Chapter 41

"Ah, I see you've managed to bring our new partner. I hope you didn't have any problems with your journey here." Fuzen said as she stood up from her kneeling position to greet the two spirits. "I'm glad you could join us Minato."

"Once I heard about the situation, how could I not help?" The joker stated as he shook the snow from his hair. Learning ahead of time that he would be coming to the Pole, he had grabbed a large furry coat. "Its fucking freezing here."

"Don't worry, the beast should have found a way in by now."

"What beast?"

"I am Atoc." The three turned at the voice and watched the large fox crawl out of the tunnel. "Who male?"

"An ally." Fuzen stated quickly. "Have you found an entrance yet?"

"Yes." Atoc said before bounding into the snow and going farther around the Workshop. The others followed him until he came to the edge of the cliff. The sound of clanking echoed out as yetis hammered away at the ice and structure. "Down there. Where sled is."

"Hmm, I guess your not completely useless after all."

"Grrr..."

"How do we get down?" Yakunan asked in her soft voice, lifting her kimono up a bit.

"I got this." Minato stated as he reached through his jacket and into his vest. He quickly pulled out a pair of kama, small scythe-like weapons. He reached into the other side of his vest and pulled out a joker mask. "Just wait here."

"What are you going t-"

Minato put on the ominous mask and took one kama into each hand before jumping off the edge of the cliff. He stabbed the tips of the blades into the thick ice and slowly started to make his way towards the opening. "Just wait there so I can find a way in for you."

"Hmm, good. He stills remembers his training from his time as a human." Fuzen said as she watched the gray haired boy. "Let's get inside while he is distracted. Can't have him see our true identities."

Yakunan gave a small nod before she closed her eyes and her hair came to life. It lifted her and Fuzen off the ground before walking along the cliff side like a spider. They stayed out of Minato's sight and swiftly entered the ice cave. "Pitch Black will not be expecting this."

"Did you girls find anything?" Jack asked as he flew up to the two females. They were staring intensely at each other, tears welling up in their eyes. "What are you two doing?"

"Staring contest." Snow stated as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"Why?"

"Finished looking, found nothing, got bored." Hikari said as her left eye started to twitch. "And you?"

"Right, well I didn't find anything either but I did freeze some waves over and freaked a few people out. What about Allie?" Jack asked and both girls looked towards him.

"Huh?"

"Yeah, where is she? Did she find anything?"

"Allie's not here. We thought she was with you." Snow stated as the tears finally streamed down her cheeks after blinking several times. Hikari was rubbing at her eyes, keeping the tears at bay. "Did we just lose another friend?"

"Blisters on my feet, blisters on my feet. Walking through the woods gave me blisters on my feet." Allie sang softly as she pried her boots off of her sore feet. She had spent several hours wandering through the woods and countryside, looking for any spirits. The locals were very nice and waved 'hello' as she walked by. Allie had decided to take a break by a small river and clear her mind a bit. She slowly stuck her feet in the water with a content sigh. "Ahh, that feels nice."

She listened to the relaxing sound of running water, before she let her mind wander onto more important topics. There was still no sign of Minato or any other spirits for that matter. She had no idea where any of her friends were. And to top it all off, she was hungry. She started drawing pictures in the mud with a stick when she heard the snap of a twig behind her. She went to turn around but was roughly shoved into the water.

"Ack!" Allie cried out as she tried to sit up only to be pushed down. Rough hands circled around her throat and held her head under water. She kicked at her assaulter but they wouldn't budge. She watched her breath form into bubbles and float up to the surface as she started feeling lightheaded. 'Am I going to die?'

It wasn't until a large force knocked her assaulter away that she was able to sit up and swallowed a few lungfuls of air but nearly stopped breathing again at what she saw. A large creature with brown fur and mane was picking itself from the dirt. Its face was twisted and gnarled with a few teeth protruding from its mouth. It snarled before letting out a hoarse shriek. She quickly tried to scoot back but bumped into something. She froze in place as it slowly walked out from behind her and stand. It was a large reptilian beast with dark green scales and claws at its feet and hands. Small bone like scales stuck out of the shell on its back and the top of his head seemed to be covered in bone. It hissed menacingly at the furry creature.

It growled back before trying to knock the beast aside and crawl over to Allie. She flinched away a bit as it got closer but the reptile let out a roar. It brought its arm back before swinging at the fur ball. It managed to strike him in the face and knock him away. The creature grabbed at its face as it yowled in pain, glaring daggers at the reptile. It gave one final howl before running into the trees.

The young spirit present just stared at the treeline in shock before a clawed hand was offered to her. Now that the reptile had turned around, she was able to see its face. He had a thick snout that ended with a hook, like a beak. He had golden eyes that sparkled down at her. She hesitantly took his hand and he pulled her up. "T-Thank you."

Standing side by side, they were around the same height. He looked her up and down before offering a toothy grin. He started growling out sentences in his reptilian language as Allie tilted her head in confusion. "Sorry, but I don't speak dinosaur."

He nodded his head in understanding before giving a small huff of frustration. She could practically hear the gears turning in his head when he suddenly snapped his claws with an idea. He motioned for her to open her mouth wide. She raised her brow in question before doing as she was told. "Now what?"

She was answered by the creature spitting into her mouth. She felt some of the slobber go down her throat before she ran over to the river and started to wash out her mouth. She did that for a good three minutes before turning on the reptile. "What the hell was that for?!"

"So you could understand me." She nearly fell over at the voice that escaped the reptile's mouth but she managed to catch herself. "I'm Kawaguchi by the way."

"U-Uh, I'm Allie." she stuttered as she took in his appearance once more. "Are you a ninja turtle?"

"Um, no I'm not."

"Are you Godzilla's son?"

"Ah no, and I'm guessing your not from around here."

"Well you guessed correctly." Allie stated as she rung out her shirt; it didn't help much. She pulled on her boots before walking back over to the reptile. "So what are you?"

"I'm what the locals call, a kappa." Kawaguchi said as he stepped into the water and started to swim around. "We live in the rivers and lakes of Japan. We really don't like being without water and despise anyone who mistreats our homes. When I felt the disturbance in the river, I quickly swam over to see what was happening when I saw that Oni trying to drown you."

"Oni?"

"Demon. It wanted you dead."

"Yeah, I got that part." Allie said as she rubbed at her neck. 'It was probably the same thing that tried to push me off the building.'

"Its very strange for an Oni to come out in the day though. Did you provoke it in any way?"

"Not that I know of. I've just been wandering the country looking for my friend. You wouldn't happen to know Minato, would you?"

"The April Fool? All the spirits of Japan know him, always fooling around." The kappa stated with a laugh as he remembered some of the spirit's past pranks. "Why are you looking for him?"

"He went missing a few days ago. My other friends and I are looking for any clues of where he could be." Allie explained. "Do you think you can help me?"

"He's missing? I didn't know that. I don't know where he went but I can take you to where I last saw him."

"Really? Thank you so much." Allie said as she wrapped her arms around the reptiles neck. "Where to?"

"We'll have to take the river." Kawaguchi said as he gestured to the rippling water. Allie nodded before she climbed onto his back, avoiding the spikes at his back. He slowly lowered himself into the water before he lunged forward and started swimming. He was incredibly fast and Allie had to hang on for dear life. "Woo hoo!"

"Allie! Where the hell are you?!" Snow yelled loudly, causing a few birds to fly out of the trees they were perched on. The three had been searching around the whole country for their friend, but were having little luck in finding her. "Where is she?"

"Didn't she say that she would be checking the center?" Jack asked as he flew up to the distressed winter spirit. "Maybe we should try looking there."

"Do you think she would still be looking and not passed out somewhere? I completely forgot that she couldn't fly."

"Yeah, me too. Don't worry though, she's one of the toughest girls I know."

"And craziest." Snow stated with a snicker. It was then that a large column of smoke shot up next to them, causing the two to scatter. They looked down and saw Hikari standing with a large brown thing next to her. "What the heck?"

They slowly floated down to where the flame spirit was and got a better view of what was next to her. It was a large beast with shaggy brown fur, but most of its body was burnt to a crisp. The smell of burning carcass caused all the spirits present gag at the smell. Jack was the first to speak. "What *cough* is that?"

"Oni, a demon." Hikari stated as Jack convinced the Wind to blow the smoke and putrid smell away. "They all have the same fur and teeth. They attack innocent people and spirits for fun. They don't like the light and only come out at night."

"Then what's this one doing out in the day?" Snow asked as she prodded the burnt body with a stick. She turned when the other didn't answer and grew concerned at Hikari's expression. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl and her eyes burned with hatred, red flames spreading around her. "H-Hikari?"

"It had this in its teeth." Hikari ground out as she tossed a scrap of fabric to the floor. It was slightly singed but the familiar shade of green was still visible. Snow's hands flew over her mouth in shock and Jack gripped his staff even tighter. "It was after Allie."

"I-Is she de-"

"No. If she were dead, then the Oni wouldn't have been still running around in the daylight. It's face was scratched up from a scuffle."

"So she's alive?" Jack asked as Hikari nodded her head. He let out a breath of relief. "Phew! Almost had a heart attack...So where is she?"

"The scratches at the Oni's face were unmistakably from a Kappa, a being from the water." The flame spirit said, grimacing at the word water. "We find water, we find the kappa. We find the kappa, we find Allie."

"Then let's go look!" Snow stated as she floated slightly into the air. "There has to be a lake or a pond around here somewhere. Do you know where any are?"

"N-No. I don't particularly like water, so I wouldn't know about anything like that. Sorry."

"That's alright, that fact that you found all these clues is enough. Let's go look!"

"Right!"

"Okay, so when you roasted this guy, what way was he coming from?" Jack asked as he picked up the green fabric and shoved it in his hoodie pocket. Hikari pointed down a path that led to some rice crops. "Right, so if we go down this path, then ask some of the locals if they've seen Allie, then maybe we can find some water."

"I never thought I would her a well thought out plan come from your mouth." Snow stated with a grin. Jack pouted a bit before leaning over and whispering something into her ear. Her face turned bright red and Jack laughed to himself as her started down the path."W-Wha-"

"Bet you never thought that would come from my mouth either."

"JACK!"

So that is the new chapter! Sorry for not updating in forever, I've just had some major writers block. I know lame excuse but yeah...

Anyways, I promise to post chapters faster and thanks to everyone who has continued to read my story! Love you guys!

Don't forget to R&R!