Book 3 Chapter 5
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  Eri Kouno anxiously stared at the clock. "Mother, we're going to be late."

  "Calm down, Eri. It's going to be fine." Mother finished checking her makeup.

  "It's 3:45." Eri reported from the front door, watching the second hand move inexorably forward.

  "The amusement park isn't going to run away." Mother laughed, stepping into a pair of brown dress shoes. "Alright, into the car. Darling, are you ready?" Mother called up the stairs.

  Father came trotting down the stairs in response, tightening his tie on the way. "What do you think, too formal?"

  "Meeting your daughter's friend's parents can never be too formal." Mother reassured him.

  "We're going to be late." Eri wailed, rushing for the back door of their car. She vainly tried to open the door but it was, as she well knew, still locked. Her parents walked in this creeping crawling slow-motion formal funeral pace to the car without a care in the world.

  Mother finally pushed the button that opened all the door locks at once and climbed into the driver side. Father got into the passenger side and Eri dived into the back.

  "Seatbelts." Mother ordered.

  "Done." Eri reported breathlessly.

  Mother turned around to check, then turned on the car engine and pulled out of the driveway. For a busy Friday afternoon, there was surprisingly little traffic.

  "My, how lucky." Mother commented absently. There was a series of traffic lights between them and the amusement park at the end of town, but as they approached each one they always turned green. Even the left turn signals turned green right before they arrived, signals that changed once in a blue moon for the poor drivers stuck in said lanes.

  "My, my." Mother hummed happily, slowly turning left onto the last road before the parking lot.

  Right when Mother was looking for a spot, another car pulled out at the very front near the entrance. Eri tore off her seatbelt and dived out the door.

  "No need to rush, Eri. We're five minutes early." Mother said, stepping lightly out of the car with the same casual pace she had gotten in.

  "I see Saki. I'm going on ahead!" Eri shot behind her to her parents, and ran the rest of the way to their meeting point. A huge crowd had assembled to celebrate her friend's birthday. Everyone was older except one other girl, who had blue eyes of all things. Taking a closer look, she wasn't the only one. An older man seemed to have black irises instead of the normal brown, standing next to a girl she originally took for a middle schooler, barely any taller than she was.

  "Everyone, this is Eri Kouno. Mr. and Mrs. Kouno are walking this way." Saki introduced her friend to the crowd.

  "Pleased to meet you." Eri bowed politely, her red ribbon flipping well above her head as it moved. Mother had given her that ribbon when she was eight, saying it looked good on her. She had worn it ever since, and every now and then she caught her Mother smiling happily at the sight. Every now and then Eri smiled at the memory too.

  "Eri, Mr. Kouno, Mrs. Kouno, let me introduce you to everyone." Saki spoke up again once Eri's parents arrived, still early according to the scheduled meeting time.

  "Starting on the left," Saki held out her arm like a showgirl, "My sister's friend, and her fiance, Shiori Rin and Isao Oono. After them is Rei Rin, Shiori's twin sister, and her husband, Onyx Rin. Next up is Masanori Miyamoto, Capri's uncle. In front of him is Capri, my oldest friend. And after Capri are my two sisters, Chiharu Sakai, and on the extreme right, Aiko Sakai. A lot of people were excited about going to the amusement park for some reason. But don't worry, we'll probably be going on different rides once we get in, right?" Saki turned to the crowd behind her.

  "Don't worry Saki. We won't bother you." Shiori promised.

  "Keiichi Kouno," Father stepped forward and held out his hand to Chiharu confidently. "I confess I was hoping to meet Saki's parents today, but it's still nice to meet you. Ever since we moved here, your daughter has been taking care of ours."

  "It was no problem," Chiharu shook his proffered hand. "Saki's been talking about her new friend every day she's been so happy, we're deeply indebted to you."

  "She talks about Eri so much she won't let me sleep." Aiko groaned in remembrance.

  "Aiko!" Saki blushed red. But Eri's parents laughed and the ice was immediately broken. It looked like everyone was ready to have a good time.

  Eri stepped through the crowd and gave a quick bow to Capri. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Eri Kouno. Let's all three of us take the rides together."

  "You're beautiful." Capri said, paradoxically closing her eyes as she did so.

  "Thank you." Eri said, not sure what to do. She did try to dress up and look her best, just like her parents. But no one had called her beautiful for just that before.

  "You're a good influence on Saki." Capri said, smiling with her eyes open again.

  "I, thank you." Eri repeated. She thought Saki had been a fine person from the start. In a few minutes, groups had been decided on and sorted out. Capri, Saki, Eri, Mr. and Mrs. Kouno, Masanori, Chiharu and Aiko would form one group. Meanwhile, Shiori, Isao, Rei and Onyx would go together on the more thrilling rides. But they would all meet up again at six for the Ferris Wheel, then have dinner and cake to celebrate Saki's eleventh birthday.

  Chiharu quickly put her hand in the center, until everyone else had circled around and added in their hand on top. "Project Happy Birthday, Start!" Chiharu shouted, and everyone else lifted their arms in cheering approval.

  Eri felt a little embarrassed, but her parents took it all in stride, joining in as quickly and loudly as the rest. They were such lifesavers. They were the best parents in the world.

  "Where do you want to go first, Saki?" Eri asked, getting a purple stamp on her wrist as she turned in her ticket.

  "Hmmm. Let's try the haunted house!" Saki said, pointing at a distant building.

  "Ok. Let's stake our family honor on who frightens first." Eri agreed happily. She could handle scary stuff. Ghosts, demons, and all that were just stories from an ignorant past.

  "Always a competition!" Saki laughed, grabbing her hand and leading the way through the crowd. When they arrived, the line was extremely short and they were ushered straight in by smiling employees.

  "My, my." Mother smiled happily. "Darling, will you protect me?"

  "I'll manage somehow." Father grinned back at her, holding out his hand and escorting her into the darkness.

  Eri wasn't frightened of the dark. She was eleven years old. And not a phony eleven like Saki who was just ten and a day. She was eleven and a half years old -- if you rounded up. She marched into the darkness behind her parents, but must have taken a different turn. Before she knew it, she was alone with Saki and Capri, whose eyes were glowing in the dark. Okay, that was a little scary. Just a little.

  "Did we take a wrong turn?" Saki asked nervously.

  "It's a haunted house. All turns are equally correct." Eri replied boldly. "Just keep following the same wall."

  "I'LL EAT YOUR LIVER!" A ghost screamed, brandishing a knife.

  Eri screamed and ran. Saki looked at the ghost, then at the quickly vanishing Eri, and rushed to follow.

  "Wait for me!" Saki yelled.

  "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Eri screamed, running even faster. The hallways were too dark and she stumbled over a log, her shin protesting with a flurry of pain.

  "I'm commmmmminggggggg." A banshee with hair covering her face started crawling out of the well.

  Eri screamed. She started crab-walking backwards away from the monster, her legs too weak to pick her completely back up. Then hands were grabbing her and she started punching and kicking them off.

  "Eri! Eri!" Saki was laughing, trying to avoid the worst of her flailings. "Eri, it's me. Mooooh. Why didn't you say you were such a scaredy-cat?"

  Eri opened her eyes into the dim light carefully, ready to close them again in an instant. "Saki?"

  "It's just us." Saki repeated soothingly, gesturing at Capri behind her. "Let's go back to the entrance."

  "No, I can get through." Eri's voice wavered against her will.

  "I'm not saying you can't." Saki said, pulling her back up onto her feet. "I just suddenly really want to take a ride on the tea cups, okay?"

  "Well. . .if you insist. . ." Eri looked down at the floor.

  "It's my birthday, so spoil me a little, okay?" Saki asked.

  "It can't be helped, since it's your birthday." Eri graciously surrendered. "Well, let's just go back to the entrance then. This way, everyone."

  Capri didn't say a word, even after they emerged back into the light. For that, Eri thanked her from the bottom of her heart.

  "There you are." Masanori smiled as he saw them emerge. "I thought I heard a scream."

  "It's more fun that way." Eri explained quickly, and Saki nodded in agreement. "Are my parents out yet?"

  "Let's wait for them." Masanori decided. Her parents had come all this way to attend the amusement park with their only child. He doubted they wanted to become separated now.

  "Eri, dear, are you alright?" Mother walked through the crowds that separated the exit from the entrance.

  "Fine, mother. But. . ." Eri bit her lip. "I wagered our family's honor and lost. I'm sorry."

  "Well just win it back next time." Mother took out her purse and fetched a band-aid unconcernedly.

  "Sit down." Mother ordered kindly.

  "It's nothing, Mother." Eri squirmed away, not wanting to be treated like a kid.

  "If it's nothing, a band-aid won't make it any worse, right? Now sit down." Mother ordered. Eri sat down and held out her bleeding leg. When she looked closely, she saw a rather red mark on Saki's face too. Eri blushed with even more shame.

  "There, all done. Where to next?" Mother asked, patting Eri on the head.

  "Saki wanted to ride the tea cups." Eri mumbled.

  "How nice. It looks like the line for the tea cups is short too. My, my." Mother said, holding her hand back out for Father to hold, and the troupe started walking back across the grounds.

  "Masanori, duck!" Aiko shouted. Masanori turned his body to see what the fuss was, and then he was falling backwards onto the ground. A split second later the sound of a supersonic bullet reached their ears.

  "So they came." Father said, tension suffusing his face. "Everyone, run away. I can't explain what just happened so just trust us. Eri, stay close to me. Don't move no matter what." He stepped forward and started to announce something.

  "Coi, Cyan!" Chiharu shouted, ignoring him. An explosion of light suffused her figure, and in her place suddenly was standing a girl in blue carbon fiber holding a laser gun.

  "Aiko, take Saki and run!" Chiharu ordered.

  "I can help. I'll find the sniper's location!" Aiko protested.

  "Don't be an idiot! If you die it's all over! Run!" Chiharu ordered again.

  "I'll find Shiori! Hold out until then!" Aiko shouted, and then she was racing away with Saki in tow. A lot of the crowd was joining her, as people started screaming and fleeing from the bleeding man on the ground, unsure of where safety could be found.

  Eri stood petrified behind her father's back. It was supposed to be a birthday party. It was just supposed to be a birthday party. She heard the sound of whizzing bullets plowing into the dirt and kicking up fine sand into the air. But she knew that was a false comfort. Every time she heard a bullet it was too late to do anything about it, it had already missed. It was the bullet she wouldn't hear that was going to kill her. That was somehow too terrifying to grasp.

  "My, my." Mother said calmly, standing in front of both Father and Eri. "Lucky only the first shot was accurate, aren't we?"

  "That we are, dear." Father grinned. And then the impossible happened right in front of her. "Coi, Tangerine!" Her father was transforming too, a blinding spray of rainbow colored sparkles engulfing his large back. Emerging from the other side was a buddhist monk in orange long robes, sandals, a shaved head and a twelve-ringed staff.

  "Circle of protection." Father struck the ground three times, and an orange barrier started expanding voraciously outwards from his feet. The Kouno family, Chiharu and the man down were all included. Bullets that had previously been spraying into the dirt were now pinging off the sphere, sounding like raindrops on a tent. Eri stood very still, as close to the center of the barrier as she could.

  "Team Choice Givers." Chiharu said through a dark visor. "Allies, I presume? Can you heal Masanori?"

  "Sorry, that wasn't the magic I manifested." Father replied. "We're the Moral Aristocracy. Pleased to meet you."

  "We need to find the enemy's location. Any ideas?" Chiharu asked politely.

  "My idea is to wait here for reinforcements." Father replied.

  "Not a bad idea." Chiharu agreed after a short pause. "But I can't let them get away. Somehow they got under our radar. They're too dangerous to leave free."

  "Sorry, master." Tangerine said, an orange glowing gem on Father's sash. "There are Dead Enders everywhere, just like always, I didn't notice any new ones moving in."

  "They were waiting for us." Chiharu decided. "That's a new one. Simple, when you think about it."

  Bullets stopped bouncing off their shield. Eri looked anxiously towards the Ferris wheel, the direction they'd been flying in from by the sound, but it was too far away to make out any figures. Whoever was trying to kill her was going to try something new.

* * *

  "Did we get him?" Yume whispered to her wyrd, lowering her sniper rifle tiredly. She wasn't wearing anything special, from the outside. She was wearing black athletic shorts and a black T-shirt, laying down flat on top of a metal beam supporting the Ferris Wheel. Her gun was nearly as tall as she was, with a long barrel supported by a tripod and an enormous scope on top. It was the strongest weapon she could imagine, so that's what she had received. As for her armor, it was inside. A new skeleton to replace her old. A new girl's body that worked. It moved as she wanted, it was strong and fast. It was her now. Shadow had fulfilled his promise. She was never going to leave this form. This was her body now.

  "Can't tell. I thought I saw him move at the last instant before we fired. But he certainly looks dead." Shadow replied.

  "He's alive." Flame reported, his scrying still showing the bright light of their quarry. "Abort?" Flame suggested.

  "No. This is too good an opportunity. We engage." Shadow decided. "Kill Masanori."

  "Just what I wanted to hear!" Ryu shouted, standing up. "Form of the Dragon!" He shouted, and sparkles started surrounding him in an ever increasing flurry. A man was no longer standing on the pole, but instead a four legged beast, which was rapidly growing in size and weight. Yume hopped nimbly onto Ryu's sparkling back, her rifle held diagonally across her back to avoid hitting the ground. She could do anything nimbly now, thanks to Shadow. She felt more graceful then she'd ever been in her previous life.

  Soon the metal pole gave way beneath them, and in a creaking moan, the entire Ferris Wheel started to tip over and fall. Ryu gave out a ferocious roar and unfurled his wings, leaping into the air before he fell with his perch. There was no way the leap or the wings could hold up such a massive body. The entirety of the king of wyrms was supported by magic.

  "Yume, stay down and look for an opening." Shadow advised.

  "Yes." Yume whispered compliantly. She hadn't been able to get her voice above a whisper since she left the hospital. She'd be safe on Ryu's back. Besides, her endoskeleton was indestructible. She had imagined that trait more than anything else.

* * *

  "What is that?" Shiori pointed, a real live dragon appearing out of thin air. Crowds of people were running in every direction, but their wyrds couldn't guide them precisely to anyone's side. Everyone was close enough together to make it an indistinguishable jumble to them. When the commotion began, they had all transformed, but not knowing where to go, they had stood helplessly behind cover and waited.

  "Shiori!" Aiko came running in a beeline towards them. It wasn't fair. Aiko could pinpoint anyone's location by looking through their eyes. Telepathy was so nice. Behind her ran Saki and Capri.

  "Hurry, they're by the haunted house. Masanori's down." Aiko shouted, panting for breath.

  "Got it. Aiko, take the kids and hide. Rei?" Shiori asked.

  "Each of you grab a hand." Rei said, magic thrumming into her butterfly wings until they were twice their normal size. Shiori took her left hand and Isao her right, and they were launched like a crossbow bolt towards their destination.

  "He isn't dead." Black assured Isao, scrying out the lights in front of him.

  "I'll take care of it." Rei promised, though Shiori had no idea how. The dragon was heading straight for the haunted house too. It was going to be a race. If the dragon turned and attacked Aiko, what were they going to do? Who was their real target? Who was more threatening to the dark wyrds? Shiori didn't know. For all she knew Kotone was under attack at the mansion and didn't have any help at all. She just had to beat the enemy in front of her. But how hard would she need to punch a dragon? Nevermind. She could do it, if she followed her training and put her hips into it. She could accomplish anything.

  The dragon reached the haunted house first. It pivoted above the ground and unleashed a torrent of flame towards the ground, washing down onto its initial target and then flowing outwards like a sea of destruction around it. But the flame didn't reach the ground. Something was impeding it.

  "I'm letting go." Rei warned, and suddenly Shiori was flying through the air and falling towards their destination. She relaxed and timed her knees, pushing down right when she hit the ground, sliding sideways with metal boots whirring mightily against the strain.

  "Eternal Zero!" Rei announced. The dragon seemed to be moving just fine, so Shiori kept looking around for what she'd frozen.

  "Good thinking, Rei!" Chiharu applauded. She aimed her gun and shot, but the dragon's scales soaked up the shot like it was nothing.

  "Not this again." Chiharu sighed.

  "I'll try to kill the rider." Isao decided, fading to invisibility. It was obvious his spear would be equally useless stabbing into the enormous beast.

  "I'll handle the dragon." Rei stood up confidently. "Chiharu?"

  "Sure thing: Amplify!" Chiharu's breastplate started glowing furiously.

  "Everything should return to zero. Eclipse!" Rei pointed and a black bar shot out in front of her, streaking through the sky at the unmissable target. But a few feet in front of the dragon's hide, the beam took an inexplicable perpendicular turn and ended up fading into the sky.

  "An at right angle's shield." Chiharu cursed. "Well now my laser gun is really worthless."

  The dragon gave out another roar, dwarfing their entire field of vision as he slammed his tail into their protective barrier. The barrier shook, a few cracks appearing where the tail had landed, but then it regenerated and held. Inexplicably, the dragon stepped on its own tail during the recoil and collapsed into a heap in front of them. It let out another roar of frustration.

  "Chance!" Shiori shouted. She started running forward at increasing speed, her metal boots pushing her beyond human limits, fire coalescing around her fist.

  "Let my pain become your own." Shiori heard a tiny incantation. Isao was right, there was a dragon rider, who was currently gesturing towards Chiharu.

  Chiharu saw it coming too, even though the attack wasn't visible. She pointed back at the dragon knight and called out "Counter." But Cyan's light burst into dribbles. Desperately she summoned up all of her magic and tried a new spell, not knowing how close 'her pain' had already approached.

  "Deflect!" She called out again, and this time Cyan's light held. It held. And Shiori felt a strange cold chill strike her from behind. It felt like concentrated misery, but it didn't hurt anywhere. She stumbled back down to the ground, her footsteps faltering. "No, I won't lose again!" Shiori said, and planted her feet firmly.

  "Burssssssssttttttttt KNUCKLEEEEEEEEE!" Shiori shouted, channeling all of her strength, from her legs to her hips to her shoulders to her wrists into the dragon's side. Whatever shield was protecting it from projectiles didn't stop her strike. She felt the shock deep into her arm as her fiery gloved fist pounded against the dragon's hide. For a moment everything held stable, but then the heat from her fire starting melting the scales in front of it, and her arm sunk ever so slowly through the armor and into the dragon's flesh.

  I can do it! I can fight! Shiori started channeling more and more fire through her fist and into the hole. "GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Shiori shouted, her entire figure now a hazy shimmering red light behind the flames.

  The dragon turned its eyes on this new threat, untangling itself from its own feet and rolling over to crush her.

  "Stasis shield!" Rei shouted, and ridiculously, the entire dragon floated in mid-air, defying gravity because time would not allow it to fall the rest of the way to the ground. Shiori smiled and kept channeling flames, sure that if she just kept at it the beast would cook from the inside.

  "Amplify!" Chiharu called, adding Cyan's magic to Shiori's, seeing that progress was being made.

  The dragon howled in frustration, and started flying back into the sky.

  "Heavenly Palm!" The strange monk announced, and a shockwave pierced the clouds and forced the dragon back down onto the ground. He was now caught between the stasis shield and the ki blast, Shiori still feeding fire through his scales.

  "ENOUGH!" The dragon shouted. And suddenly it wasn't there anymore. In the distance, a man appeared, well away from where Shiori had been punching, holding his side and grimacing.

  Shiori blinked, panting. She felt like she couldn't summon another lick of flame. The prick had folded back into his human form just to make his target box smaller. It wasn't fair at all.

  "Welcome to my despair." The black clothed rider slid off his now-too-small shoulders. This attack, at least, was visible. It was a howling skull of green phantasms heading directly for the inert Masanori. And that's where it stopped, directly over Masanori, frozen forever in time.

  "You can't have him." Rei announced grimly, flying up into the air. "Everyone, get away. I'm going to finish this!"

  At that moment Isao appeared, his spear thrust straight into the small black clad dragon knight's chest. The knight looked at him in shock, but Isao was even more shocked. The entire spear had bent sideways into a crumpled mess. Aside from a small prick of blood, there was no damage at all.

  "Death undying --" The girl began, but the impact of the spear had unbalanced her gun, and she tripped over it between her legs and started trying to squirm out of her shoulder strap instead.

  "Isao, get away!" Rei cried out in frustration.

  "Flash move." Isao agreed, disappearing and reappearing fifty meters to the side.

  "Abort?" An orange wyrd asked in a strained voice, looking anxiously at his master.

  "Abort." A gray wyrd glowed and then sighed in agreement.

  "I'll remember this, fire girl." The Dead Ender pointed at Shiori furiously, his other hand over his scarred side.

  "I won't let you!" Rei called out. "Event Horizon!"

  But the dragon was too strong. In an instant, he had transformed again, the dragon knight riding back on his neck, and in a few wing strokes, he pulled away from the sucking vortex.

  "I can chase them!" Rei called out in frustration.

  "Don't, Rei! We can't help you if you pursue!" Chiharu ordered.

  Isao threw his spear away in disgust, looking at it's misshapen metal tip one more time. "A ten year old girl. And she was the one who shot Masanori."

  "Eri, are you okay?" Mrs. Kouno, who had simply stood there the entire time, turned around and looked the girl in the face.

  "Yes, Mother."

  Rei floated to the ground, flapping her black-violet butterfly wings a few more times and then folding them back into her back. She looked with resignation at the speck on the horizon.

  "Everyone, I came to help!" A young girl came rushing in, with a voice suspiciously like Chiharu's youngest sister. She was in black, spiky plate armor, slab after slab of it, that covered every inch of her body, with just eye slits for her face. In one hand she was carrying a warhammer like it was a plastic toy, spike on one side and maul on the other, looking just as dark and dangerous.

  Shiori started laughing. "I knew it! Chiharu! I can't believe you had the guts to do it again!"

  "In what world is this my fault?" Chiharu shouted back in frustration. "I left her with Aiko!"

  "Err, well. . .I couldn't just stand around." Aiko walked up behind them, looking a little embarrassed. "So I kinda sorta explained everything to her in a rush. . .and Capri didn't mind. . .so I just. . .Everyone, I'm sorry!" Then she held out her hand in front of her face hopeful for forgiveness.

  "I'm reporting both of you to the authorities via eternal zero. Irresponsible use of underage wyrds has got to be a crime." Shiori waved her finger.

  "All of you seem really at ease, but isn't that your friend lying on the ground?" Mrs. Kouno asked the assembled army.

  "Don't worry about him." Chiharu smiled back at her. "Ever since Rei got here, his time hasn't moved a second forward. We'll wait here until the ambulance arrives. I guess the birthday cake is out, though." Chiharu sighed, looking at the deserted fair grounds.

  "And the Ferris wheel." Shiori sighed. That particular attraction lay in a crumpled heap of beams and pylons.

  "Who wants to tell Kotone Masanori's back in the hospital?" Chiharu asked. Strangely, all eyes turned to the lone remaining man in the group.

  "All right, all right. I'll tell her." Isao sighed. This hadn't been a good week.

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