”
She shook her head. “Never.”
Kitti looked stunned. “You’re kidding! We’re deadly, man! We’ll tear this whole world apart someday!”
“Is that so?” Tsukumo cocked her head to the left.
“What do you mean ‘is that so’!?” Kitti hissed heatedly. “People get scared when a ninja says stuff like that. You should be begging for mercy! Pleading for your lives! Saying you’ll do anything I want if I spare you! OW! AGAIN!”
The man had taken off one of his thick-looking shoes and thrown it at the back of her head, hitting her dead on. “You’ll be the one begging for mercy after I’ve wrung your scrawny thieving neck!” He was coming after her. And he looked mad.
Kitti made a noise like a scared cat and ran in between Tsukumo and Kintaro.
The man ran in between them as well.
The pair stared at the scene in utter confusion.
“Well….” said Tsukumo after a breeze had gone by, “that was weird.”
Nar had set up a system of floating fiery orbs in the room where the treasure was kept and closed the door to the room. He had reverted to his true form of a whitish fox with fiery-orange legs and matching nine tails and had curled up for a nap outside the room as he waited for the two ninjas to return. The fox did not need those two protect the artifact. He had his own brand of magic that he could use to protect whatever was important to his mistress by himself. The only qualm he had about being apart from Moki was that he had never been without her in ten years. Even now, a three day separation felt like three centuries for him.
“Nar-sempai, we’re back!” Tsukumo called as she and Kintaro entered the house.
The kitsune sat up, waving all nine of his tails at the door behind him, and the fiery orbs, which would have detonated in many miniature explosions if anyone other than himself tried to enter the room, vanished. Resuming human form, Nar greeted them in the main room.
He sat down before the two and began to eat the sukiyaki. “Very good,” he said as he slurped it up. “Not as hot as it might have been ten minutes ago, but not bad.”
“Thank you, sempai,” Kintaro bowed as he and Tsukumo sat on their knees before him.
Tsukumo raised her hand, as if she were in a classroom. “Nar-sempai, have you heard of the Itachi Ninja Sisters?”
Nar looked at her. “No, why?”
“We met one on our way back,” Tsukumo told him. “Her name was Kitti and she said she and her sisters would…‘tear this world apart someday’.”
“I see,” said Nar. “Did you fight her? Was she strong?”
“Not even!” Kintaro told him. “She was just some cat burglar running from a man she stole some fish from. She seemed pretty weak and cowardly to me. Ow!” Nar had rapped him hard on the head with the back of his right hand.
“Never judge the unfamiliar based upon first impressions,” Nar scolded him. “Be thankful that Kitti didn’t fight you. I’m sure if the circumstances had been different, no telling if you’d been able to come back in one piece, if at all.”
Kintaro rubbed where Nar had struck him. “She was just a silly catgirl.”
Nar fumed with annoyance at Kintaro’s words. Was this kid really the son of the great Cain? He didn’t act like it. Kintaro acted more like his father when he had been his age. Someone had to teach Kintaro some humility, and Nar felt he was the one to do it. He cleared his throat. “Kintaro, we will now begin your training.”
Kintaro smiled enthusiastically. “What’s first, Nar-sensei?”
Nar left the room and came back with an axe. “Chopping firewood out back,” said the kitsune.
Tsukumo blinked once in confusion. “Forgive my questioning, but how is that training?”
“It builds arm strength,” Nar told her. “Kintaro is to chop twenty-four small pieces of wood. If he can do it all before seven o’clock tomorrow morning, I’ll know if he’s ready for the second stage of the training.”
Nar approached Kintaro, giving him the axe and putting a hand on his back. When Nar touched Kintaro, he placed a spell on the boy that would prevent him from becoming tired and weary. The kitsune smiled inwardly as he led the boy out to the backyard of the temple where piles of small logs and a stump which awaited Kintaro.
“I’ll help you, Kin-kun,” Tsukumo said, but Nar halted her with a hand.
“No, no, no,” he said. “Young ladies need their beauty sleep. You can join in on the training tomorrow.” Nar smirked at Kintaro. “Goodnight,” said he as he slid the door close.
All night Kintaro took the small logs over to the stump, set them standing on one end, and chopped them in half. He knew he should be getting tired, but due to the spell Nar had set upon him, Kintaro’s eyes did not tire, water or start to droop, his muscles did not ache, and his mind did not begin to become fuzzy. Of course, since he was unaware of Nar’s prank on him, Kintaro mistakenly believed that he must have been stronger than he thought. When the sun began to rise, Kintaro was down to the last log. He lifted the axe high, full of excitement that he would soon move on to the next stage of his new training, and swung the axe down. The log did not split.
Kintaro stared at it in confusion. He struck again.
The log remained intact.
Again Kintaro hit the piece of wood with the blade of the axe.
And again, the log looked as perfect and untouched as it had when Kintaro had set it on the chopping block.
What Kintaro was unaware of was that Nar himself had enchanted the piece of would to yield not to the strike of any kind nor display any sign of damage unless the kitsune himself willed it so. So poor Kintaro chopped wildly, infuriated and confused as to why the log would not split.
Nar slid the door open with Tsukumo standing by his side. “Well, Kintaro-kun. It’s 6:56, and the last log is still in one piece. I suppose this means you won’t be able to advance further in my program.” He smirked nastily.
Kintaro groaned and whined in his throat.
Tsukumo looked to Nar. “Nar-sempai, please, let me assist Kin-kun.”
The kitsune looked at the girl, then snickered at the perfect set up this would be, as well as a blow to Kintaro’s ego. “Very well. Kintaro, give Tsukumo the axe.”
Kintaro did as he was told as Tsukumo approached him, and he sat on the ground next to the door.
Tsukumo focused her eyes on the log, lifted the axe with steady arms, and struck.
It was at that moment that Nar lifted his enchantment on the log, and the log itself flew apart in two pieces. One of the pieces struck Kintaro full in the face.
“Oh my word!” Tsukumo cried when she saw Kintaro hit. She set the axe down and ran over to him, noticing the red mark on his face where the piece of wood had struck him. “Kin-kun! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for that to hit you! Are you okay!?”
“Yeah,” he groaned.
Nar cleared his throat. “6:59. That was close.” He looked at the pair. “Of course, it was really Tsukumo who split the last log, but to show what a nice guy I am, I’m going to let you advance together.” After Nar had set up the same security measures in the room that he had last night, he led them to a long river. A yard away from the river was a well that had dried up two months ago, but no one used nor needed it any longer. He had brought along four buckets as well. “You will collect water and put it into that dry well behind us,” Nar told them. “This will show if you have endurance.”
“What do you mean, ‘endurance’?” Kintaro asked.
Smirking, Nar pushed him softly forward, causing Kintaro to fall into the river.
Kintaro jumped out, screaming and waving his arms. “It’s freaking COLD!”
“That’s what I meant by endurance,” Nar told him. “Of course, the river is only shin-deep, so there’s no danger of you drowning. You are to wait until both buckets are half full and travel to the well and deposit your water for exactly nineteen times.”
“But what about the treasure we’re supposed to be guarding?” Tsukumo asked.
“I will be looking after it,” Nar told her. “You needn’t worry.” He turned and began to walk away.
Kintaro was still shaking with cold.
When Nar had touched him, he had taken away half the energy he had put into Kintaro last night. This caused Kintaro to feel tired, but not enough to fall asleep. While Tsukumo quite easily carried the buckets to the well when they had filled, Kintaro groaned and moaned as he struggled with his, trying not to spill a single drop of the water. Tsukumo had finished by two seconds before noon and sat on a large rock by the well as Kintaro was coming back, still having to perform the task of carrying water twelve more times.
“Don’t you think it’s odd that you’re having such trouble while I barely had any?” Tsukumo asked him.
“I…I suppose I do,” Kintaro groaned as he struggled with the bucket. “But, a great man does not complain if a task is difficult. And a great man is what I aim to be!”
Tsukumo blushed with admiration at Kintaro’s dedication.
Kintaro tripped and the buckets went flying.
One of the buckets landed on Tsukumo, soaking her completely.
“Sorry,” said Kintaro blushing as Tsukumo leered at him with an exasperated expression beneath the lip of the bucket as she lifted it up to show her face.
It was 12:30 when Kintaro had finished and the two returned to the temple.
Now it had occurred to Nar that he should ease up on Kintaro, seeing how exhausted the boy was. He had had his fun with him, but he decided enough was enough. The kitsune sat in front of Tsukumo and Kintaro in the first room. “Kintaro, Tsukumo, you have proven you are worthy of guarding the treasure Priestess Moki had discovered. But I caution you, the room is full of fiery orbs. If anyone other than enter the room, there will be many explosions. So stay outside the room. Understood?”
“Yes, Nar-sensei,” they answered in unison.
Nar stretched and went out to the porch, resuming his true form and settled down for a nap as Tsukumo and Kintaro stood outside the room for the rest of the day.
They weren’t aware they were being watched.
When night came on, Nar approached both the ninjas, who he could see where beginning to tire. “Go to bed,” he told them. “I’ve put you through a lot, and you deserve your rest. I will guard the treasure until the sun rises tomorrow.”
“Of course, Nar-sensei,” Kintaro said and walked off to his room in the temple.
Tsukumo bowed to the fox. “Thank you, Nar-sensei.” Left for her room as well.
Undoing his magic, Nar entered the room and went to sleep.
Three figures approached the temple at midnight and entered. They searched the temple until only the room in which Nar slept remained. The three persons entered, and one used a brand of magic to tie Nar up so he could not move nor transform or attack. Then they pushed the fox aside and opened the drawer, taking out a katana still in its sheath. Their mission was complete, they had succeeded.
Although Nar could not move, transform or attack, he could still bark and talk. “Tsukumo! Kintaro! Intruders in the temple! They’ve got the artifact! Come here at once!”
Both the young ninjas obeyed the cry and were in the hall just as the three figures exited the room.
“Stop right there!” Kintaro ordered them, his Idol taking its usual form of a katana. “Who are you?”
“We were born in darkness…” said one of the figures.
“We live in darkness…” said the second figure.
“And we will plunge this world into darkness,” finished the third.
“I am Kami Itachi, the eldest and the leader,” the first figure said.
“I am Kimi Itachi, middle child,” said the second.
“And I am Kitti Itachi, the youngest and the cutest,” the third added.
And in unison, the three cried, “We are the Itachi Ninja Sisters!”
Now that Kintaro and Tsukumo took a closer look, they could make out the features of these people.
Kami was twenty and had her light brown hair done in the same style as Nar. She had a buxom and curvaceous figure. Like her sisters, she wore a black ninja shirt and pants, but black gothic boots. Kami also had a short cloak that hid her right arm from view and had a feathery design on both shoulders of the cloak. She hid her true face behind a mask shaped like a bat and had a crimson jewel at the center right at the top of the mask, and held a fan in her left hand. Kami also had a sword, which Tsukumo and Kintaro reasoned was what they had been guarding, tucked under her left arm.
Kimi was obviously nineteen and had a decent figure as well. She was arguably the most normal-looking of the sisters, as she simply wore the shirt, pants and boots. Kimi had her black hair tied back, a sword strapped across her back, and a black heart tattoo on her right shoulder, as did her sisters.
“We’ve been spying on you for a while now,” Kami said in a haughty voice, “and knew exactly where the sword was hidden, thanks to a few specially-trained flies we had that were able to enter the temple. I knew we couldn’t get a chance to steal the sword with the fox around guarding it, since I knew there had to be some kind of magic he was using.”
“But then we saw you change guard,” Kimi continued for her sister. “And we decided that it would be wise to attack at midnight while you were all sleeping.”
“And I tied him up in my special Cat’s Cradle,” Kitti finished.
“And now we will take this sword back with us to Hagfeild West to present it to Grand High Lady Eris,” Kami said. “But don’t worry, we wouldn’t dream of taking something for nothing.” She looked to Kitti. “Give them a taste of what you did to their kitsune friend.”
Kitti thrust out both her hands, multicolored threads of magic stretched out and towards Kintaro and Tsukumo.
Kintaro slashed the threads and rushed at the women, Tsukumo activating her Idol and having it take the form of a katana of her own right behind him.
Kimi and Tsukumo locked blades as Kitti and Kami leapt away from Kintaro as he made to slash at them in an attempt to make Kami drop the sword. But Kami just smiled and flicked her fan open. Then she swiped it at Kintaro, sending up a powerful breeze that caused him to slide back on his feet. Kami too had skill when it came to wind magic like Windi. But her magic was not as strong, though this was on purpose. The mark of a good ninja is to leave no signs that it has been there. If anything were damaged, when the priestess arrived, she would know that a fight had occurred. Kami prided herself on secrecy.
Tsukumo and Kimi pushed each other with their blades, neither one giving quarter or willing to let the other pass.
“You’re a witch too, aren’t you?” Tsukumo asked as she fought Kimi. “So why don’t you use your magic?”
“I would,” Kimi told her. “But…I….” she seemed to blush in annoyance “…don’t have any other powers except flight and speed.”
“In that case I’m gonna feel bad about doing this,” Tsukumo said. “Blinding Shine-Shine!” The blade of her sword began to repeatedly flash a faint light. But with each flash, the light became brighter. Soon it filled the entire hall. Kimi could not help but attempt to shield her eyes when her sisters closed theirs’. Then Tsukumo ducked down and gave Kimi a sweeping kick that caused the witch to fall back and drop her sword, but the light also faded.
Kami opened her eyes to see Kintaro come at him again, too close to use her fan. She and Kitti leapt backwards again and ran down the hall with Kimi following after them.
Kintaro followed.
Tsukumo began to follow, but Nar’s call stopped her. She entered the room and knelt beside him, turning her Idol into a sharp knife and began to cut him free. Although an ordinary weapon could not have severed such thread, an Idol is not an ordinary weapon. Soon Nar was free.
The Itachi Ninja Sisters had made it to a clearing circled by a grove of trees and a pond to the left. When Kami stopped in the middle of the clearing, her sisters ran into her from behind.
“Watch where you’re going!” she hissed at Kitti and Kimi.
“We were,” Kitti replied. “We were watching you.”
Kimi looked at her sister. “What’d we stop for? That kid is still behind us. Shouldn’t we teleport back Hagfeild?”
“Not just yet,” Kami told her younger sibling. “I want to see just why this sword was so special for that priestess to want it protected.” She eyed the sheath tucked under her arm greedily.
“Those weren’t our orders,” Kimi argued. “Marvo told us to steal the sword and bring it back. That’s it. That’s all we’re supposed to do. We can’t hang around and play silly games.”
“HEY!” Kami barked, giving her sisters a start. “Who’s the leader here!?”
“You are,” Kimi and Kitti answered.
“That’s right!” Kami puffed up her chest in haughty authority. “And as long as I’m leader, we’re doing what I say we’re going to do.” With expression and giggle like a naughty child, Kami unsheathed the sword.
The katana was made of a spectacular white metal that could be compared to diamond or pearl. It shone with a brilliant white light. Then, when the moonlight touched the blade, there was a light “Ping”. This made the sisters stare at the sword. There was no denying that the sound had come from the sword itself. The ping grew louder and the sword began to pulsate with the white light.
Kitti clung to Kimi and looked over her right shoulder as Kimi held her younger sister. “YOU JERK, KAMI!” they cried in frightened unison. “LOOK WHAT YOU DID!”
“I DIDN’T MEAN IT!” was the equally frightened Kami’s retort.
Kintaro arrived with Nar in the arms of Tsukumo bringing up the rear.
“Oh no!” Nar cried. “They exposed the Sword of Warumaru to the moonlight!”
“Why is that bad?” Tsukumo questioned.
“Long ago, there was a horrible warlord named Warumaru who was as much a womanizer as he was a feared conqueror,” Nar told the whole group, including the three witch ninjas. “The last kingdom he conquered was ruled by a beautiful woman. He told her that he would spare the lives of her subjects if she would consent to marry him. He was unaware, however, that the queen was in fact a sorceress who had heard of his womanizing ways. She did not have her army go to combat with his, for she had been waiting for him to approach her. Her answer to his proposal was to seal his soul inside his own sword. But he vowed he would return if anyone exposed it to the moonlight.”
There was a surge of wind that came from the sword, and high above the heads of the three witches floated a dark-skinned man with the standard samurai hairstyle. He was big and burly, wearing a blood-red hakama and flowing cape, and golden armor that covered his arms and shoulders.
“Ha-cha!” cried Kitti smiling as she looked up at Warumaru, a deep flush on her face and the costume cat tail sticking straight out as if it were truly a part of her. “I think I’m in love!”
“You are aware it’s a ghost, right?” Kimi asked her sister.
The sword was wrenched from Kami’s hands and she fell forward on her face. It flew into Warumaru’s right hand.
“Hast been a nion since I viewed the world last,” Warumaru’s voice boomed. “Now, as it was in days of past, before my might, all peoples of all lands shall fall to their knees and beg of me to spare their meaningless lives.”
“Not if I can help it.” Kintaro stepped forward, his sword still at the ready.
“Don’t do it!” Tsukumo told him. “He’s a warlord, and a ghost! You can’t possibly win against someone like that!”
Kintaro looked over his shoulder at her. “Wanna bet? I think I can, due to all the training Nar-sensei put me through.” He faced the ghost. “Come on! I’m the great Kintaro Hiro, son of the greater Cain Hiro! Show me what you got!”
Warumaru flew at Kintaro and they locked blades. Then they began to clash their swords together, time and time again. The ghostly warlord exhibited his otherworldly aura that threatened to push Kintaro back, but Kintaro dug in his heels and pushed back against the man who stood before him. Then the two went back and forth, slashing and clashing swords with one another again. It was truly a surprising sight, to see a sixteen mortal human boy to match the ghost of a Japanese warlord move for move. What Nar had stated, but not counted on, was that chopping the wood and carrying the buckets of water, followed by the rest he had been given, had indeed strengthened his arms. It was also the fact that Kintaro was a Soul Mystic, and would not be outdone so easily or quickly by an otherworldly being, as would a normal person without any mystical blood and powers.
Kimi and Kitti helped Kami sit up on her knees. Her mask had fallen off and she had dropped her fan which Kami had picked up as well. “My face hurts,” Kami moped as she put a hand to her face.
Suddenly Warumaru stopped fighting Kintaro. “That voice.” He looked over at Kami as she took her hand away from her face. In his mind, she was the queen who had not only entrapped him within his own sword, but also the first woman he had truly ever fallen in love with. “My love, it’s you.”
Kami and her sisters looked at the ghost. “What!?” Kami’s voice cracked.
“Queen Itachi, I forgive you for sealing me away,” Warumaru told Kami. “Please, come be with me. Be my queen.” He advanced towards her, leaving Kintaro to stare after him.
Kami’s eyes widened and she pulled away from her sisters, running as the ghost pursued her. “No way! No chance! No how! No way!” she was screaming as Warumaru followed behind. “I know I’m gorgeous and everything, but I don’t want to be married to some creepy ghost! Forget the mission! Nothing is worth being pursued by Mr. Ugly Pug!” And she teleported away at the very instant when she would have been engulfed in Warumaru’s arms from behind.
The ghost looked as though his heart were broken all over again.
Kitti approached him from behind. “You know…if my sis won’t marry you…you can always have me.”
When Warumaru turned to look at her, his eyes focused on her face paint, and the false cat ears and tail. His eyes widened in what could only be identified as true terror. It had been a very well kept secret that in life Warumaru had suffered from ailurophobia, the fear of cats. And of course, he had existed before the trend of wearing artificial cat ears and tails came to be, so to him, Kitti was a cat monster. He screamed and held his sword meekly before him.
“STAY AWAY FROM ME!” He screamed, backing away as Kitti advanced upon him with a curious and mildly hurt expression on her face. “LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE CATS!”
It was then that Tsukumo got an idea. “Warumaru-san, you know that lately there are cats everywhere in the world. I don’t think you’d want to conquer a world filled with cats, would you?”
“NO!” the warlord screamed in fright. “You are right. I suppose there is no choice.” He shone with a white light, and vanished, having moved on to the next life. His sword fell from where it stood.
Kitti ran over and picked it up. “At least I have the sword to remember him by,” she cooed. But then, the sword turned to dust in her hands. Her eyes watered. “He…he wont even leave me that much.” She put her hands to the ground. “My first love, and he rejected me.”
“That sword was five-thousand eons old,” Nar said aloud. “I guess now that Warumaru has escaped from the blade and moved on to face judgment, the sword couldn’t exist anymore.”
Kimi came up behind Kitti and put a hand on her shoulder. “It wouldn’t have worked out anyway. Come on, Kitti, let’s go back to Hagfeild.”
“Alright,” Kitti sniffed, and the two sisters vanished.
The next day Nar sat before Kintaro and Tsukumo in his natural form. “I have a confession to make,” Nar told Kintaro, his head lowered and flushed with humility. “That stuff I had you do earlier, it wasn’t really meant to make you stronger. I was just annoyed with your attitude and wanted to teach you some humility. I’m sorry, Kintaro. Priestess Moki left me behind because she felt I could help you, and instead I played silly tricks on you. If you had gotten hurt last night when fighting either Kami or Warumaru, it would have been my fault. I don’t deserve to be called sempai or sensei anymore.”
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Kintaro told him, putting a friendly hand on the fox’s head. “I don’t really carry grudges.”
“You were just being who you are,” Tsukumo added. “A kitsune is a naturally born trickster, and you can’t completely fight against nature.”
“Besides,” Kintaro went on, “because of all you put me through, I feel a lot stronger than I did before. I don’t think I could have stood much of a chance against that ghost unless I’d done all that stuff. Thanks, Nar-sensei.”
Nar looked up at their faces. They were very forgiving, and it made his tails wag a bit. He told himself that even if Kintaro was a fool, he was a kind, forgiving and brave one. And those were the qualities that truly made him Cain’s son.