#got hit with multiple tornados and flooding

[ruinreigns]

my brain isn't in a great place . all of the pictures coming out of the western part of my state have me broken hearted ... seeing the place i called home and have missed for so long being washed away is really hard . there are friends that i don't know if they're okay ... the mountains are mostly only accessible by air ... and so many places i love just don't exist anymore .

beyond that ... there are so many students and families who have lost their homes and everything they have . their entire lives are gone . the death toll is climbing higher and i keep checking missing persons pages , terrified of seeing names i know .

it's hard to remind myself that things aren't hopeless , that these communities have a long history of coming together to support and save each other , but it's going to be a long time before any sort of recovery happens .

if you can ... please consider donating to help . to put it into perspective , disaster relief organizations are comparing the damage done in western north carolina to the damage done during hurricane katrina . it's no exaggeration .

here is a list of charities and funds that are directly contributing to relief efforts in western north carolina and eastern tennessee . consider donating or sharing . these communities need all of the help that they can get .

north carolina community foundation ( nccf )

hearts with hands

american red cross - hurricane helene relief ( sponsored by wfmy )

operation air drop ( providing supplies directly to the communities )

i'm sure there are more , but it's a start .

[deadinyourarea]

Hey so I have a question, is it true your town got hit by back to back natural disasters? Like multiple tornados/floods

uhhhh maybe?

I don't really pay attention to the weather unless a BITCH-ASS GHOST IS MESSING WITH IT

ahem

Yeah, I don't really pay attention to the weather. Think I might've caused a snowstorm once???

Does news about our weather get out of the town??? Like, do Gothamites look at Amity Parkers with the same energy we look at them? the meme with the cat standing on its hind legs in the snow captioned "the fuck they doin over there?"

[granulesofsand]

Ableism for DID

🗝️🏷️ I’m mad and wrote a short essay about it. Therapy goals, RAMCOA mentions, angry tone

It’s not good practice to be pushing integration the way people are. Not fusion, integration — memories, abilities, experiences. The treatment is still taking a system and forcing them close enough together to pass as a singlet.

Some systems probably need that, maybe if members aren’t being responsible with the body while out or flashbacks only stop by putting together pieces. But not every system will. Even communication across the system might not be a priority.

Integration does remove dissociative barriers, but it also risks flooding alters into one another when they really don’t want that. It should be thought out as much as any treatment goal, and having it as a standard only serves to undermine a clients authority over their own therapy.

Big System

The way we find out about system members is mostly exponential. I’m not convinced it ever ends, I think if you kept following alters who knew alters you would just end up overcrowded into the abyss.

We knew about 8 people the first time we thought we were done. It was 20 by the time we got through that sidesystem, not including their nested subsystems. When we learned about those, it went up to 40ish, then 60. We haven’t actually found everyone there yet, it goes pretty deep.

We were scared and excited when we found 100. That was a whole other sidesystem, plus a few from elsewhere. People kept logging until we hit 200, then 300. We only just decided to keep track of fragments, which is kind of nightmarish itself, and so far we have like 20 of them that are stable and take front often.

I know of several hundred fragments. Some are connected to alters, some are memory holders, some specific skills or traits unique to them. There is onegroup that are all shapeshifters, but they take the same form throughout so it’s hard to tell if it’s one alter with duplication abilities or like 30. We call them Omen, they are like our tornado sirens.

There are so many of them. We’re figuring out patterns and programs, so that’s been great and helpful. Getting to know everyone is huge, and it has dark sides. Not everyone knows they are a person, or that they are allowed to elaborate.

It takes a lot of faith on their part to take the leap and feel like themselves. We work on separation and healing with each person, and we don’t need more convincing that we aren’t. It was a big part of our trauma to not be a person, and some of it was based on our multiplicity. None of us could be a person, so none of us got human rights. That’s not okay.

Individuality

We have a lot of alter groups that are all elaborated. They all seem like full people, each with several hobbies and a life history and worldview that has changed throughout their existence. Sometimes subsystems are more part-like, but sometimes there are 5 iterations of a fractal and all of them are whole, solid people.

I know that we share a body. I know that we could have been one person, given better circumstances. But it still hasn’t been our experience that having a lot of us equals each of us having less. We use different parts of the brain differently, but we don’t literally occupy that space.

I don’t see why we can’t be individuals on the alter level. Integration, either of alters or of memories and skills, is such a priority for healing. We don’t see it that way. Our therapist doesn’t see it that way. Our boundaries between system members are largely the same as between our body and outsiders. It would be better for us if we could interact system member to singlet, but that would require us being seen as more than one.

It’s so much harder to get people to treat us as separate when the goal is to act like one person. We’ve been healing one-on-one in therapy, and we put memories together like authors of a book, restricted to those who need to see.

We don’t want to share memories or feel bad we don’t work like a singlet, because we’re not. And the size of our system doesn’t make us any less. It isn’t better than how singlets are, it just isn’t the same. It’s inherently a different experience, and forcing a system to function differently feels the same as when we had to put away our autism for allistics.

Stop making us bad for being different. Stop making us hide away the ugly. Stop forcing us into little boxes that we already know the whole group doesn’t fit, let alone a system with extensive trauma. Even without the trauma, it costs nothing but mental energy to treat us as we ask. If you can’t do that, don’t bother interacting with us at all.

TL;DR: systems/alters also deserve autonomy and the right to set boundaries. If that’s too hard, don’t be friends with that system.

[ober-affen-geil]

Its not so much "expect" and more "this is not historically how weather works over mountains".

Excerpts, emphasis mine:

"To be clear, Helene would have been devastating no matter where it hit, given that it dropped a truly enormous amount of rain—more than 18 inches across swathes of western North Carolina, with three-day totals that were well above 20 inches at multiple stations. For context, a three-day-long precipitation event in Asheville, N.C., the largest city in the most-affected region, is considered to be a once-in-1,000-year occurrence if it produces 8.4 inches of rain. (A once-in-1,000-year flood is one that has a 0.1 chance of happening in any given year.) The longest period that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculates that out to is 60 days, for which a rainfall event in Asheville is considered to be a once-in-1,000-year occurrence if it produces 19.3 inches."

"Although tropical storm systems don’t often reach inland mountains, they can be particularly vicious when they do because of these sorts of factors. “This is a common way of producing catastrophic flooding,” Smith says. “There’ve been a number of these from the southern Appalachians all the way up into New England.” In particular, he points to 1916, when Asheville itself saw horrific flooding after consecutive tropical storms arrived in June and July. Helene was able to reach this area and dump so much rain in part because it was so strong at landfall, extremely large and moving quickly, which meant it kept more of its energy farther inland than storms often do."

Weather acts differently over flat land than mountainous land, this is why "tornado alley" exists. Mountainous land acts as a wind break, either not allowing storms to form as big as they do over the plains or breaking up large storms that run into them.

Typically hurricanes moving inland once they make landfall will act very differently depending on if they spin into the plains or up the Appalachian ridge. Helene apparently happens to be extra different because of how much land speed was retained; it got there faster and carrying more water in the system than usual.

I'm not an expert, this is just what I've picked up from having a meteorologist in the family and living in Louisiana for 4 years. If anyone has better or different insight please add on.

[weather-usa]

Hundreds of thousands of Texans remain without power after storms unleashed hurricane-force winds.

Hundreds of thousands of Texans are without power, and many may remain in the dark for several days after fierce and deadly storms tore through the state on Tuesday and over the holiday weekend. These storms have left residents to cope with devastated homes and businesses amid uncomfortably hot weather.

As of Wednesday evening, more than 280,000 utility customers in Texas were without power, including over 150,000 in Dallas County alone, according to PowerOutage.us.

See more:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/196571471/Weather-Forecast-for-New-Hampshire

Both Houston and Dallas were hit with hurricane-force winds on Tuesday, causing violent storms that flooded roads, uprooted trees and power lines, and reduced some buildings to mere shells of their former selves.

The winds collapsed an under-construction home in Magnolia, Texas, killing a 16-year-old working inside, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Since Saturday, at least eight people have been killed in the state as severe weather pummeled the region over the Memorial Day weekend.

Climate and Average Weather Year Round in New York:

This violent weather is the latest in an unrelenting series of severe storms that have battered Texas in recent weeks, leaving residents with little time to recover from one storm before the next arrives.

Summerlike heat will ease across Texas this week following a sweltering heat wave, but those without power or a reliable way to cool down could still face the risk of dangerous heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Temperatures across eastern Texas on Wednesday will hover around the mid-80s to low 90s, according to the National Weather Service.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned residents to prepare for extended power outages due to extensive damage to the infrastructure. Oncor, the utility company, shared photos of mangled electricity poles, twisted power lines, and massive toppled trees.

Weather Forecast For Michigan:

Widespread outages also disrupted primary runoff elections on Tuesday in Dallas County, with over a third of polling locations without power, according to Jenkins.

“Check on your friends, family, and neighbors, especially anyone elderly,” Dallas County officials advised. “Don’t move debris yet as there could be hidden downed power lines that might still be energized.”

Esmeralda Martinez, a resident of Carrollton, is among those now sifting through homes reduced to piles of soggy debris and jagged wooden beams, as reported by CNN affiliate WFAA. She and her family sheltered in a hallway as the storm tore off the roof, damaging every room in their home and soaking their belongings.

Across the street, Javon Holloway and his grandmother are thankful their home was spared from more serious damage. The neighbors are grateful no one was harmed.

“Don’t take your house for granted. I’ll say that much. Be thankful for what you got,” Holloway told WFAA.

Storms continued moving across north and central Texas on Tuesday night and are expected to last through Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. After a brief reprieve, another round of powerful storms is expected to return to the area on Thursday evening, bringing a threat of large hail, damaging winds, and localized flooding to the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Houston Faces Damage Déjà Vu

Residents of the Houston area are experiencing a distressingly familiar scenario as they assess the fresh damage from Tuesday's storms, just two weeks after a derecho and a tornado swept through the city, causing multiple fatalities and power outages for nearly 1 million homes and businesses.

See more:

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-99566

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-99567

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-99568

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-99569

https://weatherusa.app/zip-code/weather-99571

Although 99% of those previous outages had been restored by last week, Tuesday's storms knocked out power to over 300,000 homes and businesses in the Houston area, according to the regional utility CenterPoint Energy. By Wednesday morning, a majority of its customers had their power restored.

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Powers

Since people are curious: The following is a list of powers for the Gamer!Izuku AU I plan on making. After talking about it I got inspired.

Powers

All powers have four tiers with multiple options for each tier. Can level up each power. Limited it all to four powers only with ‘specializations’ adding more powers. Specializations in the works.

Healing

Has a ‘healing power’ bar

1st Tier

Heal (Can restore up to 10 HP. Increases with Level Up. Cannot be used on Izuku himself)

Siphon (Takes HP from target to give to Izuku. 10 HP at first and then increases with Level Up)

2nd Tier

Group Heal (Can heal two people at once. Increases people affected with Level Up. Cannot be used on Izuku Himself)

Miasma (Affects a large area and siphons HP from targets to Izuku. Increases targets with level up)

3rd Tier

Healing Mist (Can breathe out a mist that will flood an area, healing all people inside it. Increases HP restore with level up. Does not discriminate, but does not work on Izuku.)

Fog of Death (breathes out a fog that floods an area, siphoning from everyone in area. Insreases HP restore with level up. Does not discriminate)

4th tier

Ultimate Heal (Can only be used ONCE a day. Heals any ailments that are Satus Effects, and restores target to full health)

Full drain (Takes ALL HP from target to give to Izuku. Can only be used once a day)

Elemental Powers

(Totally stole a bunch from Dragon Age)

Lightning, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wind.

Can ONLY pick 3 elements

Fire can’t work with Water, Earth and Wind don’t work together and lightning/Metal is a no.

Recharge time gets better with level up.

1st tier

Lightning bolt (creates a lighting bolt to slam into target)

Fireball (able to make a fire ball at target)

Stonefist (creates a fist of stone to shoot at people)

Finger gun (can shoot a single bullet from fingers)

Freeze (freeze target temporarily)

Wind gust (makes large gust of wind to blow people back.)

2nd Tier

Chain lightning (can hit multiple targets with lightning bolt)

Cone of fire (hit multiple targets with fire)

Stone armour (can make armour for yourself that also deflects physical attacks)

Cannon Arm (causes a cannonball to shoot from palms)

Cone of Ice (Hit multiple targets with Ice

Tornado (lifts multiple people and throws them away from target)

3rd Tier

Lightning storm (causes an area to be hit by a large storm. Friendly fire possible)

Frestorm (causes an area to be hit by a bunch of fire. Friendly fire possible)

Earthquake (causes an area to be hit by an earthquake. Friendly fire possible)

Gun barrage (causes a bunch of bullets to appear and begin to shoot out at the targets. Friendly fire possible)

Blizzard (causes an area to be hit by a large blizzard. Friendly fire possible)

Wind storm (causes an area to be hit by a large storm. Friendly fire possible)

4th Tier: Can now combine all chosen elements into large storms all at once.

Runes

Lots of studying needed.

3rd tier the only one with multi options.

Runes are predrawn, can only activate one at once.

1st tier

Trap runes. Traps can correspond to elements chosen previously.

2nd tier

Combat runes. Can throw runes to act as weapons/shields

3rd tier

Mental rune. (Now able to think of the rune and create it in mid air without predrawn runes)

Multi rune (Can activate multiple runes at once. Amount increases level up)

4th tier

Enchantment. Can now enchant weapons/armour/objects with runes to give permanent affects. Can now make mundane runes like ‘perfectly soft’

Arcane

Basically just magic blasts/use of magic.

1st tier

Arcane blast (able to use a blast of magic)

Arcane spear (can use magic to pierce people)

2nd tier

Arcane shield- creates a shield that defelcts 80% of emitter Quirk based attacks (does nothing for thing like guns or physical Quirks like Ojiro’s tail).

Arcane battalion (able to use pure blasts of magic to rein down upon a target)

3rd tier

Arcane Wave (throws people away from Izuku)

Arcane armoury (Can lift a bunch of weapons and use them against people. Time limit involved of 5 minutes. Can increase with level up)

4th tier

Arcane Flight (able to lift himself and fly around Time limit of 5 minutes, can increase with level up. Recharge time 4 hours.)

Arcane One Shot (forms a ball of pure energy that can rip through anything no matter what and destory it. Recharge time 8 hours, can decrease with level up to a minimum 2 hours)

[spiritshaydra]

I was going to just put these in the tags because I wasn’t sure how up to date all this is, but it’s what my family did when we decided to just ride out a Category 2 hurricane instead of evacuate. (If it was a stronger category, we probably would have evacuated since we lived in the HOUSTON area at the time.)

When the storm actually hits be sure to stay away from all exterior walls and windows. This is so that in the scenario where the windows break due to high winds or debris, you don’t get hit by flying glass and other not so fun stuff. (This is also something we do if we have a tornado warning)

If in a multiple story building try to stay on the ground floor just in case something busts through the roof or steals the roof. I distinctly remember kids talking about how trees had fallen into their bedrooms, and in one case on top of one kid’s bed during the storm when I got back to school. Sleeping downstairs during the hurricane definitely saved that kid’s life.

Battery operated devices such as flashlights and radios are also a good backup plan in case the power goes out

you can also use the interior to a dishwasher as a means to store valuables that could get destroyed by water just in case it floods. Dishwashers are supposed to be watertight I think.

Do not go outside for too long when (or if) the eye of the storm passes over. The strongest winds in tropical cyclones are the ones that make up the eyewall which boarders the eye, and you do NOT want to be caught outside when that passes through.

This is what my family utilized when we got hit by Hurricane Ike back in like 2008.

We didn’t have power for several days and I remember us using a battery powered Camp Rock radio/CD/old school iPod touch dock. We used it to play music as entertainment but to also have a means to listen to news broadcasts.

OH we also filled up the bathtubs just in case we lost water so we’d have another source of drinkable water.

I also remember us utilizing candles a lot during the night.

We were crammed into a downstairs hallway with our sleeping bags and other stuff we used as makeshift bedding, as it was the only place in our house on the ground floor that had no windows. I remember that we actually slept in our rooms before it hit us, and that right as it was about to hit, my dad woke me up and carried me downstairs into our little fortress. I remember how LOUD it was. The lightning was near constant, and there were a couple really really bright flashes that were the transformers that supplied us power getting destroyed. It was purple and green. I remember sitting upright while either bundled up in a blanket or securely wrapped up in one of my parents’ arms as I stared up at the large window above the stairs with wide eyes. I remember my mom worried about the gigantic pine tree that grew probably less than three feet away from the house and if it was going to fall. (Those trees snap like toothpicks whenever a large storm comes through) I do recall hearing crashing outside but it was a different tree that smashed through our fence. I think the only other damage we had was some shingles being missing from the roof? Oh and a trashed yard covered in debris from trees. Probably one of my clearest memories of that storm was during the following morning where my mom was sitting on the couch watching the giant pine tree outside the window, sap running down its bark like blood. It was weird.

Honestly, I’m not too sure how well I remember some of this stuff (mostly concerning the events of hurricane Ike) because I was only six at the time. ^^’

HEY CALIFORNIA PEOPLE!

HURRICANE ADVICE FROM A FLORIDIAN!

Make sure you've got shelf-stable food and water for everyone in the house, including pets. The rule of thumb is a gallon per person per day. Freeze water bottles if you want cold water.

Make sure you have enough meds!

Make sure you have batteries, candles, flashlights, and a manual can opener. 

Make sure your electronics, including backup batteries, are charged. Unplug things you don't want fried in case of a power surge. 

Don't tape your windows, it doesn't help and you'll just be stuck scrubbing goo off of them later.

Put a mug of frozen water in it in your freezer with a quarter on top of it. If your freezer defrosts, the ice will melt and the quarter will sink and tell you you need to throw things out.

Get everything that's not nailed to a foundation out of your yard. That dead branch hanging on by a thread? Time to get it down (it was probably time to do that three days ago, but now’s better than never).

Park away from powerlines and trees if you can. Rain makes the ground soft and then trees fall over.

Have an evacuation plan to a shelter. Evacuate if they’re telling you to.

If you start to flood, don't go in your attic. You'll get trapped if the water rises too high and you can't hack through your roof. This happened to a lot of people in Texas and Louisiana. Get ON the roof.

Be safe, be well <3 

[jenonctcity]

Artifice

[11:56pm]

Mark Lee – Angst

Non-Idol!Au

Warnings: Adultery.

Word Count: 1.2k

Request: Mark cheating on his wife.

 The noise of the clock ticking on the wall was the only thing you could focus on. The repetitive sound echoing inside the walls of your living room and cascading through your head. The only light was coming from the muted television. You stared at it blankly, not paying any attention to the k-drama playing on screen. You waited and waited. Sitting there on the sofa with a blanket wrapped securely over your shoulders, it being a comfort to you as anxiety and stress buried itself into the pit of your stomach. Mark still hadn’t walked through the door of your apartment, even though he promised to be home by 11 at the latest. You didn’t mind Mark going out and doing is own thing. But when he lied to you then that bothered you. 

You knew he was with her. The woman he had been seeing behind your back every week, sometimes skipping a week as to not make you suspicious. But you knew there was something different with how Mark was acting around you. You had the gut feeling he was having an affair with his new co-worker, and the texts on his phone proved you to be correct. When he was asleep one night you used to face recognition on his phone and looked through his messages. You knew it was wrong to invade his privacy, but he was cheating on you so who was the one who was doing something really bad? He was. You got the answers you needed but didn’t have the fight in you to pull him up on it. It had been three weeks since you found out and you were trying to work up the courage to confront him and end your marriage.

But the thought of ending a four-year marriage over this was breaking your heart almost more than the fact he was being disloyal to you. Mark was the reason you got out of bed every day, the reason for your smile, but also the reason for the tears that fell down your cheeks slowly. You couldn’t wrap your head around why he was cheating on you. Questions that you didn’t know the answer to ran through your mind like a nasty tornado. Were you not good enough? Had you done something wrong? Did he just not love you anymore and didn’t have the guts to divorce you?

The sound of the door clicking shut brought distracted you from your thoughts. You sniffed back the emotions sitting clear as day on your face, wiping your eyes and turning to face him with a blank stare on your face.

“Why are you still up baby?” He smiled softly, a look of uncertainty on his face at the fact you had been up to catch him sneaking in late. You subconsciously fiddled with the wedding ring on your finger, gulping back a sob and letting out a long breath before greeting him with a fake smile.

“I was waiting for you handsome.” Your voice was weak, sounding as fragile as you looked at that moment.

“Have you been crying?” He sank down onto the sofa beside you, his arm automatically wrapping around your shoulder, tugging you closer to him as he pressed a kiss to the top of your head. You nodded in response, feeling your stomach hit the floor as you plucked up the courage to speak.

“You would be crying too if the love of your life was sleeping with someone else behind your back.” You looked him in the eye, the fake smile still plastered on your face as fresh tears broke through the barriers and rolled down your blushed cheeks. You felt him tense on you, slowly removing his arm as his mouth opened and closed multiple times as if he didn’t know what to say.

“I-I…” He stuttered, unsure whether to try and persuade you it wasn’t true. Or to come clean and break your heart even more. He went with the second option despite how much it hurt his heart. “How did you know?” He couldn’t make eye contact with you despite your incessant staring at him.

“I had a feeling then saw some texts on your phone. Also, I noticed some scratches on your back that I definetly hadn’t put there.” You sighed, breaking down into sobs and shaking your head in disbelief that it is all coming out.

“(Y/N)…I’m so sorry. I honestly am.” He gulped, a weep leaving his own lips as his world came crashing down on him. He didn’t want to lose you, but he did the one thing that was sure to push you away. And watching how you cried from a broken heart because of him completely broke him. “Please don’t leave me.” He begged, a hand reaching out to grasp your own in his hand. You dodged his grip and stood up, wiping your eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Why did you do it Mark? What did I do wrong? Do you not love me anymore…?” Your voice cracked as your wept. Not sure if you wanted the answers to his questions, knowing if he heard something you didn’t want to hear it could make or break your decision to stay with him or leave.

“You didn’t do anything wrong; I was just stupid and I…I don’t even know.” He hiccupped, standing up to face you. “I regret it, but I couldn’t stop, I have no feelings for her I swear to you baby. I love you and I fucked up. I am so sorry.” The two of you stared into eyes others eyes, crying together as destructive thoughts ripped through your minds.

“Sorry isn’t good enough Mark.” Your tone was soft, but the words cut him like a knife. His heart dropped and he hung his head in shame. “Promise me you will never speak to her again. You have to find another job. And if you EVER dare to cheat on me again Mark I will be gone, and I won’t be coming back. Understood?” You felt like a mother scolding her child, but you had to lay down the ground rules for him if you were preparing to put your heart on the line again.

“Thank you, I love you so much. I promise I’ll get another job and I won’t ever do this again.” He stepped towards you, reaching out to pull you in for a hug but you pressed your hands to his chest, pushing him away gently. You shook your head and took a pace back.

“I need time…be patient please.” You turned your back on him, leaving him stood in the living room as you went to the bedroom. You shut the door behind yourself, breaking down in more floods of tears and sliding down the door. Mark approached the door, placing his ear against the door and listening to you cry your heart out. He mirrored your action, sliding down the door and crying for you.

[gabriel-gabdiel]

Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword Chapter 56: Living Sin (Part 8)

Likka Ikumi and Natsuki Shinkai deal with the Karasu and Kuronue tandem. The Oniwabanshu with Kuwabara deal with Gein and the Omyouji.

Hiei and Kurama deal with Usui as well.

The original source of this idea comes from Chad Yang. I continued his story idea found here.

The rest of the chapters of my Yuyu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin crossover fan fiction are available here and here. Enjoy.

First | Previous | Next

At the Okushiri Airport...

Natsuki Shinkai freed herself from Kuronue's tight chains, increasing their velocity even while at rest by focusing and infusing her unique reiki unto them.

Kuronue barely dodged the bullet-fast broken chain shrapnel along with the follow-through Kousa Dageki (Cross Strike) strike and thrust combo that nearly crushed his skull and/or put a hole in his trachea.

Or maybe he didn't. Maybe he got hit after all. And killed.

However, the next thing Natsuki knew, he was about 6 feet or 2 meters away from her, none the worse for wear. As though she had hit and killed a mirage.

Damn. That was close.

They were currently inside the flaming remnants of a 747 cargo plane that Karasu had earlier blown up along with the rest of the airport.

Yes, Natsuki Shinkai could be as softhearted as Kurama in that she wouldn't indiscriminately kill her enemies. However, when she was pushed far enough, she could be every bit as cruel as the Youko.

Especially if she thought you deserved it. Like her father, Feng Xinhai, attempting to kill Daiji Matsudaira with a half-formed supercell of a tornado.

Apparently, a simple humiliating parry of her best friend's flying kick was enough to send her to the edge.

Figuring out what Kuronue meant by Natsuki's limits, Kuronue started blasting the remaining buildings and planes of the decimated Okushiri Airport.

Even though she could redirect the explosions or even rubble away from herself, the mindful Natsuki kept her barrier down against the high-speed shards of earth and glass for fear of accidentally deflecting it against nearby civilians or her friend, Likka Ikumi.

"Dammit," she cursed as she concentrated hard to deflect the individual rubble and debris at only Karasu and Kuronue in order to protect Ikumi.

"I think I understand her weakness now," said Karasu, who sneered and produced Clamshell Shrapnel Bombs for good measure. "She's only as powerful as the attacks directed at her! She also needs to concentrate hard to manipulate the direction and trajectory of a multitude of objects coming at her simultaneously or else there'll be collateral damage!"

"That's right. She can't deflect multiple things at the same time!" said Kuronue, who easily maneuvered through the raining debris, metal shrapnel, glass, and rubble in order to attack Natsuki with them, knowing that she could only dodge and couldn't return fire with any effective offense of her own.

The demons attacked simultaneously at two fronts, which kept Shinkai from focusing her psionic redirection powers properly.

Natsuki held on remarkably well though, redirecting the flying rock shards at both demons while using Hawatari (Sword Halt) and Hadome (Sword Crossing) at the supersonic Kuronue's attempts at stabbing her and making her mess up her concentration.

"Ahhh!" Likka cried out in pain as several bits of shrapnel hit her on the thigh and abdomen.

There were too many bullet-fast objects chaotically shooting at every direction and at different speeds for Shinkai to properly take account of and deflect.

"Likka-tan! I'm sorry!" shouted a tearful Natsuki, only for Kuronue to aim for her neck with his scythe. She then faced her attacker and said, "Fine. You want me to kill you? Then I will!"

She proceeded to do what Kuronue claimed she couldn't do, which was to reverse the flow of his blood in one direction, leading his head swell and burst like a balloon.

A second Kuronue appeared right behind the deceased one, his blade at the ready. "Whoa. Those are some frightening powers, child."

'What the hell was going on anymore?' thought Natsuki as the tip of the sickle cut through her stomach.

Karasu then threw a new grenade at Natsuki, who attempted to deflect it only for it to explode in her face.

***

Youtou Shinnoken: Demon Sword

A Rurouni Kenshin/Yuyu Hakusho Crossover Fan Fiction Story by Chester Castañeda

Original Concept by Chad Yang

The Misao reincarnation known as Likka Ikumi gets to activate her special powers at last.

Disclaimer: Yuyu Hakusho is the rightful property of Yoshihiro Togashi, Shueisha, Fuji TV, and Studio Pierrot. Rurouni Kenshin is the rightful property of Nobuhiro Watsuki, Shueisha, Shonen Jump, Viz, Sony Studios, Fuji TV, Studio Gallop, Studio Deen, and ADV. This disclaimer also covers all the other copyrighted materials that are far too many to mention here. Don't sue me please, I'm very poor.

***

Chapter 56: Living Sin (Part 8)

***

At Nabetsuru Rock...

The Nabetsuru (Pot Handle) Rock was a tourist destination off of the coast of Okushiri Island. It was a rock formation visible across the shores of Okushiri with the appearance of a pot handle.

Speaking of pots, the water surrounding the rock soon boiled, steamed, and bubbled like water inside a pot being heated by a stove. Something was afoot.

The half-healed zombie corpse body of Usui Uonuma was still licking his wounds from his defeat against Hajime Saito when one of the ferry-girls located him off of Nabetsuru Rock and informed the Reikai Senshi (Spirit World Warriors) of the fact.

Shikigami from Houji had gathered around him to present him with enough spiritual power to restore his body to seeming health.

It was weird how jaki (negative energy) of all things could heal him, but he knew his body was really more of a corpse and he was more of a vengeful ghost than a reincarnated spirit.

He knew and he didn't care. He'd cling to existence by any means necessary after it was nearly snuffed out by Makoto Shishio and "permanently" ended by Hajime Saito.

Usui had by then reconnected his body's top half with his bottom half, but his fatal wounds were still tender and his broken spine was still in bad shape.

The Spirit World Warriors were really hammering their forces down, weren't they?

A few minutes later and there he was: Jaganshi (Evil Eye User) Hiei.

Probably the second or third most powerful member of the Reikai Senshi, behind Kenshin Himura (with his inimitable Demon Sword) and Yusuke Urameshi (the direct descendant of one of the Three Kings of Makai, Raizen).

Usui smirked, opened his mouth, and licked his lips.

This was now a battle between the Shingan (True Eyes) and the Jagan (Evil Eyes).

The blind swordsman turned spearman zombie wondered about something. If he had Jine Udo's Jagan on one eye socket and Hiei's Jagan on his other eye socket, would he finally gain the power he needed to usurp the likes of Tenro? Or the Chojin?

Or Shishio?

'Same difference.'

He remembered how his supernatural Tinbe shield grew thick enough to stop even the ultimate attacks of both a super-powered Kenshin and Saito, which in turn allowed his Rochin to penetrate anything weaker and less dense than his Tinbe.

If he had the power of one Jagan to hypnotize people and another Jagan to gain control of huge amounts of demonic energy, he'd be unstoppable: The most powerful Shin Ju who possessed both superhuman senses and supernatural powers.

'But first thing's first,' Uonuma thought, noticing the fewer number of shinigami (death gods) assisting his healing as Hiei approached his perch on the unusual rock at dangerous speeds.

The sea seemingly parted in twain from the jaganshi's flashing steps as though he were a mix of a miniature speedboat and Moses himself parting the Red Sea like theater curtains.

***

There were too many of them. There was a suffocating amount if multiplying Iwanbos there as well as shikigamis who fed them jaki.

The combination of Houji "Onmyouji (Occult Priest)" Sadojima and Edward "The Puppet Master" Gein (also known as Dr. Shoji Sugino from Unit 731) were too much for this batch of Reikai Senshi to handle.

That was the simple conclusion that the Spirit World Warriors and the Oniwabanshu (Garden Keepers) had when fighting against the armies of undead Iwanbo and shikigami spirits from both of the Chojin's top generals/captains.

Like the Roku Youkai (Six Demons) on Mt. McKinley versus The Nameless Yatsume, the Reikai Tantei and the Oniwabanshu were flooded with Iwanbo versions 1, 2, and 3 and the shikigami they fed on for jaki and power ups, like this was an ecosystem teeming with predators and the Reikai Senshi were their prey.

Kuwabara had been chopping out reanimated puppets and familiars left and right with his twin Jigen Tou (Dimensional Sword) for almost an hour, only to end up sapped of energy.

He ended up with only one flickering Dimension Sword left as more and more of the puppet monsters appeared, multiplying by mitosis or something.

At the same time, he had to contend against Houji turning everything nearest him into fast-healing creatures like Toguro Ani, with their wounds or even pureed bodies healing instantly. Like nothing they did to them could faze them.

Gein, in turn, used his own unique jaki to supply the Chojin's necromancer with fresh corpses to bring to life.

The reincarnated Okashira (Boss) of the Oniwabanshu—Daiji Matsudaira (formerly Aoshi Shinomori) —fluidly maneuvered against the razors-sharp web of trip-wires that the World War II veteran mad scientist ninja known as Gein weaved with diamond-covered threads, only to be bull-rushed by the one Iwanbo Version 3 with the four arms: The Iwanbo Version 3.2.

The Iwanbo 3.2 had thus far trampled on all of the efforts of the Tokyo Oniwabanshu to take it down, whether it was through poison, fire, sword slashes, brute strength, or martial arts.

Like Shikijo, it got cross-slash scars from every part of its body, but it still kept moving, shrugging off the rain of kodachi Daiji produced as well as the pistol shots to the head (the police officer could conjure guns as well).

Kuwabara did notice how the monstrous puppet recovered as quickly as Toguro Ani while sporting the same ridiculous musculature of Toguro Ototo. 'Hiei and Kurama's investigations were true! That old ninja guy really was responsible for demonizing the Toguro Brothers!'

Meanwhile, Kuwabara desperately held on to his knife-sized Jigen Tou, willing it to existence even as he had to contend against an undead army of shikigami and Iwanbos.

He could summon a Rei-Ken (Spirit Sword) instead, but even a dimensional knife had more utility to it.

He sliced apart portals, warp gates, dimensions, space, and even the sky itself with the way his cuts remained in the air like cracks on glass, cutting through the guts of the zombie puppets down below and the ghoulish ghosts from up above.

Houji and Gein pushed him to the brink of using up all his spirit energy, which may then force him to use his own life force to keep on fighting (like what Yusuke did to take down Suzaku the first time they fought).

The Onmyouji sloppily sliced his scythe at Kuwabara, who then blocked the blade but his knees ultimately buckled against the weight of the Chojin's negative energy instead of the strength of the strike.

'Dammit, we're going to lose!'

The bowl-cut necromancer cackled and ranted, "This is the power of the Chojin! This is the power of the gods! You were no match from the start!"

As for the Aoshi Shinomori of the modern era, he threw every last kodachi he could muster at the charging Iwanbo 3.2, whose tackles were so impactful he turned even fellow Iwanbo and stray shikigami inside-out into road kill, ground beef, or ectoplasm.

Even after being turned into a knife holder sculpture or Julius Caesar after his assassination, the four-armed Iwanbo would not stop charging.

The tired Okashira ended up taking a knee. He willed himself to move away with his Water Flow Movement, but Dr. Sugino caught him off-guard from behind with razor-sharp thread that wrapped around and bit into his neck.

"Checkmate, Okashira. You killed me before, right? Well, let me return the favor."

Daiji struggled against the old man, surprised at how strong he was for his age, the piano wire digging deeper into his throat. They'd be both turned into mush by the rampaging Iwanbo 3.2, but only one of them would end up getting resurrected by the Onmyouji when all was said and done.

The air around them then changed as the ghosts of the Oniwabanshu rose again. However, something inside them changed. They exuded menace that wasn't there before.

Hannya, Shikijo, Hyottoko, and Beshimi rose up like zombies hungry for flesh.

"Don't you dare touch the Okaaashiiiraaa...!"

***

As Likka Ikumi—Misao Makimachi's Heisei reincarnation—went unconscious due to blood loss, she dreamed of what had happened earlier, when she was deemed a C-Level martial artist ninja girl while the rest of the people she knew from past and present ranked B-Level and higher instead.

"This isn't fair!" Likka complained to Yahiko Myojin. "You'd be B-Level too if you didn't have special powers yourself, you little brat!"

"Yeah, funny how that works. Even Cat Eyes got better superpowers than you and your quick costume changes! OW!" teased Yahiko before he got hit upside the head with Misao's patented flying kick.

"KECHO GIRI!" Ikumi screamed. "Grrr! I want superpowers too! I don't want to end up in the battlefield being some sort of liability to Uncle Jiji (Daiji) or Tsuki-chan (Natsuki)!

Yahiko then relented, "Jeez, Weasel-chan! Don't be upset about me being stronger than you. You only 'woke up' recently! But you're still the reincarnation of Makimachi Misao and yes, you're better at hand-to-hand combat than I am."

Likka paused then pouted. "Really, Yahiko-chan?"

Kenshin himself then said, "Misao-dono, I know that Shinomori Aoshi's talent might have blinded you of this fact, but shinobi (spies) are not known for their swordsmanship or strength. They're instead known for their cunning."

Natsuki herself interjected, "You are not a swordsman but a spy, Likka-tan. A ninja. A shadow warrior. You can take down a samurai many times more powerful than you by ambush and stealth. Use that."

Likka then woke up back at the Okushiri Airport, in time to see the miko (priestess) ferry-girl tending to her shrapnel wounds, removing the foreign objects and healing her body the best she could.

"Please, wake up! Please, hang on!" pleaded the shinigami known as Hinageshi.

***

Back at the Kyujimayama Observatory...

The combination of Houji the Onmyouji and Gein the Puppet Master was truly too much for Kazuma Kuwabara and the Oniwabanshu to handle.

Daiji Matsudaira then did the Jissen Kenbu (combining the Water Flow Movement with his one-handed kodachi strikes) to escape Dr. Sugino's wire-based grasp. The doctor was not as adept at pure ninjutsu as his Meiji Era counterpart.

However, Shoji's supernatural powers and modern scientific knowledge more than made up for his lack of physical prowess and skills.

However, just behind them, the transformed Oniwabanshu tore apart the four-armed Iwanbo 3.2 like a pack of wolves.

"Saaaave the Okashiraaa! At aaaall cooosts!"

Hannya. Shikijo. Hyottoko. Beshimi.

Again, their supposed Okashira had failed them and soiled their memories. Or this watered-down copper version of their Okashira living in the present Heisei Era did so.

These ghosts that served as Daiji's guardian angels from the death of his wife at the hands of Feng Xinhai to the present, when he discovered his dark destiny as being the reincarnation of the Last Oniwabanshu Okashira, were now forced to demonize themselves.

They abandoned their humanity and turned themselves into monsters in order to save Matsudaira.

Shikijo's muscles bulged and popped as his complexion turned grey or even metallic, with him grabbing one set of the Iwanbo's arms in order to stop him in his tracks.

Beshimi bit the Iwanbo with snake-like fangs and threw toxic spines growing from all over his body at him for good measure, the corrosive toxins directly seeping into the undead veins of the puppet monster.

Hyottoko turned into a full-on kappa youkai who breathed fire, toasting the creature from behind.

And finally, the tri-clawed Hannya mauled the Iwanbo repeatedly by slicing apart the veins of his other arms and ravaging him like a rabid wolverine.

The more they ripped apart the puppet, the more mindless they became. Like wild animals.

Houji chuckled at the display, letting his shikigami deal with the weakening Kuwabara for a change. "How would it feel if I brought your ghost friends back to life, Okashira? Alas, they'd end up as the Chojin's minions, but at least they'd be alive."

Meanwhile, Gein retreated and used his own knowledge of the dark arts in order to form a fresh new Iwanbo 3.2 puppet out of the spare parts of the discarded Iwanbo corpses.

No. Enough was enough.

The deceased Oniwabanshu had been haunting Aoshi's soul all this time, even a hundred years later in another body, because they felt like they had failed in protecting him when the opposite was instead true.

Time and time again, they'd saved him.

His blue eyes shining bright like twin stars on a clear night, Daiji's aura of reiki (spirit energy) flared to life and reacted to the youki (demonic energy) emanating from his former Oniwabanshu comrades.

He then started to absorb their dark energy unto himself, shouldering all their anger and feelings of failure unto his own body.

It was his failure and lack of strength that kept them anchored to him for so long, keeping them from passing on.

It was his turn to save them.

As Matsudaira absorbed more of their dark energy, the Oniwabanshu ghouls started to go back to normal. They were neither demons nor monsters any longer.

"Uh, what happened?" asked Shikijo.

"Beats me. I don't remember much," said Beshiimi.

"I feel hungry," said Hyottoko.

"You can't be hungry! You're a ghost!" admonished Hannya, who then turned towards Daiji's shadowy form. "It's the Okashira. He has saved us again, as usual!"

Daiji then went face-to-face against the Iwanbo 3.2, who had again started to cannibalize the corpses or even the "living" bodies of his undead puppet brethren as well as the nearby shikigami unto him.

To build his strength by feeding upon the weak just like Matsudaira did to his Oniwabanshu underlings' youki.

The Iwanbo Version 3.2 then charged at Matsudaira, with the pair of Houji and Gein close behind him.

"Kill the Okashira! Do so and we'll have this battle in the bag!" said Gein to his puppet.

"We might even be able to revive his soul and turn him into one of the Juppon Gatana," suggested Sadojima.

They were in for the shock of their lives.

***

Back at Nabetsuru Rock...

Jaganshi Hiei ran on water like Jesus Christ in a hurry then blasted the rock where the half-healed (or still-healing) Usui Uonuma lay with a Jaou-En-Satsu Kokuryuha (Dragon of Darkness Flame).

The fire demon didn't want to take any chances. However, as expected, Uonuma's Tinbe still remembered the sheer power of the most powerful strikes given to it by the Battousai and the Miburo.

Thusly, the dense adaptable shield survived even the atomic heat of the Makai flames from Hiei's deadliest attack, neutralizing it completely.

"Hn."

Usui answered that indignant harrumph with a chuckle. "And just like that, my Tinbe is now fireproofed as well as shock-absorbent. Is that your best shot, Jaganshi Hiei?"

Hiei then visually disappeared from Uonuma's midst, but the blind man couldn't even see him regardless, so he wasn't too worried.

Usui heard Hiei all the while though.

The blind spearman could only smile as he caught each and every slash or stab Hiei attempted to hit him with, deflecting them away like rain with his Tinbe umbrella.

Earlier, he was made aware that the Shin Ju had lost contact with Houji and Gein, which meant that there wasn't enough shikigami and jaki left to heal him fully.

However, he was an S-Level entity himself.

This meant that even though Uonuma didn't have the Onmyouji's assistance to restore his damaged body to health, he could damn well heal himself on his own. Not at the cancerous rate that the regenerative Toguro Ani could, but fast enough to count when the chips were down.

'I just need to buy myself a little bit more time,' Usui thought, blocking all of Hiei's sword strikes and countering them with his Rochin spear that was as irresistible as his Tinbe was impenetrable.

'Battousai's reports are accurate,' thought Hiei. 'This man is hard to kill, even without the powers of the Onmyouji aiding him and keeping him alive. Or at least undead.'

The two combatants jumped from the rock to the shore, their feet both using the waves and the surface tension of the saltwater to travel from that long distance.

Not once was Hiei able to scratch the injured man. Not with the Kokuryuha. Not with his blade.

However, the blind Shin Ju in turn wasn't fast enough to counter with his Rochin. He kept missing his kaeshi (ripostes) even though he parried or blocked all of the fire demon's physical attacks.

Getting behind Usui to stab him and avoid the shield didn't work because the spearman sensed the fire demon's presence every time and blocked accordingly.

However, thanks to Hiei's Jagan and his inborn twitch reflexes, the Rochin could not touch him in turn, no matter how badly he missed or got parried by the former bakufu swordsman turned Juppon Gatana member.

Perhaps it was because Usui was too injured. Or perhaps it was because he was too slow from the get go.

They seemed to be at an impasse.

***

"Ahhh!" Natsuki shrieked, her impenetrable deflection powers working against her, drawing the implosion towards her instead of away from her due to the nature of her reversal powers.

The crow demon smirked.

His experimental Pillbug Implosion Bomb was a success.

Shinkai predictably attempted to deflect it like Karasu's other bombs, but she did so by reversing its momentum. This made the bomb explode instead of implode unto itself.

The way Natsuki affected her environment was to use the inertia of the objects going towards her and reverse their momentum so that she didn't have to expend her spirit energy moving them away.

To reverse the momentum of an implosion bomb was to turn it into an explosive.

"Now, Kuronue! While you have the chance!"

Kuronue and his afterimage clones attacked Natsuki. Then, after several more Kuronues died out, one of them decapitated Natsuki with his scythe.

Game. Set. Match.

However, that Natsuki turned out to be a standee advertisement of a stewardess instead. Taken straight from the rubble.

"!?" intoned Kuronue, only to realize it was the Misao reincarnation who duped him into decapitating the decoy.

It was a classic ninjutsu trick. Substituting one object for another.

Karasu attempted to get rid of the troublesome onmitsu (ninja girl) with his variety of bombs, only to be greeted with a rain of kunai (ninja daggers) moving at every which way and direction, defying the laws of physics, gravity, and momentum.

He yelped as a dagger ended up in his eye, which would normally be weak enough for him to swat away. 'Where is that damned ninja...?!'

As for Kuronue and Natsuki, they were locked in a battle of wills and wits. Or perhaps a war of attrition.

For different reasons, both Shinkai and the bat demon ended up cleaving or crushing through dozens upon dozens of their respective "clones".

With Natsuki, they were illusions made by Likka. With Kuronue, it was still a mystery where his doppelgangers came from.

For every Kuronue clone that got beat up, head-crushed, stabbed, blinded, or disabled in some way, so too did every Natsuki clone suffer getting their limbs chopped off, their heads decapitated, and their bodies bisected horizontally or vertically.

The fading corpses of Shinkai and Kuronue that littered the landscape disappeared as soon as they fell.

"I don't care anymore!" the one-eyed Karasu threw implosion bombs at the pair's direction. "I'm sure you'll somehow survive this, Kuronue, but she won't!"

That was Likka's cue to detonate the bombs with her flung kunai, one of which ended up stuck unto Karasu's hand.

"...Fool! You fell into my trap!" said Karasu even as one of the implosions set him ablaze. He then took his mask off with his other hand in order to activate his Full-Body Implosion rather than Explosion. "Now to kill you to get rid of all these illusions!"

Likka then smirked before she shifted forms and turned into Natsuki.

"...What?!"

A flabbergasted Kuronue then spared a glance at the Natsuki he was fighting all that time. The bat demon chopped her up, only for her to turn into a stop sign.

"Since when were you under the impression that you were fighting Tsuki-chan?"

"Natsuki" then appeared behind him and turned him into a kunai holder. Sure enough, this "Natsuki" ended up being Likka in disguise instead, mimicking her friend all the while.

"I will not be a burden to Tsuki-chan any longer! I can help her out with my own special power! We can win against you two!" said Ikumi.

Thus was the power of the "C-Level" Likka Ikumi: Optical Illusion. Perfect Deception. Absolute Fantasy.

In other words, Genjutsu (Illusionary Techniques).

Her skills allowed her reiki to create mirages or hallucinations from her own imagination that, when used properly, could make even gods kneel and devils cry.

A special power that could beat even S-Levels to submission.

A power similar to that of the Kanji Killer and his hypnotic Jagan, but it involved projecting her imagination unto reality like realistic mirages instead of invading her opponent's psyche for them to see what she wanted them to see, thus she used up less reiki to do it.

"You've underestimated the both of us," said Shinkai, whose only injuries were from that one implosion bomb from Karasu that slipped through. "Now pay for your arrogance!"

Just as Karasu was about to explode and take both the girls with him to kingdom come, Yutaro Tsukayama's female reincarnation reflected and focused all that potential energy towards Kuronue, blasting him with her own version of Suzaku's Railgun.

She turned the crow demon into fuel and matter for her own energy gun, the same way Suzaku could turn any piece of steel into a blast of pure energy.

The golden beam of light seemed to kill multiple clones of Kuronue at the same time, his body stubbornly refusing to disintegrate, with him reviving over and over, only for him to die again, until there was nothing left of both Karasu and Kuronue in that seeming infinite loop of life and death.

***

Hiei harrumphed.

His speed did not phase his opponent one bit. Nor did his S-Level youki and Dragon of Darkness Flame.

However, he still had to kill Usui then and there.

The blind swordsman with his adaptable Tinbe was too dangerous to be left alive. He'd just disrupt their plan to take out Houji Sadojima permanently and drive the Shin Ju back without hope of resurrection.

Was it shameful to strike down an injured man? In war, there was no such thing as honor or fairness. Just survival of the fittest.

Uonuma cackled. "The speed by which you attack and how hard it is to catch you off-guard is impressive. You remind me of someone."

Hiei didn't answer back.

"Ah yes. Sou-kun," said Usui with a hint of wistfulness in his voice even though his comrade Soujiro Seta was still with him, just in a different unit of the Chojin's Army (the Dai Shin Kan).

The two used to spar from time to time, with both being amazed at the other's prowess.

Seta was surprised by the fact that no matter how fast he went, the Tinbe would block his strike despite his lack of presence or sakki (bloodlust). Uonuma was shocked at how, at times, the boy would reach supersonic speeds that even his Rochin couldn't hope to counter.

Instead of turtling up in defense, Usui attacked for a change, the sands of the beach underfoot blasting behind him like a sandstorm. His Shingan senses and Hiei's Jagan third eye kept the both of them from making fatal contact with each other. The most they could muster were flesh wounds.

Perhaps the youkai underestimated the revived human's abilities just because he was injured.

"Sou-kun's Shukuchi made him blindingly fast and his lack of bloodlust made him nearly undetectable. Your speed and constant bloodlust reminds me of him. You're always brooding while he's always happy. Like twin sides of the same coin."

"Sou-kun", huh? Soujiro Seta was a thorn in Hiei's side all throughout his mission and investigation on human experimentation at Alaska's Mount McKinley (also known as Denali).

The longer the battle went the further Usui pushed Hiei into a corner (literally even as they battled from the beach to the resort to the streets and to several nearby buildings), much to the prideful demon's shame.

It wasn't because Uonuma was as fast as him. Rather, Shishio's oldest rival was used to fighting people as fast as Hiei was, such as Soujiro.

This allowed Usui to use prediction and skill to match Hiei's superior reflexes.

The jaganshi harrumphed again, growing impatient. Someone who was this injured should not be this hard to kill.

Regardless, the youkai still had an ace up his sleeve that the nimble "Ten Ken (Heaven Sword)" lacked.

Summoning the Sword of Darkness Flame felt like a waste of time, but he did it anyway. If speed didn't work then raw power might tip the scales of their deadlock.

This only made the wistful, deranged, and sightless man happier for some reason.

A wave of nostalgia filled Usui. He couldn't see the fire of Hiei's flaming sword with his own actual eyes, his stolen Jagan from Jine sealed away with his blindfold, but he felt the heat from blade, giving him goose bumps and raising the hairs behind his neck.

Usui was for all intents and purposes a living corpse with an unbeating heart, but his mind made him feel as though his heart raced and his blood flowed like hot fire through his veins. His aortas. His artificial circulatory system.

To Hiei's surprise, the zombie discarded his impenetrable Tinbe and charged with only his Rochin. Shouting one name all the while like a lunatic.

"DIE, SHISHIO!"

Compared to Soujiro and even Hiei, Usui knew more nuanced sword/spear forms and cutting/stabbing techniques than a simple upward, side, or angled slashes. Fire sword or no fire sword.

Like a drunk brawler picking a fight against a championship boxer. Quickness could be countered by experience against predictability.

The jaganshi attempted his usual modus operandi of making his opponent miss and slash at his afterimage, only for him to appear from behind and slash his opponent to bits instead.

However, it was Hiei who ended up slashing at air and an afterimage that wasn't there.

Did Uonuma heal his wounds already? Was he hiding his true speed all this time...?!

Hiei's Jagan tried to sense and locate where Uonuma was, like always. His sight beyond sight served as his means to activate his tripwire reflexes.

Wait a minute. He couldn't see or sense him. Even Usui's jaki was gone. Hiei's vision had become clouded. 'Dammit...!'

The Rochin from out of nowhere stabbed him in the back and shot him right into the sign saying they were in Kitaoimisaki Park, his youkai blood spewing forth his mouth, nostrils, and even his three eyes.

The illusion faded away like a pile of cherry blossom petals blown away by a strong breeze, and soon reality set in.

As soon as the flames from Hiei's Jaou-En-Satsu Ken (Sword of Darkness Flame) enticed Usui's senses, he lifted his blindfold and unsealed the power of Jine's version of the Jagan.

Apparently, even Hiei's artificial Jagan that Shigure transplanted unto him was susceptible to hypnosis. Along with the eyes he was born with.

The Forbidden Child of the Koorime fell into a boneless heap before his blood pooled from underneath him.

He was too careless.

He believed he was there to take care of injured game, forgetting that an animal's flight or fight instincts made them many times more dangerous than usual.

"That was refreshing," said Usui. "I have to thank you, Jaganshi Hiei. Your flaming sword reminded me what I'm truly fighting for, even after a century."

The maneuver Uonuma did on Hiei was something he wished to do on Shishio himself. Trick him with the Jagan then stab him in the back. S-Level or not, such a sneak attack would kill him.

Uonuma then frowned. Inwardly, he thought, 'I haven't mastered Jine's Jagan yet. I can only use it once a day. Maybe more with the help of the Onmyouji's jaki power up, but he's sealed off from the rest of us Shin Ju right now.'

After a minute of pondering, the taller, bearded man grabbed hold of the diminutive demon by the hair and lifted him up high over his shoulders, his bloodstained Jagan in full view.

"No matter," Usui decided. "I have a new Jagan to play with now. As soon as Gein returns, I'll have him surgically implant your Jagan into the empty socket of my other eye. Then I'll have the power of both the Shingan and twin Jagan at my hands."

Uonuma trembled with barely contained excitement, which woke Hiei up after blacking out from the pain of being stabbed so hard.

"Not even Battousai nor Saito Hajime nor Shishio Makoto nor Tenro nor the Chojin will stand a chance against me once I have both those Jagan in my possession along with my Tinbe and Rochin!"

Just as Uonuma was about to melon-ball Hiei's Evil Eye from its artificial socket, Kurama then arrived, parrying the Rochin away with the Grass Blade.

"...Ah. You must be the Legendary Youko Kurama," said Usui with a sneer. "Udo Jine has told us a lot about you."

***

Kyujimayama Observatory suddenly had an entire building sprout from its lookout. Like a gigantic tree of steel and concrete. An ominous castle made of black spires and iron ore.

A structure with no discernible entrance, doors, or windows.

Earlier, just as another Iwanbo 3.2 was on the verge of turning Daiji Matsudaira into a messy pile of shattered bones, giblets, and mince meat, something changed inside the policeman's soul.

He absorbed the guilt and unfulfilled desires of the Oniwabanshu that left them as earthbound spirits, this energy mixing with the reiki of Daiji's soul and the kenki (swordsman spiritual energy) of Aoshi's warrior spirit.

Pushed into a corner and forced to feed into the negative energy of his comrades, his reiki and kenki started to mix with their youki and jaki.

It produced a whole new kind of energy: A swordsman's energy mixed with a human soul's spirit energy and the bloodlust of a demon.

Reiatsu (Spirit Pressure).

Like Shinobu Sensui's Sei Kou Ki (Holy Light Energy), Daiji produced a different sort of spiritual power worthy of one the gods or shinigami themselves or their version of the police, the Reikai Tokubetsu Boueitai (Spirit World Special Defense Squad).

It was through this volatile cocktail of different energies that Matsudaira was able to produce the spire-filled castle by which he trapped Houji Sadojima, Gein, and their undead army in one huge, tangible prison with his Quest-Class powers to create matter out of spirit energy but without sacrificing his life energy to do so.

And, like the One-Eight-Ten Killer before him, he himself was on the verge of breaking through from A-Level to S-Level by suddenly learning this spirit energy blending technique that took Sensui years to perfect.

Afterwards, a flabbergasted Kuwabara created a portal out of the constricting spire and exited with Officer Matsudaira in tow. He then sealed the portal shut before the Onmyouji, Gein, or their creatures could come out.

They'd finally stopped and sealed Houji from reviving the Shin Ju every time they were beaten. For now.

"You're really something else, Officer Matsudaira. You know that?" said Kazuma.

Catching up with his own shallow breaths, Daiji turned behind him and stared back at his ghostly Oniwabanshu comrades. "I can't let them down. Not again."

Kuwabara himself turned towards where the copper was staring at, in time to see the will o' wisp or blue fireball souls of the dearly departed Oni Gang.

The fireballs then formed back into the transparent human bodies of the four deceased shadow warriors. Hannya. Shikijo. Hyottoko. Beshimi.

With a smile hidden behind his mask but could still be heard from his ghostly voice, Hannya said, "As expected of our Okashira."

From there, Uchiko Shikoku (Sayuri), the ferry-girl of the Northeast Quadrant, arrived and started replenishing their spirit energy, although she pouted as she told Daiji, "I was almost sure you'd die, Ikemen (Pretty Boy). Oh well. Maybe next time?"

To Kazuma, the blonde shinigami instead said, "You, I couldn't care less if you died or not."

"Nobody asked you!" shouted back Kuwabara.

***

Back at the Okushiri Airport...

Sayaka finished up her report to the other Reikai Senshi and then said to them. "So far so good. Kurama-san's plans are coming along smoothly. I've also heard reports from Sayuri-san that Sadojima Houji and Gein had been sealed inside a castle-like structure by Matsudaira Daiji-san."

"As expected of the Okashira!" said Likka, mirroring Hannya's sentiments. "We have this mission in the bag!"

Natsuki then told the young Spirit World Inspector, "Tell Shuichi-sempai, I mean, Minamino-sempai to watch out for that Kuronue person. He may still be out there."

Sayaka tilted her head to the side in askance. "Tell Kurama about Kuronue? Why? Isn't he dead? Didn't you just kill him? Killed two birds with one stone by making Karasu into an energy blast?"

"That's the thing. I'm not sure he's dead." Shinkai shook her head. "Killing him is actually easy. Keeping him dead is hard. It must have something to do with his current powers. He might still be out there, hunting Kurama at this very moment."

The Heisei Era Misao piped up, "Yeah, it was weird. Every time it seemed like you've killed him, another him kept popping up in his place."

The youngest ferry-girl considered their words. "Do you think he's like Toguro Ani? An S-Level, Regent-Class regenerator?"

Natsuki shrugged. "The best way I could describe it is that he's like Schrödinger's Cat. Like he's alive and dead at the same time."

"Maybe even Schrödinger's Bat!" Likka quipped to mostly silence.

***

Kitaoimisaki Park was located in the westernmost corner of Okushiri Island.

The Sea of Japan served as its backdrop. It was designed as an open-air museum of sorts filled with sculptures made by Masayuki Nagare, a modernist Japanese sculptor.

Sculptures that soon turned to dust from the battle that ensued.

"RENGOKU SHOU! (PURGATORY WOUND!)" shouted Hiei as he pummeled the wide-open, distracted Usui with his fists of flame, but the flurry of blows were also countered and neutralized by the damnable Tinbe shield.

It did allow him to get away from his captor, though.

Meanwhile, Kurama had arrived there just in time with the assistance of Sayuri's intel and Kuwabara's Jigen Tou.

Kurama asked for their help after they were done sealing away the Onmyouji with Daiji Matsudaira's evolving powers.

"Let's not risk having Usui use Jine's Jagan again," Kurama told Kuwabara. "Leave and don't look anywhere near his face or eyes, Kuwabara-kun."

"You got it, Kurama," said Kuwabara before making a portal out of there. "Hiei, you fucked up! Now Kurama has to bail you out!" Kazuma jumped right into the portal he made before Hiei could follow him and beat him up for his remark.

Kurama then told Hiei, "Kuwabara-kun's right, you know," which made Hiei seethe even more. "I know how you feel, but sit this battle out for now. Let me handle this while Sayuri-san heals you for now."

As for the scythe-bearing Uchiko "Sayuri" Shikoku, she balefully used her shinigami powers to heal the damage done on Hiei, although the pint-sized youkai didn't look too pleased about it.

"Look, we're both not happy about this, so could you stop glaring at me?" said Uchiko, who actually wanted to see what was next for the death-defying "hunk" known as Daiji Matsudaira instead.

Actually, Kitaoimisaki Park was supposed to be under Botan's jurisdiction (she was assigned the northwest quadrant), but she was too busy guiding Yahiko safely towards the Onmyouji to finish him off, so Sayuri had to do for now.

Usui chuckled, rubbing his chin. "Toguro Ani warned me about you," he said. "You're quite the trickster, I hear. So are you going to fight me now?"

"Yes," Kurama said, picking a rose seed inside his hair and turning it into a rose bloom then finally into the Rose Whip. However, this time around, it was a Rose Whip tied around the handle of the Grass Blade, thus turning it into a Rose Kusarigama (Chain Sickle).

"I hate tricksters like you," confessed Usui. "You remind me of a Saizuchi (his fellow Juppon Gatana member) that could somehow fight. The best way to take care of people like you is to kill you before you can come up with a convoluted scheme to take me down."

"Saizuchi?" repeated Kurama as he attempted to scan through Kenshin's memories given to him through his contact with the Demon Sword. "I don't know who that is." Himura must've never met that particular Ten Sword member.

They then proceeded to fight. Kurama was decently fast but not blindingly fast so like Kenshin Himura, Soujiro Seta, Yusuke Urameshi, or Jaganshi Hiei.

However, like with how Usui countered Hiei's speed with technique, Kurama knew how to methodically place his whip strikes and whiplash to minimize movement and maximize his range.

Also, thanks to his new weighted weapon, he could actually maneuver his whip to bounce off the Tinbe then hook-stab Uonuma from the back, as though he were fishing in the ocean.

What a frighteningly clever demon.

It took full focus and concentration from Usui's Shingan to predict the trajectory of every whip strike and whiplash from all sorts of awkward angles.

Kurama even made sure to attack only from a distance. He patiently waited when he'd commit to his strikes to keep himself from giving away any openings. A true chess master that outwitted even the likes of Feng Xinhai.

Truly irritating. Usui had no time for such protracted nonsense.

Usui let the Rose Chain-Sickle wrap around his Tinbe, which allowed him to pull Kurama towards him and stab him with the Rochin at last. The fox spirit turned human was able to twist his body in time to prevent a full-on stab like with Hiei, as though he was used to these situations.

Kurama grunted and tumbled backwards before ending up kneeling and gasping for breath.

Uonuma spared a sightless glance at Hiei and Sayuri, sneering at the youkai in particular. This was more for Hiei's sake (and mockery) than a need for him to sense the demon by turning his head, since he had heightened senses.

"I've defeated both Kurama and Hiei! The right-hand men of Yomi and Mukuro! Even the best demon warriors that Makai (Demon World) could offer are no match against me!"

However, before Usui knew it, he felt his Tinbe start to crumble, with cracks forming all around it like the time Kenshin hit it with the follow-up strike of the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (Heavens Gliding Dragon Flash).

"W-What? But how...!?"

His fingers then noticed the growth of moss on the shield, which had taken root throughout the battle. "Moss...?"

Kurama said as he stood up, "A rolling stone gathers no moss. But a turtle shield might. Your Tinbe is amazingly sturdy, with it getting stronger the more you break it apart like organic bone. But since I added Makai Moss to it, the tiny cracks and marks it was supposed to heal couldn't heal because the moss roots had filled up their space."

Like moss on an old building, the moss on Usui's Tinbe compromised the strength of the magic item, keeping it from reconstituting itself properly. Making it crumble as the cracks and gaps where bone or shell was supposed to be was instead replaced with insidious moss.

Also, the Rochin strike to Kurama's side was shallower than before, the spear becoming more and more brittle in cadence with the weakening of the Tinbe.

A cold sweat dripped down Usui's beard. Even after he was warned by Toguro Ani to watch out for Kurama's trickery, he still ended up tricked in the end!

"I take it back," said Uonuma, gasping for air even though he didn't really need to breathe. "You don't remind me of Saizuchi after all, Kurama. You're more like Shishio Makoto himself. You're as shrewd as a fox yet you fight like a demon."

He glanced again at Hiei, this time not to mock him but instead because his Shingan sensed the sudden spike in heat from the fire demon, which in turn knocked Sayuri back.

"Eeek!"

"Jaou-En-Satsu...!"

"NOOOO...!"

"KOKURYUHA!"

Multiple Dragons of Darkness Flame engulfed and blasted open the compromised Tinbe like a roasting chestnut, the Demon World Moss burning away along with the rest of the turtle shield as the second-in-command of the Juppon Gatana and Shin Ju practically got nuked in place.

***

Meanwhile, in the sky overlooking the northwest part of Okushiri Island...

Botan flew top-speed towards the Kyujimayama Observatory, exchanging places with Sayuri since that was under the northeast quadrant's jurisdiction.

Right behind her, riding shotgun, was a tired Yahiko Myojin, who was conserving his strength for the battle ahead against the Chojin's so-called conduit of power.

As soon as they got confirmation of where Houji the Onmyouji hid, they flew up in the sky under Kurama's orders while Natsuki herself met up with Likka in order to run interference against the incoming Karasu and Kuronue (a replacement Shin Ju along with Toguro Ani).

Even better, they stopped bothering to hide in the clouds for fear of aerial strikes after both Natsuki and Daiji neutralized their targets.

The Yutaro reincarnation blasted away Karasu (who could make flying Trace Eye bombs) and the Aoshi reincarnation trapped both Gein (Kaoru didn't remember who that was) and Houji (Kaoru heard of him through Sanosuke) inside a sealed, castle-like structure.

Now was the perfect opportunity for them to strike Houji down before finishing off the rest of the Shin Juppon Gatana and rescuing Okushiri from being under siege by the Chojin.

However, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

Instead of them going straight to the sealed Houji, the Chojin's top minion apparently decided to go after them instead.

"What the hell is that, Tanuki-chan!?"

The top portion of the castle of spires proceeded to float towards Botan and Yahiko like some sort of alien ship or U.F.O.

The monument to their success had now become the flying tombstone of their imminent doom.

Jaki laser beams then blasted through the windowless structure, creating windows and doors.

"AHHH! Retreat!" screamed Botan while the Kaoru inside her head wondered how ordinary humans from the Meiji Era could take on something as ridiculous as a floating sky fortress.

***

Before the Kokuryuha could completely sublimate or at least carbonize Usui to the point of Gein needing to create a new body for him, Kuronue blinked into existence and pushed him aside in order to take the full brunt of the Demon World equivalent of a nuclear warhead.

"...Kuronue!" Kurama shouted out at the bat demon, concerned with the wellbeing of his former partner-in-crime despite their circumstances.

Then a curious thing happened.

Kuronue turned into a shadow in the street. Only for another him to (re)appear, who also turned into ash. Another him then replaced him, dying from the flames of the black dragon conflagration. Then another. Then another.

The bat demon died probably a dozen more times before Hiei thought it prudent to return the flames into his arm as tattoos, sealing them. Not willing to let Kurama's partner from millennia ago waste more of his demon energy.

After the present Kuronue gasped his dying breath, a new him took his place, completely healthy and unharmed.

What the hell was going on?

Even Kurama was shaken by the proceedings. He had heard Natsuki's explanation about Kuronue's new powers relayed to him by Sayaka's communicator, but even then he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw it in action.

Was it instantaneous resurrection powers like with Toguro Ani? Clones, like with Suzaku? Or even hypnotic illusions, like with Likka Ikumi and Jine Udo?

The Kuronue whom Kurama knew that died because of a bamboo trap never had such powers. Granted, he was a much weaker demon around that time. But still.

"Uh... Usui, was it?" said Kuronue to Usui. "You should be more careful when fighting Kurama. He's a sneaky one, you see. Don't let him figure you out or else he'll get you killed. It's rare for him to get overwhelmed, like in the case of that one S-Level Reikai Tantei or the Reikai Boueitai."

Uonuma harrumphed. "Ah, so it's you, newbie. Don't get full of yourself. You were only revived by the Chojin because you're the only guy we know who could deal with Youko Kurama's cunning. Udo Jine was supposed to fill the role of Achilles' heel to Kurama, but he ultimately failed and got killed by him."

The bat demon could only laugh. "Haaai (Yeees). Read you loud and clear, sempai (upperclassman)."

Hiei then told the blonde shinigami, ""You better leave now if you don't want to get hurt."

Uchiko said, "But you're not yet finished healing...! Ah. You know what? Fine. Whatever." She then made her exit using her floating scythe as her means of transportation instead of a long boat paddle.

Kurama and Hiei backed away unto each other's sides while both Uonuma and Kuronue loomed towards them, their weapons at the ready.

The Tinbe had already started to reconstruct itself. The gambit Kurama used to weaken it couldn't be used twice now that Usui was aware of how his trick worked.

"Is that really Kuronue or just another imposter?" Hiei asked Kurama, remembering the Meikai (Nether World) god who impersonated the bat demon to mess with the youko's head.

"I'm afraid that's him," Kurama said, his smile looking more like a wincing grimace. "And yes, he does know me like the back of his hand."

"Hn," said Hiei. "Then the same could be said with you to him, right?"

Minamino turned towards his fire demon companion and smiled. "Yes, of course."

Multiple Kuronue "clones" served as Usui's meat shield as his actual shield continued reconstituting its cracked surface, with it now strong enough to resist the Kokuryuha and perhaps even Demon World Moss.

"What's going on? Is Usui using Jine's Jagan again?" asked Hiei.

"No, I don't think so," said Kurama. "From what I remember, Jine's hypnosis affected one person at a time. I'm not sure if Usui evolved the Jagan enough to affect multiple people or create mirages like with Ikumi Likka's powers."

Hiei grunted. Before them was a scene reminiscent of one of the Dai Shin Kan (Great Priests), whose name escaped him at the moment, multiplying endlessly. 'It was Something-Yatsume who did it,' he thought.

Was multiple cloning the M.O. of the Overfiend?

Was it his way of showing his undead army of Dai Kaijin (Great Monsters) were as unlimited as a pestilence of voracious pests? Like a swarm of locusts or a mischief of rats? Unkillable like an intrusion of roaches?

He even heard from his communicator that the same thing happened with Gein and his Iwanbo meat puppets with the assistance of the Onmyouji, which forced Detective Matsudaira to seal them off inside a windowless, spire-filled prison.

Did they intend to infest the world like a plague, from Kuronue to Suzaku or even the Iwanbos of Gein and the Shikigami of the Onmyouji?

Hiei was sick of this clone nonsense but knew that using up his Kokuryuha wasn't in his best interests.

Kurama murdered several shadow clones of his partner, only to succumb to cuts and slices to his neck, abdomen, and thigh. This reminded him of his fight with the Fake Kuronue. That Meikai God did a convincing impression of his old friend.

But this time he was fighting the real deal, and none of his tricks were working against him.

"Rejoice, Youko!" said one of the Kuronues. "When the Chojin snatched me up from the depths of Hell, he told me he did so because he saw you as a threat. You were the only one who wielded the Demon Sword and used it to boost your powers to X-Level."

Kurama frowned, decapitating that one Kuronue and countless others with his Rose Kusarigama. "Who cares about being X-Level?"

Usui shook his head. "Fool! I'd jump at the chance to be as powerful as the Chojin himself! The only X-Level in existence at present! More powerful than the most powerful of the Demon World! You could've single-handedly killed the Shin Ju if you had that kind of power! Save everyone on the Human World you so love! Why do you deny greatness?"

The Youko inside Kurama chuckled, and for a split second his true form emerged. "What's the fun in that? Something given is taken for granted. Something earned is treasured."

The horde of Kuronues laughed upon hearing this and chorused, "Ah, now that's the Youko I know and love."

Hiei also chopped and burned the Kuronues before him with his Jaou-En-Satsu Ken. The sword had flames that, unbeknownst to him, were reminiscent of Shishio's Homura Dama.

The jaganshi did know enough about the Shin Ju to realize that doing the Sword of Darkness Flame would only entice Usui to fight even with his unfinished Tinbe.

The risk of fighting someone with the power of hypnosis was high, but as long as the brilliant and prepared Kurama had his back, Hiei had no fear against such hallucinations.

Whether they were from Kuronue or Usui.

Kuronue continued, "As one of the Chojin's Dai Kaijin, I then developed newfound abilities to help me take you out in the best way possible, Youko. Knowing you, the only way anyone can defeat you is if they're given unlimited retries to do so. You're a cunning fox. Most people would die a thousand deaths first before they can find an opening to take you down. So I chose to develop that kind of power."

Hiei had to admit that that sounded about right. You did not want the Youko as your enemy.

Using the brief rise of energy elicited by Kuronue's tempting words about gaining X-Level through the Youtou Shinnoken, Kurama turned a single stalk of bamboo into the Hydra Bamboo once more.

This weaponized plant of Kurama's was bamboo on "steroids" that multiplied twice for every stalk you cut down. Just like the legendary Hydra of yore. The only ways to kill it involved overcrowding it with other plants or by burning it to the point of carbonization.

The forest of bamboo pierced through the hearts, lungs, stomachs, muscles, intestines, livers, kidneys, and brains of the nearest gathered Kuronues while the rest scattered away like disturbed flies on shit. Or bats, since he was a bat demon.

"Hiei, NOW! While we still have the chance! Kill Uonuma Usui! I'll figure out a way to deal with Kuronue later."

The jagan user charged with his flame sword, able to keep the Hydra Bamboo at bay with his burning slices and cuts so that he wouldn't get overwhelmed himself by the deadly malignant forest.

He wasn't able to kill the half-healed Uonuma earlier but now he should be able to fare better against the blind man's half-formed turtle shield. His airtight defense earlier was now broken in half.

Usui's supernatural hearing and enhanced reflexes allowed him to block Hiei's 17 fire sword strikes in one second.

However, that one second of blocking was the opening the fire demon needed in order to blast a Dragon of Darkness Flame straight into the night sky before it came crashing from behind Uonuma while he busily defended against the Sword of Darkness Flame.

One of the Kuronues ended up protecting Usui from the rear, his chain scythe weapon turning into an iron mine's worth of steel that melted from the heat of the Black Dragon Spirit Wave Technique, which in turn flooded the bamboo forest with fiery molten metal.

Also, the Tinbe had by now reformed two-thirds of itself instead of only half, with it having a pie-sized opening left on an otherwise complete turtle shell shield.

They were running out of time.

The Spirit World Warriors would be back to square one or worse if the Onmyouji managed to escape Daiji's seal before Yahiko could get to him and neutralize his connection with the Almighty Chojin.

Again, Kurama used the Invasive Kudzu Grass to smother and eat the fire away, making it grow with the same uncontrollable rate as the Hydra Bamboo had over being sliced or physically torn apart.

Kuronue said, "I've seen that technique of yours before as well!"

From there, one set of Kuronues served as gardeners who chopped and diced up the Invasive Kudzu before it could absorb enough energy to become a problem, with them even sacrificing several of their own in the process.

Another set of Kuronues kept the blaze of the growing forest fire alive, filling the air with smoke and flames that burned up the mutated bamboo before it could grow enough to become unstoppable.

Unlike the mindless puppets of Gein and the Nameless Yatsume, Kuronue's phantoms had a frightening hivemind that learned from every mistake they made and adjusted thusly with every new generation of himself.

One Kuronue branched out into multiple versions of himself, thusly exploring infinite possibilities.

The Quantum Kuronue.

Maybe Kurama should've gotten hold of the Demon Sword and finished all the Shin Ju off with one or ten slashes. A potential eleventh slash for the Onmyouji.

But that was the boring way of doing things. And Kurama loved a challenge. How should he solve this puzzle that Kuronue suddenly became?

Besides which, Kurama noticed that Hiei had been hiding one more ace up his sleeve all this time. An ace that the Shin Ju were probably also aware of, but had yet to experience firsthand.

Hiei backed off from Usui's Rochin stab, sheathing his sword and adopting the same battoujutsu or iaido (sword-drawing) stance that Himura Battousai was known for.

The whole park had become a mess. One part of it was composed of burning bamboo and molten metal that had started to harden.

The other part was filled with bits and pieces of kudzu grass reaped by scythes, with several of them allowed by the Kuronues to eat the remaining red and black flames, thus controlling the blaze.

That was one helluva landscaping job Kuronue did.

The army of Kuronues then remerged into one body, awaiting the next attack from Kurama to occur that they'd then dissect and deconstruct.

Once Uonuma's Tinbe was completed, nothing in their arsenal would be able to take down his defensive turtle shield.

The shell had already tasted every last technique they could throw at it, from Demon World Moss to Makai Flames. Everything but the kitchen sink.

Regardless Hiei flickered into action and Kuronue multiplied once more.

Usui lay in wait, his Shingan soaking in all the different noises surrounding him yet his supernatural senses able to distinguish which ones were the Kuronues and which ones were Hiei.

He also screamed, "Hey, Newbie! When you decapitate the fire demon, make sure to keep his Jagan intact! I need that!"

Kurama walked calmly towards the chaos of burning bamboo, chopped kudzu grass, a self-contained forest fire, and what seemed like an army of Kuronue converging into what appeared to the naked eye as empty space but instead was actually a supersonic Hiei.

He then snatched the jewel necklace hanging from the neck of (one of the many clones of) Kuronue.

The youko figured out the new powers that the Chojin bestowed upon Kuronue. All of his clones were the real him.

On a quantum level, Kuronue managed to exist in multiple planes of existence and manifest himself in one reality, allowing some of his selves to die and his other selves to live at the same time in an infinite loop.

It enabled him to interact in one dimension in a multi-dimensional manner, so that he could do one, two, three, or more things at the same time until he succeeded in a given instance, his realities branching forth endlessly as he explored every possibility.

For a schemer like Kurama who tended to finish off opponents with cunning and wit, this new version of Kuronue was an absolute nightmare to handle. He was like Yusuke. Creative. Unpredictable. Chaotic.

An honest demon who'd never attack you from behind but knew every trick in the book because he was an expert in unraveling mysteries, traps, techniques, and lies. He loved figuring out the truth behind everything.

The same bat demon who ended up dying, ensnared by the simplest and most primitive of bamboo traps due to his immense sense of sentiment, which was ironic and truly unbecoming of someone as clever as him.

Kuronue should've known better.

Kurama figured out that the Meikai God who impersonated the Fake Kuronue was a fake with the way he discarded the jewel around his neck.

In the same vein, he knew this Kuronue was the real deal when he... all of him... scrambled for the jewel with a high amount of sentimental value to him.

The seeming dozens—perhaps even hundreds or more—of Kuronues all jumped at grabbing hold of the jewel Kurama threw away in the same manner that the Meikai God Kaiki did.

This was the opportunity Hiei was waiting for.

"Jaou-En-Satsu KOKURYUHA!"

***

Thousands of years ago...

A bloodied young Kuronue cackled with gnashed teeth and a raspy throat at Youko Kurama and his bloodstained claws.

Maimed but not broken. His body scourged with lacerations. His limbs flopping uselessly on the floor.

His clenched teeth gripping the string of a necklace.

The leader of the demon bandits looked at the bat demon with disdain and confusion. The kid managed to steal a necklace from their haul.

"Why are you so happy? That's just a trinket compared to the countless treasures we've gathered," Youko Kurama said with a toss of his silken hair.

On shaky legs, Kuronue rose up, his bloody back on the craggy wall. "If it was so insignificant, you wouldn't have almost killed me to get it back."

Kurama raised his clawed hand, the constant lightning from Makai's dark clouds illuminating his silhouette. "Would you die for that necklace?"

Again, through clenched teeth, Kuronue spoke. "What an honor it would be to do so. Let me die a martyr. Let me be known as the one demon who outwitted the Legendary Youko Kurama."

Kurama changed his mind then and there. He put down his raised arm, turned, and walked away.

"HEY! Are you just going to let me go, you coward?" Kuronue spat, which led to him accidentally dropping the necklace. He then went on a mad scramble for it, willing his trembling arms to catch the jewelry.

"Rest up. Heal your wounds. You're now part of my bandits. Bring my jewel along with you," commanded the youko. "We hunt in the next earth day."

After finally grabbing hold of the jewel, Kuronue demanded, "And if I refuse?"

While still facing away from him, Kurama turned his head and gave the bat demon a sidelong glance. "I don't think you will."

From that point forth, the youko ended up with an ally more valuable than the trinket he stole from him.

***

The Dragons of Darkness Flames killed every last one of the Kuronue doppelgangers with its youki-infused flames from the Demon World burning them to sublimation at an atomic level.

Kurama went down on his knees, exhausted. He'd lost a lot of blood from his war with what seemed like a thousand Kuronues converging at him at once.

However, in the corner of his eye, he could've sworn he saw at least one Kuronue move out of the Kokuryuha's line of sight.

If a Kuronue had survived, then there was at least a one in a hundred/thousand possibility that if Kurama had thrown away that necklace, he wouldn't have gone after it.

Kuronue was learning. Changing. Evolving.

Kurama smiled. At least something good came out of the Chojin's plans to revive their dead enemies/comrades to use against them.

***

To Be Continued...

I based Kuronue's new powers on the version of Kuronue featured in my first-ever fan fiction, "Shonen". Something about the (watered-down for fiction version of the) Many-World Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics with a dash of Schrödinger's Cat thrown into the mix.

The boss battle is fast approaching, but those mini-bosses can be quite the handful!

Ciao, Abdiel

[lilly2ac]

Pearl Blight: The truth about my life

I realize I have not yet spoken about what brought me here as a narrator. I have a habit of talking a lot, telling people a lot about myself while simultaneously staying secretive. The multiverse is vast, and I am just a speck within it.

My name is Pearl Blight. I am 18 years old. My birthday is February 4th. I wish to be a writer when I grow up. I hate swearing. I see myself as ignorant because I am unable to detect moods. I feel the CMY color wheel is superior to the RGB color wheel. I tend to be social and outgoing. I have a habit of putting the blame on myself. I have a habit of going into tangents. I have insomnia. I identify as pansexual. I feel closer to Gal than any of the other people I work with. I am a narrator.

I will not pretend to be someone who is bright and bubbly on the outside with a dark secret eating away at them on the inside, I do not have a dark side of myself. I have a sad history that I have been trying to move on from. I do not wish to return home, however, I feel the story of my home needs to be told.

I was born to a Jaden and Silver Blight on February 4th, 2002. I had a happy childhood. My mother was in the army and was away constantly once I was around 6, however, I was close to my father. I would write stories or plays for him. We would go on walks in the evening together and just talk about whatever we felt like.

I still loved my mother, and the three of us would always do fun things together when she visited. I remember back when I didn’t really comprehend what my mother’s job actually entailed, I would write silly stories about her fighting a dragon or saving the world from aliens, and she would always listen.

Around the age of ten, my father started having a friend over, someone he had known since college by the name of Lojilee. They would hang out in the living room together, have a few drinks, and talk about life, their jobs, and things bothering them. It was never taken further than that. I used to write about her as well, portraying her as this evil scientist. I do not know why I thought of her that way even back then, however, I clearly knew what was wrong.

Then, things started to change when I was thirteen. One day, I woke up and walked downstairs, my dad on the phone, frantically talking about a huge storm approaching and moving with Lojilee to keep us safe. He told us to pack what was necessary and that we would be leaving soon. We were gone within an hour.

We moved into this bigger house, with many people I had never seen before. There were a few people around my age, some a bit older and some a bit younger. We all got to know each other pretty quickly and would play games to pass the time.

A few days after we left, there was news about changes in temperature across the earth, fires breaking out, and a report that the radioactivity from the sun was now considered deadly. I remember I stepped outside for a moment and the smell of smoke was unbearable. Luckily, the house was well ventilated.

The heat wave followed with rain. Once the rain started, Lojilee knew what to expect. They patched in the windows and doors on the first and second floor to make sure no liquid would get in, and yet still had all of us move to the second floor to be safe.

The rain continued for about a week before finally stopping. There was about 20 foot flood. At this point, it was considered an end of the world event and there was no contact with the outside world. By the end of it, we had all retreated to the third floor to stay safe, even though the house managed to stay stable. We also managed to save a few more people who were stranded by the flood, helping them get in before the sun could kill them.

About two weeks after the flood, the water was down to a bearable amount, and the ground started to shake. There had been multiple earthquakes in the area, massive ground-splitting earthquakes. It was a miracle that none of them hit our shelter, I don’t know what would’ve happened if they did.

There were multiple earthquakes spanning over a week, then a windstorm hit. It started out with large, hundred mile per hour winds, followed by tornadoes. At this point, I had no idea how this house was still standing. It was as if it was designed for this tragedy.

After the hurricanes, there was nothing. It seemed as if it was all over. In fact, even the temperatures began to stabilize themselves. After it went quiet, no one looked outside for what seemed like a month. During that time, we kept ourselves safe and busy. By the time I decided to leave the house, it had been three months since we had moved in.

I decided one day early in the morning to step outside. I decided to see what the world had become, however, I was shocked by what I saw.

Most of the houses had been destroyed in the storm, and there were trees, flowers, and other flora where they had been. I expected to see nothing, but instead, it was as if our house had been teleported to a forest, untouched by anyone within the last century. What was even more odd was that it seemed like there were orbs of light everywhere, adding to this beauty created by the destruction of our world.

Losing all sense of fear, I walked around what had once been a small suburban neighborhood on the nicer side of our small town. I started following one of the orbs of light that appeared, feeling a familiar warmth of it. I was reminded of my mother...

I wondered what she was doing. By the time we left, she had only been gone for a month. Dad said once it was over, we’d likely be reunited, and that mom was going to help others escape the tragedy. I hoped she was ok wherever she was...

I returned to the house, not telling anyone what I saw. It seemed the worst was over.

About a month after that incident, we had all officially left the house for the first time.

After two months, we received contact with the outside world.

After six months, the official percentage of deaths was released. It was announced that 80 percent of the population had perished.

And one year after the incident, we learned my mother had not survived...

The people within our house had started to rebuild as a small community. Thirty seven of us had been sharing one home for months. I don’t think any of us kids had questioned the circumstances at the time, however, it started to become clear that Lojilee knew this event would happen and had prepared to keep as many of us safe as possible. It was lucky that my dad knew him.

We had all worked together to build a small community where our town once stood. We were rebuilding from scratch, surprisingly managing to stay stable, however, tragedy struck.

Seven of the people had fallen ill, my father being one of them. No one seemed to know what it was. First, they stated they started to feel warm. Then, their hair and eyes started to change, with no pattern or explanation. Soon after that, they started acting aggressive. They had to be separated because they were attacking people. I was not allowed to see them.

It was soon after that that Lojilee started acting odd. She was not ill, she had just succumbed to madness. It was odd to watch, seeing how we were more free than ever now, we were no longer trapped in that shelter, we were in the process of rebuilding our own town, creating a new community.

She acted cruel, vindictive, and unfortunately, I was her victim, her guinea pig, she had me working for her as a lab rat, purring myself in risky situations so that she could try to learn more about this virus and how it could have connected to the apocalypse.

She switched to blackmail, and would use my own father against me, saying he wouldn’t be cured unless I continued to help her. This continued for about three years, until my father couldn’t take it anymore, and ended his life.

In my time with her, we learned about the existence of the multiverse, and she learned how to leave our universe. I had decided I had enough, and a month after the death of my father, I left.

I decided to hide in the doodle sphere for about a month after that, polishing my writing skills in the hope of finding a place where I could make it as an author. I learned about narration, an amateur job for those over 18 where you would follow the playable characters of the Creatortale AU and write about their life. I applied, got the job, and was assigned to narrate Tier, Creatortale’s Frisk.

I am so happy to have gotten this opportunity. I am happy to have started over my life a second time. I wish the best to the residents of my old AU, however, I do not wish to return.

I told this story so that you could gain a better understanding of what my life has been like. I want there to be a record, within Creatortale, of my story, and the story of the tragedy that struck my AU. And if have taken the time to read this, thank you. I am thankful to be able to share this story with you, and I hope you have found some meaning behind it.

[justkillingthyme]

Death list of everything I can think of off the top of my head from the prequels alone. Og trilogy in another rb

LS

Crushed by the specter night 1. Crushed by the specter night 2

Stepped in front of a harpoon. Yeowch

Descole hit him with the specter and the columns.

Might have his first suicide here if Luke or Emmy dies. Mayybe

Drowned in the first flood. Drowned in the second flood

Eternal diva is difficult because it’s a movie but it’s a general scene change as a save point

Crashed the helicopter

Descole hits him on the way up to the detrigigant

Descole kills Luke and he’s thrown off

Descole explodes him in the helicopter while saving Luke

Descole kulls him with a sword. Like 3 times

Tried to pull descole up. Fell off too

Fell off normally

Didn’t make it off the detragigant in time

MM. atp he has a gun

Crushed by balloon night one

Thinking of a possible crowd crush night two

Randall probs kills him at some point

The sand 💔💔💔

Exposes descole too early. Gets killed

Falls in the pit with Randy

Randy falls in alone and it’s joever for him

AL

Targent with they guns in the cave

Bostonius got shot down

Got shot in targent ship. Multiple times

Died falling from the airship

Slipped off the ice in Kodh. Plus fell from the cliff. Joopsies

Targent with they guns again

I’m forgetting what it was but there was something with a giant boulder in Phong Gi

The nefarious mauler (old red) might not happen. But it’s possible

Tornado 💔💔💔 plus general human sacrificial shit. I’ll have to replay that part

I can probably figure something out for mossinia

Targent with they guns at the nest

Fall off the tower oops

Aurora dies at the tower oooops

Hang glider fail

Descole kills him in combat

Emmy crashes the ship

He dies multiple times trying to prevent Emmy from betraying them

Dies multiple times trying to prevent Descole’s death

Evil light beam

Fell from the sky

Tried to save descole

Hi, can you tell us more about your AUs please?

I’ll take this opportunity to tell everyone about the singular au I’ve said nothing about because I keep forgetting to make an actual post about it. DL Hershel

DL stands for Death Loop because it was a nickname that stuck and I haven’t found a better name yet.

The essential idea is that Hershel has an understanding of the save points between chapters. I haven’t yet decided on whether or not this applies to Akbadain but the answer is most likely.

Major CW for death (and suicide) from here on out cause it’s like the whole plot

Yeah he dies. A lot. And every time he does he goes back to the start of the chapter with the knowledge of what happened last time and a lingering pain. Most of the time (towards the beginning) it’s not his fault. For example the first death in LS is that he went out to make sure Browne was gone and got squished by the specter.

This does affect his perspective on things A LOT, because he acts differently towards people that have killed him in past runs (coughs at all the villains) and even more so if they’ve hurt his companions.

Eventually he figured out that he can go back if he kills himself too. So it kind of becomes a mad scramble to see if he can die before the chapter flips if something major happens. He associates the two, that major events (like schrader dying) means that there’s a new save point coming, and if he wants to change something, he’s got to go fast. This doesn’t work in the case of schrader, because we start the game having schrader already dead. It’s incredibly distressing.

He’s also gotten into this sort of obsession with control and something like a martyr complex. If something isn’t going as expected, or he thinks he’s going to a bad outcome it’s lights out. So much unnecessary suicide on his part. Coming out of an embarrassing conversation like I’m gonna kms except he would. He’s so nonchalant about it to it’s fucking insane

I think as of this point I’ve tallied over thirty deaths? The tagline of the au is pretty much Murphy’s law. If something can kill him, it will. One of his deaths in DB is they make a tea so astronomically bad that it’s toxic and kills him.

The only thing I haven’t figured out is how to deal with the end of AL. He needs to die there with everyone else but I can’t have him reset. Unless I choose a major canon divergence path. My idea there is possibly have it be azran related. As in the azran gave him that power and thus the death still counts. Might have something to do with Akbadain if that ends up happening. That’s my only issue with this au that I’ve run into

[thegeminisage]

the tornado story

ok so what happened was there was a tornado in georgia & i got a warning for it on my phone & i was like “lol thats weird who cares about a tornado in georgia we’re not in georgia” except a bit later like RIGHT after we left my brother’s house (he’s in greenwood & we were visiting for mom’s bday) my phone went FUCKING BANANAS lit up with warnings like “torando warning we’ve laid eyes on it take shelter NOW” thats just how fast the goddamn thing was

& my mom was like, it’s totally calm out here, it’s 70 frickin degrees, im still smoking, we already left (we were like...stopped at a gas station just a few blocks away), she wanted to go home, and i (having an anxiety disorder and having also seen twister) was like HAHA NO? & she was like “look if u dont want to drive let me drive” & i was like “u can drive but i am not going on a bigass long road with a tornado on the ground in the DARK i am staying here at this gas station & i will somehow find my own way home after there is no longer a tornado u can take my van but i am a grown adult i will not move my body” and she thought i was being STUPID and i had to like really start letting my panic slip thru to get her to believe i was serious AND THEN

my brother, a real g, called & he was like, my & SIL’s phones just went apeshit there’s a tornado come back to our house & wait it out and so that’s what we decided to do

except we’d spent all those precious minutes ARGUING about it.

i should note that like as soon as mom mentioned how still and calm the weather was it turned pleasantly breezy, and then windy, and then started to drizzle, then rain - it had been overcast all day ofc raining on & off but it like then it really started to RAIN rain

so we drive back to my brothers house, again only a few blocks away, and im like apologizing to my mom bc its her bday celebration & i know how bad she wants to go home etc etc etc and believe it or not lads 

we fucking drove almost right through it

the rain was so thick and so fast that i could not see how to drive my van. i had my headlights on, my hazards on, my wipers going, etc - i’m no stranger to extremely heavy storms, i live in the southeast, i’ve been to florida, strong storms don’t scare me, but jesus FUCK...i cannot do justice to just how pants-shittingly terrifying it was to look out from the windshield and see nothing but this...horribly violent and turbulent grayish wall of water

and like the rain hitting the windows was DEAFENING but even through that you could hear the wind doing this weird...low...it sounds like a train and i only ever hear wind do that in hurricanes. sometimes you can almost feel it in the ground, that frequency - and you could hear not only the thunder rumbling but like things cracking and breaking - tree limbs, my best guess, we were lucky nothing hit the van

and i could feel the wind pulling at the car like i had to fight to keep it going straight and i want to emphasize again that i COULD NOT SEE i don’t mean low visibility or even extremely low visibility i mean i COULD NOT even a LITTLE bit see!! my van might as well have been in the bottom of a lake my windows might as well have been covered in blackout paint i mean there was NOTHING...i was inching along and every once in awhile caught sight of a landmark through a gap in the water or the silhouette of one when lightning flashed (which it did frequently)

and my mom thought i was overreacting the ENTIRE time. like my atheist ass was out here mentally reciting the lord’s prayer just to keep my mind on something so i didn’t go into a blind panic and she’s like “meh, weather” - we got back to my brother’s house and parked in front and she was like “eeeehhhhh idw get wet let’s wait it out in the car” & i was like (nicely) “are you fucking kidding me” so we went in but the little groove next to the sidewalk ur supposed to park in was just like FLOODED so when i stepped in it (not being able to see) i dead ass got soaked up to my ankle. i had to drive home in my socks. my shoe is still sodden

we stayed at my brother’s house a good 45 minutes but as it turned out i fucking DROVE through the worst of it lol also i kicked his butt at tetris while i was there he was really nice though like my mom wasn’t taking me seriously and i was trying to impress upon him that he nearly just lost both of his living family members 1996 style & he like turned on the ps4 while i was talking and put a controller in my hand and then before i knew it i was fine

anyway the tornado was supposed to head from greenwood straight over to clinton (where i live) which meant that it was supposed to run along most of the road i would have driven home on so we stayed there until it had passed even clinton, & called my aunt to make sure she was ok (she was fine)

and on the way home we passed like...so many places that were just. dark. like certain intersections (there’s no freeway out to greenwood unfortunately so u pass a few major intersections) they were just...off. the stores, the stoplights, everything. multiple times we saw two cars almost run into each other bc the stoplights werent working and nobody could agree on who had the right of way (if you didnt know, intersections w/ no power are supposed to work like 4-way stop signs). tree limbs & shit on the road, cars in ditches & police & ambulances out w/ flashing lights being the only light you COULD see at all aside from headlights, it was already COUNTRY dark out there so it was so spooky, and even on the way home it was still POURING and the wind fought with the car, we had a little lightning and thunder, it was fucking post-apocalyptic

but the creepiest part is to get home u have to cross a bridge over lake greenwood and its a bigass bridge and on one side of the bridge the power was on but on the other the whole lake (which is normally lit up and pretty) was just totally dark. and i dont mean. hard to see. i mean it was DARK. it was vantablack. u couldnt see the horzion unless lightning flashed. it was like the void

we have power off on the intersection closest to our house too but thankfully it’s on here...but it’s out in places all over town & there are tree limbs EVERYWHERE

we got home safe and sound (i had left my WINDOW open) & all the cats & the dog are OK, altho i know they had to be scared to death bc the dog hates storms and some of the cats do too. i dont normally mind them but that one really got me

and to think we talked all day about how nice it was that the high was 74 even in january. mother earth is trying to KILL us

[plaguedparadox]

Request by @wolfiegal98: Dark x reader where her apartment was broken into while she’s away and she comes home to the whole place looking like multiple tornadoes came through here, and she feels like everything is against her as she had already had a horrible day. She just resigns herself to clean up the mess, and when she finds out that the thieves stole the necklace that her mother had given her, she breaks down. Dark, being the ever so curious demon boy that he is, comes over when she doesn’t show up at the office like she usually does after work, and comforts her, and helps clean up the mess, all the while saying that she can move into the mansion if she wants. Then, when they were almost done cleaning, Wilford, who had originally popped in secretly earlier to startle her for fun, shows up, a bit bruised up and the missing necklace in his hand.

Ah, this was fun to write. And I’m happy that I was able to stick quite close to what you wanted. Enjoy!

Exhausted was all the poor assistant could feel as her throbbing feet carried her home. A horrible day at work was haunting her. Sure, a part of her was glad that just because she was friends with her boss it didn’t mean he’d give her any preferential treatment but sometimes he’d at the very least just let her have longer breaks or even a nap break - something just to hide away for a little bit. Sleep sounded like heaven as she slipped into the apartment building’s elevator, her finger lazily pushing her floor’s button as a yawn slipped through her. The calming elevator music was not helping to keep her awake as the tendrils of sleep curled around her, making her eyes slowly shut and her head bob as she tried to keep it raised. It was the elevator’s sudden stop that snapped her out of it, making her shake her head to wake herself up just a little more so she could walk down the hallway and not stumble over her feet. She had done that before, ended up with a bruise on her knee that made her boyfriend absolutely lose his temper because he assumed that someone attacked her, not realising the huge klutz his girlfriend was when she was tired. The poor guy was used to it now, but he did nearly give her neighbour a heart attack from the yelling.

Her day was bad, everything that could go wrong did and she was honestly surprised that she didn’t get fired. Another perk for being friends with the boss. Her mind began to focus on all the things that happened that day as her feet dragged across the floor. Being late, spilling coffee over paperwork, nearly missing an important meeting due to nature’s call being at a weird time, shoe getting stuck in gum that someone left on the break room floor, tripping over and nearly breaking someone’s leg. She cringed to herself as she thought back on those incidents. But her bad day was going to get worse as she noticed her door open, only slightly but still enough for her to notice, a horrible sinking feeling hitting her as she felt as if she was about to throw up. The woman’s hand brushed against the door, gently pushing it open more to see the whirlwind that had happened inside. Anything that could have been thrown around was, they even went out of their way to tip over her bookshelves and couch. Despite the mess, they didn’t even bother to take her almost decade old electronics. A sigh wracked through her as she slowly began to pick up the pieces of what remained of the place she called home.

Plans on how to start ran through her mind before she settled on cleaning up her bedroom first, she’d need that room before the others so it made sense to start there. Whoever broke into her apartment were rather thorough with looking through everything as she saw her clothes and underwear all over the floor. Tears finally began to well up in her eyes but she fought them back as she cleaned up the floor, placing things back inside her wardrobe and drawers. Her eyes naturally scanned the floor for any more articles of clothing but froze on one spot, her eyes widening as the tears finally began to spill. “No no no no no no!” Sobbed chants left her lips as she scrambled over to the destroyed jewellery box that her beloved got her,  her fingers rummaging through what was left trying to find one item. That one item that mattered more than all her belongings. An old necklace, passed down from family member to family member, given to her by her mother when she left home. A piece of her family that she had even if they were miles away. And it was gone. Taken. Thieves only seeing the money behind the item and not the true value of such a treasure. She really couldn’t stop the sobs now as her legs buckled and sent her crashing to the floor, her tears running off of her face and creating a puddle on top of the broken wood pieces as she cried over the box. ”Why me…?” Was all she could ask, her heart too broken to do anything else.

Minutes went by, or maybe hours. She couldn’t tell. She just sat there and cried. “Darling? Are you in here? You didn’t come to see me like you usually do!” A flinch stilled her as her lover’s voice called out from another part of the apartment but the poor woman couldn’t bring herself to move. “What the hell happened here?” His voice began to echo as his emotions became more frantic, his feet pulling him in the direction of sobs. “Darling? Are you okay?!” He cried out, now rushing into the room, his feet skidding to a stop as he saw the scene in front of him. “Darling!” Relief flooded him upon seeing that she was okay, aside from the crying obviously. Carefully, he knelt by her side and his eyes scanned the broken box, frustration filled him as he recalled how much she enjoyed the gift, it was relatively new as well. “What’s wrong…?” His echoed voice asked softly, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his chest, allowing her to nuzzle in and wipe her tears and the other byproducts of crying off on his blazer - not that he could care, she came first.

“They took it, Dark. They took her necklace…” Her voice cracked as she looked up at him, tears welling up in her eyes again before being gently rubbed away by the tip of Dark’s thumb as he stroked her face. A sigh left his lips as he pulled her up from the floor and into the front room, away from the box so she couldn’t cry every time she was reminded. Dark would happily replace the box but the necklace was something he couldn’t replace, and it hurt to know that he couldn’t simply just fix this problem with the click of his fingers. It tore him apart to see her cry. Dark could feel his shell start to crack as he suggested that they work together to clean up, seeing her look at the floor and nod weakly. Family was important to both of them. The grey skinned man had suggested before, numerous times actually, that she moved into the mansion with himself and the rest of the Egos so that he knew that she was safe when they weren’t together but upon looking at the wreck that was her apartment, he began to insist that she move in. And while he couldn’t replace what was lost, he’d try his hardest to make her as happy as possible. Eventually, she agreed which let some weight off of his shoulders as he was going to place her room near his so they’d be close but still have their own space.

About an hour went by, filled with little kisses and quick cuddles to cheer the upset woman. Luckily, the apartment was close to spotless aside a few books needing to be put back in place, a couple of knickknacks that still needed to find their places and things like that. Dark was about to suggest they finally call the police to report the incident when a huge bubblegum pink puff of smoke filled the air before quickly dispersing to reveal Wilford, beaten and bruised with his shirt torn and a couple of blood stains here and there. The pink moustached man breathed heavily as he held up the missing necklace, a pained smile coating his face as Dark’s lover pulled the pastel dressed man into a tight hug, thank yous and happy squeals leaving her lips. “Wait, how did you know that the necklace was taken? No one was called.” Dark inquired, gently pulling his love away from his sore best friend.

Wilford’s lips twitched, flicking his moustache to the side as his mind tried to find the words amongst the pain. “I had poofed in so I could hide and startle her when I noticed the mess so I went looking to see if anything had been taken. Upon noticing what exactly what had been taken, I went on a little hunt.” He explained, clipping the necklace around the woman’s neck and smiling at her when she asked if he was okay. Wilford shifted a hand to rub the back of his neck as he plopped down on the now upright couch, bouncing slightly. “They tried to fight back but it’s nothing this ol’ colonel can’t handle!” His slurred voice gloated, his moustache darkening for a moment before settling on his iconic bright pink once again.”I’ll clean whatever’s left, you two go nap. You’re both terrible when it comes to sleeping regularly.” He huffed, crossing his arms as he looked around, recalling where everything was meant to be.  

“You’re just as bad as my sister…” Dark hissed under his breath, recalling the countless times that Celine had scolded him about needing sleep. “Anyway, don’t work too hard. Darling has agreed to move in with us,” Was all he said as he lead his love to her room, her holding the necklace close to her as they walked. The suited man just registered his friend call out that he’d start packing for her as he closed the bedroom door, a yawn ripping its way through him as exhaustion finally reared its head. It now beckoned to both of them, and as both of them laid together with her head on his chest, they listened.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-s-blog1]

Where Oh Where Should We Go On Our Next Vacation?

This is a common question asked online literally hundreds of times a day, in one form or another. Needless to say, the world is huge, and there are literally thousands of cities to visit, so it can be a daunting task to pinpoint just one to vacation to when the time comes to plan one. This also becomes a bit more complicated when you have multiple people traveling together with different wants and needs when traveling. The vacation planner, usually me in my case, will have to consider many things when making the decision, like the nearby attractions and things to do that particular spot and also the weather and eateries. This may be why Florida is usually at the top of the list when this question comes to mind for me.

Florida has something for everyone, literally. Like rides? Theme Parks. Like to eat? Themed restaurants and unique diners. Like Nature? State Parks with springs and nature hikes. Like to lounge? The Beach and countless pools. You see? Everyone has something to look forward to doing when going to the Sunshine State. Yeah, they get hurricanes, but those are easy to plan around. Every place in the US has something quirky or irksome to watch out for, California has fires and earthquakes, Vegas has swarms of grasshoppers, the midwest gets tornadoes and floods, and so on and so forth. Anyway, Orlando being the main attraction in Florida is centrally located, and since it’s not on the coast isn’t usually hit too bad by hurricanes.

Well, it’s that time again for me and I was thinking if not Florida, then where? My first thought was Mexico. The kids have been bugging us to take them on an international trip ever since we went and got their passports. I figured we’d take them somewhere, sometime, out of the country, but never got around to actually planning it. It’s better to be prepared with the passports in case we got some spare time off and wanted to do a spontaneous trip. Well, guess who’s got the next 8 days off?! Me. And who’s asking for time off at their job, too? My husband.

So, we were thinking Cancun. It seems to be a great starter location when traveling abroad. The weather seems as if it’ll be hot and sunny during the stay and there’s plenty of activities to enjoy, like Xcaret and Xel Ha. Not to mention the old, historical Mayan Pyramids. I mean it’s kind of like Florida in the way that the weather will be nice and plenty of stuff to do at the resort and nearby.

I also already found great airfare. I’m guessing since the summer is over and the kids are back to school the rates have gone down significantly. It’s only like $150 per person when usually it’s over twice that much. Then, when I was looking for a place to stay, we came across some really good timeshare deals that included meals and drinks. The resort promotions on the Stay Promo site looked amazing and I saw that it was a lengthy stay (4 nights) for under $1,000. The pieces just kind of came together and it seems to be pointing to Cancun as the next vacation destination for me and my family. We still need to do a little bit more research and make sure my husband can get these short notice dates off, too. Then we will need to decide if we want the kids to miss a couple of days of school (I mean, they all maintain A’s and B’s, so I doubt they’d miss much or get behind for just a couple of days). I know we have to move quick though, these days off will go fast especially with the first and last days already taken up by travel and packing.

I know one thing for sure, the kids would be Stoked, with a capital S. I mean, they don’t even know that we’ve got this extra time off. I’ve just been quietly lounging at home on my laptop computer, researching different options all day and texting with my husband to get his input on it. Not even one of them has asked me what I’m doing, so they’re obviously oblivious to the plan I’m trying to put together for us. I mean, if we are able to do this, spend a week or so in Cancun, with meals and drinks included for the whole family, for under a couple thousand dollars, we should definitely do it. Who knows when we will get another chance? The kids are getting older and will eventually leave the house and get busy with college, and then we may have missed the opportunity, if we don’t do it now.

Now, I know that sounds dramatic, but it seems like time flies when you’re stuck in a day to day life. The mundane routine, wake up, shower, go to work, come home, go to bed, wake up, shower, etc...and so on. It’s a really vicious cycle and sometimes you just need to shake things up. Stir the pot. Really go out and experience new things and it’s all better when you’re with the ones you love. Memories are priceless, and if you don’t take full advantage of it when you have the time to, when will you? I might wake up tomorrow to discover that I’m 90 years old and have never seen the beautiful cenotes of Cancun. How dramatic, but how true?! Anyway, I’m sure you get my point. It seems like I’ve found our next vacation destination.

I have about 20 tabs worth of deals I found up to show my husband when he gets home from work. And I’m fairly confident that by this time tomorrow we’ll all be packed and ready for a few fun days in Cancun. Now I will just need to spend tomorrow making last minute purchases at Walmart of things we’ll need to bring with us and putting together a list of fun activities and sights to see while we’re visiting.

First thing on the list: Beachfront Daiquiri with my husband.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: A contribution from Scott Huntington to The Prepper Journal. As a native and one who has been through multiple earthquakes I can say “amen” to holding our breath. There are so many faults that half of the quakes I experienced personally were generated by previously unknown faults in the Pacific plate, still considered the “ring of fire” by scientists worldwide. Whenever traveling to and from California I cross that mother of all faults, the San Andreas, where discussions always gravitate towards…. while the article speaks to California it applies to anywhere along the ring of fire, and yes, maybe Yellowstone as well.

Californians have been holding their breath for 20 years now, waiting for “the big one” to hit. Living in a fault zone can be nerve-wracking. The mental impact of not knowing when an earthquake might strike might be almost as damaging as the effects of the physical quake when you consider it over time.

But you can do some things to feel better. Earthquakes have been taking place since the beginning of time, and people have come to understand how to prepare for them. Here are our suggestions for the best ways to make ready for a quake.

Know If You Live in a High-Risk Area

Prepping for an earthquake might not be a good use of your time if you live in Nebraska. California gets a reputation as a seismic hotspot, which it probably deserves, but other places are high-risk zones as well. The USGS survey identifies areas across the country with seven levels of risk, which you can view in a color-coded map on their website.

The West Coast is particularly suspect when it comes to the risk of earthquakes, with the USGS map indicating the strongest probability of a quake is in Southern Alaska, Washington, California, Hawaii and Nevada. For those who choose to live in these states, there will always be a high risk, although the right construction can reinforce your home against the harmful effects of a quake. There is also a USGS program called Shakealert that claims to offer early warning of coming earthquakes, which might be worth your time if you live in a high-risk zone.

If earthquakes aren’t your thing, move away. That’s the best way to avoid them. But these are excellent places to live (political climate aside), so if you’re going to stick around…

Prepare Your Home

Minimize loose, heavy items in your house by fastening heavy furniture to the wall or avoiding it altogether. If you have the budget, you can consider installing reinforcing walls like we mentioned earlier, which will help ensure your home remains a safe zone during most earthquakes. If you work or live in a tall building, have a clearly marked evacuation plan and make sure everyone knows how to access it.

Have a communication plan with your children, which is fairly simple in the age of cell phones — but, should damaged cell towers cause coverage to go down, it’s smart for children to have a phone number or two memorized and know how to use social media to communicate they’re safe. At a minimum have a stated, know “meet location” for all family members. You really can’t depend on any infrastructure remaining uninterrupted in an earthquake.

An earthquake readiness kit isn’t quite the same as the bug-out bag you’d pack for a hurricane or tornado, but it’s similar. You could be facing a situation where communications and other infrastructure is down, so have extra doses of any special medications your family needs, clean water and snacks, a powerful flashlight and extra batteries. Apportion your supplies to last at least three days. Pack a first-aid kit with medical supplies to treat lacerations and bruises. While off-the-shelf kits are available for purchase, only YOU know your family and their real needs so start with the basics and build out your kit your way. Pick a couple of 72-hour periods and note everything the family consumes during that period, from water to food to medications as a starting point and then do the “what if’s?” – water supply is compromised, home is compromised, missing family member, what is Plan B – always have a backup/Plan B. As any military officer will tell you Plan A is out the window as soon as the first shot is fired.

In addition to these must-haves, some other items will round out your kit nicely, such as two-way radios and pet supplies if you’ve got any furry friends in the family. A multitool is a good idea as a substitute for a full selection of hand tools, and a breathing mask with a particulate filter is another excellent addition to protect your family’s lungs from the smoke and dust that could fill the air in the aftermath of an earthquake.

Know How to Respond During a Quake

Earthquakes are one natural disaster we usually can’t predict until it’s too late. That means you need to practice what to do when one hits before you’re in a bad situation. If you have kids, make sure you have a plan as a family for what to do if an earthquake starts.

As for what to do, less is more in the case of an earthquake. You aren’t going to have time to seek much shelter. The best motto is “drop, cover and hold on,” which is what children learn in school. If you are outdoors, don’t seek cover indoors. If you’re sleeping, use your pillows to protect your neck and head.

If an earthquake occurs while you’re driving, pull over in a space that’s clear of overhead buildings or potential debris. All you can do is wait the quake out in the safest possible place. Once the shaking stops, it’s time to evaluate the situation. Know what natural gas smells like, and immediately disable the gas lines in your home if you smell a leak. There are valves available to automatically shut off natural gas lines in case of an earthquake, have them installed by a licensed professional. Locate your earthquake kit and check in with your family. Once you have everything squared away, you might head out to see if you can help others.

In the Aftermath

Earthquakes often have aftershocks up to a day later, so be vigilant, because these can be severe incidents if the earthquake was powerful. Once you’ve established that you and your family are unharmed, put on your sturdy footwear and take a walk around the perimeter of your home to spot any damage that may have occurred.

Unlike the movies, and like hurricanes, the majority of injuries and deaths occur in the first 72 hours after the event, downed power lines, floods, broken infrastructure like damns and freeway overpasses, etc.

Monitor your radio and other means of communication for information about the damage the quake did and whether there is any public action to help those affected. Depending on your situation, it may be appropriate for you to help, or you may need to reach out for assistance, which is why it’s so critical to have your radio and supply of batteries.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about an earthquake is the way they happen with little to no warning. Having a practical plan and the right supplies in place can give you the peace of mind to get through an earthquake safely. It’s only a matter of time, so think ahead and practice these good habits to be ready when the day comes. Stay safe!

Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post How to Prep for an Earthquake appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

[escapingreality1992]

Strange Impressions Ch. 4

Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Bruce and I had been called out to investigate two boys who had the ability to send out sonic waves and pulses. They had been causing chaos in the city and they wanted us to stop them from creating anymore.

           “The goal is not to kill them but to stop them and get them detained,” Steve commanded to us on the jet on the way to our location. We nodded and then Wanda spoke up.

           “What are their names?” she asked. Steve looked through the file we had been sent with us and told us that their names were Hunter and Colby Jacobs. They were only a few years apart and their powers had been a natural part of their lives. They just had chosen to use them for malicious intent rather than using them for something good.

           “What happens if they don’t let us detain them?” I asked, afraid of what would happen if they gave us no choice but to kill them.

           “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, the less casualties the better. We’re here. Wanda, Nat you two come from behind them. I’ll try to distract them long enough to let you restrain them from harming any others. Bruce, get ready to Hulk out if we need you to use your strength to hold them back. Sophie, be prepared to use your fire column to keep them from running from the area. Ready? Let’s go team. Remember, detain them only,” He replied, as the jet came to a landing.

           We opened the back and climbed out, going to our positions, Steve approaching them cautiously. Colby had dark blonde hair; Hunter, a reddish brown color to his hair. Their eyes matched, a glowing light purplish-blue, the color matching their sonic waves we had been told about.

           “Hello, Hunter, Colby. We don’t want to hurt you. We’ve been asked to take you to some place where you can’t hurt anyone. If you come with us willingly, no harm will come to you. We can-,” he began to explain, trying to reason with them until, one of the brothers sent out a wave and sent Cap flying to the ground. He grunted, signaling to Wanda to hold their arms from moving. Unfortunately they saw her coming, turning to clap their hands, huge pulses sending both her and Natasha into a car behind them, debris hitting the buildings surrounding us.

           “Bruce! Now!” Steve called out, pulling himself up, throwing up his shield, ready to charge them if necessary. Bruce changed into the Hulk, running into the boys, knocking them off their feet and onto their backs. This only fueled their anger, their hands hitting the ground hard, an overwhelming sonic wave rumbling the ground. I watched as the Hulk was slammed into a building, the windows shattering, momentarily stunning him. I launched my attack, a wall of fire hitting both boys square on, trying to separate them.

           It seemed if they were working together, they were stronger and the goal was not to kill them. If we separated them, the less likely they’d be able to throw us off our guard. Hunter screamed, the sound so loud it made me clasp my hands over my ears, the wall of fire disappearing. It distracted me long enough for Colby to come close enough to punch me, the power sending me rolling a few feet away.

           So much for the separation theory, I thought as I pulled myself up, picking gravel out of the cut on my forehead and my hands. Steve, charging them with his shield was met with resistance, Hunter grabbing it and slamming his fist down upon it, sending him into a building as well.

           “You think to defeat us. We can tell you, it won’t be that easy. We will not stand down and let you capture us. We will destroy you before that happens,” They spoke at the same time and in sync with was little eerie if you asked me. I created a couple of fire tornadoes and propelled them forward towards the brothers, hoping to catch them off guard. They dodged them, their hands pushing my tornadoes down the street towards innocent people. Grunting, I pushed them upwards to the sky, smothering the flames before they could hurt anyone. Wanda had moved from the car and wrapped her magic around Hunter and launched him into a tree, knocking him to his knees. Colby growled at his brother’s distress and stomped his foot down, the motion sending the asphalt up and towards her, giving her barely enough time to deflect the debris. Some of it sliced her skin; she cried out at the pain. Natasha whipped out her batons, running towards them, Steve joining her as they blocked him from using his powers to attack us. They had him pinned for a moment, but hadn’t realized that Hunter was up, one hand on the ground, sending various pulses into the ground, pushing them both away from Colby.

           I levitated over to him, kicking him in the chest, having to engage in hand to hand combat to push him back, trying to make him tired, preventing him from being able to conjure up any pulses. Hunter hit me square in the chest, the breath rushing out of me as I collided with a light post at the strong pulse. I fell to my knees, clutching my stomach, coughing slightly. Bruce was up charging Hunter now, succeeding in stunning him despite the pulse sent his way, Colby screamed and moved his hands in a way that had Bruce flying in the air and then being slammed back down.

           “Steve, they’re too strong. We need to find a way to tire them out or separate them far enough where they can’t see each other. The angrier they get at seeing each other hurt, the stronger the attack,” I said.

           “Okay, Wanda and Sophie get Hunter. Nat and I will try to get Colby as far away as possible,” he ordered. We rushed Hunter and Colby, a mistake that left us colliding with each other as they had stood beside each other, slamming their hands to the ground and flexing their hand up send a huge wave; a direct hit to the four of us. We groaned as we got up to our feet, breathing hard.

           “Okay, we need a new plan of attack. Wanda, do you think you can push one back from here and pull the other one to us at the same time?” Steve asked, wiping blood from his mouth.

           “ I can try. Hang on,” She replied, pushing with one hand and pulling with the other. Hunter went flying back a few feet, Colby pulled towards, Steve landing a punch to his face. Wanda and Nat moved forward to fight Hunter, leaving Steve and me to take on Colby. Bruce lifted himself up to help the girls. I was shoved back with a pulse and watched with horror as Colby was generating a huge wave directing it at Steve with full force.

           “Steve! Look out!” I yelled, pulling myself forward, landing in between him and the sonic wave. I shoved him out of the wave, taking on the full force of the wave, the blast sending me flying into a concrete wall behind us. I crumpled, crying out as my back made contact first, the pain flooding my body.

           “Sophie! Are you alright?” I registered Steve’s voice calling out to me. Spots danced around my vision unable to pinpoint which direction he came from; I coughed, blood splattering the ground.

           “Give…me…a minute,” I replied between breaths, the oxygen slowly returning to my body. I pulled on my fire healing ability, watching it coil around my arms, legs and torso; the heat being a low simmer, fixing the damage caused by the wave. I slowly rose to my feet, one arm clutching my stomach, wincing at the pain still lingering in some places.

           “Ready to end this?” Steve asked me, glancing in the direction where our enemies were located. Hunter and Colby were now fighting against Wanda, Natasha and Bruce, sending blasts at them to knock them off their guard.

           “Certainly. Let’s get this over with so we can go home,” I answered, fueling the fire in my fists. I slammed them down on the ground sending two walls of fire to the targets, controlling it so as to not harm the other teammates. My attack succeeded into knocking them on their back.

           “Thanks for the help Soph. Now secure them,” Nat ordered. As I sent a column of fire down to trap them, another wave vibrated the ground towards us. Prepared for it this time, Steve and I rolled out of the way of its path. Charging towards the boys, I levitated, raining multiple fireballs down upon them. They dodged, sending mini pulses upwards, sending me sprawling backwards.

           Launching another attack at my teammates, I blocked it with a firewall, distracting them from Wanda, who used her powers to restrain them from moving.

           “Secure them. Now, please,” she stated, struggling to restrain them as they were sending pulses through their bodies to break through her hold on them. Creating another column around our enemies, I allowed Wanda to release her hold on them, lowering myself beside her. I formed another column around them, thick enough to prevent them from breaking through and escaping.

           “Great work team. I’ll call this in and then we can take the jet back to the compound,” Steve stated. We were all sweaty and tired, ready to wind down for the day. About a half hour later a chopper came to escort our opponents to a secure prison location; we got on the jet to return home.

             “So, Sophie, are you seeing Stephen tonight?” Natasha asked me on the way back to the compound. It was a five-hour flight back; the others were asleep leaving Nat and I the only ones awake.

           No, tomorrow night. He’s taking me to a show downtown, then dinner afterwards,” I told her, the thought of seeing Stephen bringing a smile to my lips.

           “This will be what, the second date?” Have you slept with him yet?” She asked, a teasing grin on her lips. She was blunt with how she approached me about my relationship with him and I suddenly felt embarrassed about my choice to wait to have sex with him. I tucked my hair behind my ears, heat rising to my face.

           “No. I was waiting until the third date to do that,” I responded, uncomfortable with the question.

           “I’m only teasing you. I think it’s sweet you’re waiting. It makes the experience more thrilling that way. I do have to ask though. You do want to sleep with him right?” she commented, giving me a playful shove.

           “Of course I do. I really like him but I don’t want to screw this up if we rush things. I don’t want to lose this wonderful relationship we have,” I remarked, picking at my fingers, the heat on my face more intense.

           “I think you’re in love with him. You’ve been different ever since the party. You’re more vibrant, more confident. It’s like he’s pulling you out of your shell. That’s great. I’m happy for you,” Nat told me. I didn’t know if that was true or not. I hadn’t really thought about it much.

           “Maybe. I don’t know. What about you and Cap? You two seem to be hanging out a lot more lately,” I stated, changing the subject.

           “I don’t know. We’re close but I don’t know if our friendship will progress to anything more,” She answered, peeking over her shoulder at his sleeping form.

           “Do you want it to? From what I can tell, you two have great chemistry. I think things could work out,” I said, expressing my opinion.

           “I wouldn’t mind if it did. Okay, sure I’d like it to but I don’t know if he wants it to. We don’t really talk about it much. We’re both private about things like that,” she replied.

           “You won’t know if you don’t try. You helped me with Stephen. Maybe you should try to take your own advice. I mean that in the most positive way,” I told her. She simply nodded, concentrating on flying the jet. The last few hours were spent in silence, exhaustion present in both of us; all we wanted was a shower and to get some rest after the long battle we had. Arriving at the compound, we saw to the wounds we received during the fight, retiring shortly to our rooms. I showered and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I drifted off into a deep slumber.

              The next morning, we met downstairs for training, my partner being Bucky this time; He managed to send me sprawling on my back several times, but I still took him by surprise myself.

           “I think someone is a little distracted this morning. Are you thinking about someone in particular? Strange, for instance?” Bucky teased me, a playful smirk on his lips. He threw a punch but I dodged it, leaning under him, causing him to stumble. I kicked out low, knocking him off his feet; he fell to his knees, grunting.

           “Maybe I am, but I’m not really all that distracted. Still managed to take you down a few times,” I answered as he got back up. We were breathing hard and sweating. It was my turn to strike out, but he caught my fist, bending it behind my back.

           “Are you sure about that? Normally, you fight better than this. Seems to me that you can’t get him out of your head for the moment,” he stated, preventing me from moving. I shot out a quick fireball from my free hand, Bucky letting go to dodge it, before I pushed myself close to him and kicked him in the stomach. He stumbled back a few paces, regaining his balance and tackled me to the mattress, pinning me down.

           “I think this makes me the winner,” he said, smirking as I struggled against his weight, or so he thought.

           “Or does it?” I asked, confusing him enough to hook my leg under his, flipping him over onto his back, the wind knocked out of him.

           “Well done, Sophie. All right guys, let’s break for lunch and then you’re free for the rest of the day,” Steve ordered. I got off Bucky, stretching out my hand to help him up and we went down to kitchen for water and sandwiches, talking with each other. Stephen wasn’t picking me up until 6:45, so after lunch I spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool reading. Around four, I returned to my room to get ready for tonight’s date.

           Stephen had texted me to tell me to dress casual for the show; I changed into a pair of dark blue shorts and a green t-shirt, throwing on a pair of black converse. I pulled my hair into a ponytail before deciding that I liked it better down, letting it sit on my shoulders, putting on a little bit of eyeliner and a nude eye-shadow, leaving my lips natural.

           “You know, I may not be able to keep my hands off of you tonight seeing you dressed like that,” Stephen’s voice alerted me from my door. Startled, I turned to see him leaning against the doorframe, wearing a light gray t-shirt, which showed off the muscles in his chest and in his arms, black jeans and tennis shoes. That same rogue piece of hair lay on his forehead, his crystal blue eyes shining.

           “I wouldn’t mind having your hands on me tonight. Perhaps that’s why I dressed this way. Maybe I wanted to distract you,” I said, walking closer to him. When I reached him, I took his hands, placing them on my shoulders; I trailed them down my skin to my hips. His eyes followed the motion, flickering back up to meet my gaze. He looped his fingers through the belt loops of my shorts, pulling me close to his body; one hand cradled the small of my back, the other tilting my chin up; our lips were now inches apart.

           I parted my lips a little at the sudden movement, my hands resting on his chest, Stephen’s lips ghosting over mine.

           “We haven’t even left for the show and you’ve already gotten me craving for your touch,” he whispered, pulling back too soon. Okay, two can play this game, I thought to myself. I brushed my fingers down his chest, slipping them under his shirt, gliding them lightly against his warm skin. At his sharp intake of breath, I looked up to notice he had closed his eyes at my touch. I moved my hands around to his back, feeling the muscles there; Stephen’s eyes fluttered open.

           “We should leave for the show,” he stated, his voice soft, head bent to capture my lips in a kiss.

           “Okay, but I was having fun teasing you,” I whispered in his ear. He shivered, pulling my hands from under his shirt, linking one and pulling me out of the room.

           “Keep doing that and I’ll have to let you continue. Maybe I’ll even have to tease you myself,” he told me, forming a portal in front of us. We stepped through to downtown New York on our way to the show.

             Turns out the show had a horror theme to it; something we both enjoyed. There were three acts and people were pulled onto stage, an audience participation portion that we hadn’t anticipated. We laughed at the hilarious skits people were put through, awed by the acrobatic skills the performers had; we hadn’t stopped holding hands from the moment we left the compound.

           At the end, a standing ovation was given and we left for dinner at a small diner, which had a cozy atmosphere. I still had his hand in mine, unlinking it to trace his scars every now and then. We shared a milkshake enjoying every bit of each other’s company. Leaving the diner, we walked around, holding hands and talking, not wanting the night to end.

           “Is it that late already? I guess I should take you back home,” Stephen commented, looking at his watch, checking the time; it was close to 11.

           “I’d rather stay with you again,” I remarked, knowing full well that I had to return for another training session in the morning. He sighed and with reluctance created a portal to the compound. We walked through and found the other Avengers hanging out in the T.V. room.

           “Welcome back, you two lovebirds. Have fun?” Tony greeted us.

           “Very much so,” we answered, Stephen and I glancing at each other, adoration in our eyes.

           “Come, join us. We were about to start a movie. It’s a horror movie. You might like it,” Tony invited us, a pleading look on his face.

           “What do you think? Shall we?” I asked Stephen, gesturing to the couches in front of us.

           “Sure, I wasn’t ready for the night to end anyway. A few more hours couldn’t hurt,” he replied, leading me to one of the bigger chairs, pulling me into his lap. One arm wrapped around my waist, the other lying on the armrest.

           “F.R.I.D.A.Y. turn off the lights,” Tony said, hitting play on the remote. The movie started and during some parts I felt Stephen rubbing circles in my side, a soothing motion. He glided his hand down and under my shirt, continuing the motion; he slid his hands to my back, discreetly unhooking m bra. He moved his back to the front, the pad of his thumb grazing my breast, passing lightly over the nipple. My gasp was timed perfectly with the current scene in the movie as he did so. He moved his arm on the armrest down to rest on my thigh. He continued to tease me until the movie was over, careful to re-hook my bra in a way no one else would notice.

           “May I walk you to your room?” Stephen asked as I slid out his lap, standing to the side so he could get up. I nodded, saying goodnight to my friends, intertwining my hand in his. At my room, I pulled him inside, his hands sliding into my hair, kissing me. I broke the kiss to pull him to my bed and pushing him to lie against the pillows. I straddled him, meeting his lips once more; he held me against him, deepening the kiss.

           “Want to go to a movie next week?” he asked me, pulling back. I nodded, pulling him into another kiss.

           “One more thing. How about we make our relationship official? Would you like to become my girlfriend?” he asked, breaking the kiss again.

           “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me that. The answer is yes. I’d love to be your girlfriend,” I responded. He pulled me into a tight embrace, kissing my cheek, then my lips. He slid us down so I was lying on top of him, my hands caressing his jaw, continuing to kiss him. After what felt like a half hour, we stopped kissing, my head resting on his chest; he stroked my hair, one hand resting on my arm.

           “I have to go back to the Sanctum. I’ll see you next week. Is Thursday okay with you?” he told me. I squeezed him tighter not wanting him to leave, wanting him to stay here with me. He squeezed me back, but got up anyways. I followed him to the door, kissing him before giving a response.

           “Thursday is perfect,” I replied, earning one last kiss before he created a portal and left to return to the Sanctum.