“Oh, no, no, no, no!” He heard Takiko moan again. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the New York skyline silhouetted against a night sky, but instead was blinded by the golden rays of a setting sun.
“Ah! What-?” He exclaimed, putting up a hand to shield his eyes.
“Why are we back here?! We still need to find the Chosen’s Earth halves!” Takiko lamented.
“Who’re the-?”
“Taki!” a rough, musical voice exclaimed. A second later, she was yanked out of Matt’s arms.
“Ow!” he heard her yelp. He swung around and saw her nursing her wrist while a tall, wiry young man his own age started towards him.
“What did you do to her?!” the young man growled as he swung his fist at Matt’s face.
Acting quickly, Matt bent his knees slightly so the blow swept past his shoulder. Placing a hand on it, he secured it and thrust his elbow in the guy’s face. The young man fell down with a grunt, blood spurting from his nose.
“Tanuki!” Takiko cried as she ran over to him and knelt down. She shot a glare at Matt, then drew her white dagger and passed it over his nose. It healed almost instantly, blood disappearing and the bone straightening.
“Whoa…” Matt said under his breath in astonishment.
As soon as she was sure Tanuki was ok, she thrust the dagger back into her boot and turned, rising as she did. She stormed over to Matt. “Why did you do that?! What were you thinking?!” she yelled.
“He attacked me first! And anyway, I didn’t-!” He replied, miffed that she wasn’t on his side.
“Didn’t what? Come, finish your sentence!” Tanuki got up and joined the fight. “I doubt you could’ve killed me, anyway.” His hand drifted to the long sword at his hip.
Matt raised an eyebrow. “Hm. Cocky, aren’t we?” his hands clenched into fists as he lowered his center of gravity, readying for a fight.
Takiko, sensing a conflict, stepped wisely in between them, even thought she was just yelling at Matt. “Tanuki, Matt’s a good guy. When I collapsed on Earth, he could’ve left me there, but he didn’t.” she spoke on Matt’s behalf. Then, she turned to look at both of them. “Now shake hands.”
They reluctantly stepped over and shook hands, letting go as fast was polite. “Don’t think this makes us friends.” Tanuki said. “Next time you try something like that, I’ll kill you.”
Matt glared at him. “It’s not as easy as you might think.”
“Hey! Chill!” Takiko said, putting a hand on each of their chests to make them back down. She then turned to Tanuki, removing her hands, but still staying effectively between them. “I think I know why Kenji and I got sent back.”
“Really? Why?” he asked.
“Well, we wired it to send me and Kenji back when we found the Chosen of Soul because we thought that would be the hardest to find, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
She pointed to Matt. “I think it’s him.”
“Whaaat?! There’s no way that a… a shinute siita like him is my other half!” Tanuki exclaimed, his voice full of disbelief.
“Huh? Will someone please explain what’s going on? And what’s a ‘shinute siita’?” Matt asked with a confused look on his face.
Takiko turned to him. “All right, what you saw was a spell. A powerful one. That whole ring-around-the-moon thing was a portal. The spell was designed to send two of the Chosen to Earth, and to bring us back when we had found you. The Chosen of Soul’s Earth half.” She shrugged. “We thought you’d be the hardest to find. Who knew you’d be the first person I’d meet?” Then, she shot a dirty look at Tanuki. “As for the ‘shinute siita’ thing, it’s an insult of the worst kind. It’s Elven for ‘stinking human’.”
Matt glared at Tanuki. “Gee, thanks. It’s so nice to know I’m appreciated.” Then, a thought occurred to him. “Wait, what’s a ‘Chosen’?” he asked, looking back over at Takiko.
“The Chosen are the only people who can visit both Earth; where you live, and Cephiro, which is where we are now; at any level of magic between the two worlds. We are also supposed to restore the balance in the shared magical core.” Takiko explained calmly.
“Whoa, wait, back up.” Matt put his hands up as if to ward something off. “We? I have nothing to do with this.”
“On the contrary.” A tall woman with fiery red hair stepped into the clearing, her red and orange robes whispering against the forest floor. “You have everything to do with this.”
Takiko turned around. “Ah, Rei-chan. Good. Did you hear my theory?”
“Yes. And you are correct.”
“I knew it!” Takiko punched the sky.
“Oh, and I also picked up something of yours on my way here.” The redhead added, walking further into the clearing.
Kenji stumbled after her, rubbing his butt. “Hi.”
“Kenji!” Takiko exclaimed. “You’re here! I thought you were left back on Earth!”
“Yeah, about that…” Kenji looked sheepish. “I kinda ended up in the wrong place coming back to Cephiro….”
Takiko looked confused. “Where’d you end up?”
“Your treehouse.”
“Down in the valley? How in Luna’s name did you get here so fast?”
“Well, Reia helped.” He shot the orange-robed woman a reproachful look. “You’d go fast, too if she was shooting firebolts into your butt every time you went slower than a run. I don’t know how she kept up with my by walking.”
Takiko whooped with laughter, but it didn't quite touch her eyes. “Way to go, Rei-chan!” She cried, slapping a high-five with the mischievously grinning sorceress. Matt couldn’t help but get the feeling that when this woman grinned, it meant she was being exceptionally devious.
“My pain is not a source for your amusement!” Kenji shouted.
“And my treehouse is not to be used as a landing site!” Takiko shot back. Kenji opened his mouth as if to say something, then thought better of it and closed it again.
“Umm…. I still don’t know what’s going on…” Matt said, raising his hand.
“Right!” Takiko whirled around and grabbed his hand, leading him out of the clearing.
“Hey!” Tanuki exclaimed.
Takiko shot him a look. “Calm down.” She looked back at Matt. “Let’s go.” She started walking west, into the setting sun and a thicker part of the forest.
“Where are we going?” Matt asked, looking at the increasingly encroaching plant life of the forest. Having lived in New York all his life, he had never gone anywhere that hadn’t been paved except the baseball fields in Central Park. He had cut through the forests, but those had paths. This experience was something completely new for him.
“Mizuho. I’ll explain everything there.” She answered without looking at him.
“Ok… where’s that?” he asked, tripping over a protruding tree root and nearly falling flat on his face. Tanuki rolled his eyes and muttered something about humans not being able to walk through a forest properly. Matt shot him a dirty look, and Tanuki returned it with extra venom
“Exactly the way we’re going.” Takiko replied with a twinkle in her eye, drawing Matt’s attention back to her. “You’ll see. Now just follow me.”
“It’s not like I have any choice.” He replied, meaning the hand she held firmly in hers.
“Grr….” Tanuki grumbled, following them.
“Well, at least your butt’s not roasted!” Takiko shot at him, making a crack at Kenji.
“Hey!” the ninja said, following the rest of the group. “I heard that!” Takiko laughed, it not quite touching her eyes again.
“Um…” Matt spoke up again. “I know you’re probably getting a bit tired of the questions, but where, exactly, are we?”
Takiko shook her head. “You’ve just been sucked into a whole new world. Of course you would ask questions. We’re on the island of Ro, in the Eastern Sea. I’ll explain more when we get to Mizuho, ok?”
“Ok…” he replied, unsure. But, with her hand warm and reassuring in his, he felt like maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.
