Reset Chain: Jump 8 - Imawabi No Dakini

So, full disclosure, I had very little to no idea what to expect from this setting when I picked it. I had never even heard of this place until I was searching through the Jump Documents at random for... well, a bit more power. The encounter with Bill and my inability to settle matters with him permanently had left me slightly depressed and a little on edge. The reoccurring dreams did little to help matters.
	In any case, the memories Raven and myself were given this time around were pretty sketchy on the details. I was apparently a NEET sponging off his older sister, who was a wage slave for one of the larger banking corporations. There were vague memories of a mother and father who had disappeared overseas years ago and never returned or given any hint of still being alive. At least there weren't any painful memories tucked in there to plague us.
	Raven quits her job almost immediately. We consider keeping up the subterfuge, but dismiss it rather quickly. It's not like we need the money and it would only distract from our own issues. Or, more accurately, my issue of wandering off down abandoned back allies and into dark construction sites at night. My “Master” and my own out-of-Jump powers will ensure I'm not defenseless, but Raven feels compelled to keep a trace on me anyways.
	Wakana and Yamato are certainly an interesting pair and I am sure the Coordinator picked them specifically to suit our needs. A few of their off-hand comments confirm that He was rooting around their kind looking for two willing Ayakashi. At least getting along with them proves fairly easy once we all get used to each other.
	We spend a week or two getting settled in, training with our new abilities, and trying not to draw too much notice. Raven and I quickly adopt a nocturnal sleeping pattern to allow more time with out Ayakashi. It was a big change, at first, but I have always been more of a night owl and an early bird. Even 20 years in the Avatar world couldn't drive that out of me. I did come to miss the sun after a while, but it seemed a small price to pay.
	I do take up the habit of wandering the streets in the early hours of the morning. The quiet, stillness that descends over a town in those few hours before dawn is almost peaceful. The lighted vending machines silently attempting to entice me into dropping a few coins in their slots, watching the neon of the city flicker out one by one as the night life slipped into unconsciousness... it was hauntingly beautiful and I found myself enamored with the atmosphere. The only crack was the fact I knew creatures paced through the shadows on the prowl for tasty prey. It was only the middle of my second week before I saw the first one.
	 A scream rent the night only a few streets away, close enough to ring in my ears and send a shiver down my spine. A young woman dashed under a streetlight half-naked with crimson dripping from one dangling arm. Close on her heels was a Hitogata, monstrously tall, mouth hanging open in three sections as a tongue that looked more like a python than anything else reached for the girl.
	For several heartbeats, I simply stared at the scene in horror, but the words of a certain dark-skinned hero of the past came to mind and I launched into action. Wakana wordlessly slipped into our fused form. Black feathers crawled out from under the skin of my back. Cloth ripped as wings sprouted, unfurled, and caught the air. Black shadows clung to my shoes as I lifted off the ground, coalescing as long, wickedly pointed clawed feet. Raven had described the effect as “unsettling” and compared me to a demon out of nightmares.
	At the very least, the Hitogata seemed to agree when we caught up to it. The young woman took one look in my direction and promptly passed out. That simplified things.
	The fight itself was quick, brutal, and bloody for both sides. I had intended to stick to the powers granted to me by Wakana initially. It was my habit, a little self-enforced depowering to force myself to get used to my new powers. Unfortunately, I had not counted on the sheer resilience of my foe. Apparently the bastard had been feasting for quite some time. Despite my radically increased ability to take damage and the element of surprise, the fight ended with my left leg crushed, but the Hitogata dead. Raven wasted little time appearing from the shadows to heal my leg.
	After a few weeks of random hunting, I realize we need a little more organization to our actions. We can't just be wandering around killing the Hitogata that wander by. They have to be coming from somewhere. So a little bit of digging around on the internet reveals this world is far, far stranger than I had even given it credit for. But there's a mountain a few towns over that seems to be at the center of a lot of these rumors, especially because a number of people disagree on it actually existing.
	So we take a field trip.
	As we arrive, the Ayakashi start complaining that they're having a bad feeling about all this. There does seem to be a sinister atmosphere hanging about the town as we walk the streets. Quiet is not the right word for it. It felt as if the whole town was holding its breath, waiting, praying not to be noticed. I shivered and forced us to hurry towards the mountain.
	We arrived to find the stairs and shrine above cloaked in thick, white fog that looked all but tangible. Everything past the first few Tori was completely obscured by the mist. Combined with the utter stillness of the world around us, the effect was unnerving enough to make me consider turning around. Raven mentioned that there was an odd smell in the air. She described it as “a dog covered in blood”. I rather wished she had not mentioned that.
	Up the stairs I went, blood pounding in my ears, every nerve taunt. Raven followed behind on silent feet. I could feel her own anxiety, feat, and tension. The whole affair brought back memories of our time in Fallout. Killing people over a few cans of food, sleeping with one eye open for raiders sneaking up in the night. For a moment I tasted heavy metals on my tongue again. I shook my head and forced my thoughts away from that line.
	The mist thinned suddenly as we reached the top of the stairs and revealed a screen straight out of the pages of a manga. A massive canine creature stood watching as a mass of fox tails with... hilts? Yes, sword hilts were definitely poking out of the ends of each tail. The sound of conflict could be clearly heard, violent blows being exchanged on the other side of that ball of tails. I realized, with a start, that I knew those tails, had seen them just a few weeks ago. A picture on the Jump Document, a shark-toothed girl with an elongated tongue had been shown with tails like that.
	At least I knew which side I was going to be on.
	The giant dog creature turned its head, nose flaring as our scents drifted through it through the damp air. It was missing an eye, blood still dribbling down its face.
	“More interruptions? That's it, I've had it with being denied meals. I'm eating you two.”
	It snapped one hand out, catching up Raven and enveloping her in its massive paw in a burst of speed that seemed impossible for one his size. A quick snap of its jaws seemed to be all it would take for my best friend to be devoured. I cried out in alarm, only to have it overrode by a roar of strangled pain from the beast itself. Blood sprayed from between teeth. A hunk of flesh hit the ground a short distance away in a splatter of blood. A tongue. The beasts tongue, ripped up by the roots. Raven landed near it, covered from head to foot in crimson that quickly darkened. It tried to scream at us, but now lacked the anatomy to do more than gargle on his own blood.
	Yamato, the Gem Dog, gifted Raven with crystalline armor that shifted and molded itself to meet the needs of the moment. It never slowed her, never hindered her, and seemed embedded into her nervous system. His powers were not limited to defense, as the armor could be shifted into sharp edges and stabbing points with a thought. Crude, but clearly effective as the massive tongue demonstrated.
	The action had caught the attention of the others on the shine's grounds. The mass of tails had turned to the side, revealing what appeared to be a situation rapidly going badly. A blonde man was laying beaten and bloody on the ground in front of a man wearing a fox shaped mask. The spirit, for that is what she had to be, was cradling an unconscious young man in her arms protectively.
	“I'll take Snappy here, if you think you can take the masked menace.” Raven quipped, slipping aside as the monster launched itself in her direction.
	“Always taking the easy jobs.” I shot back before slipping between its legs, quick stepping the short distance to the fox spirit. She glared at Wakana and myself suspiciously but didn't immediately move away. That may have had more to do with the boy still unconscious in her lap though.
	“Don't worry, I'm here to help.” I said with a smile, stepping in front of them. The man in the fox mask seemed confused at this turn of events.
	“How... did you two get in here? I thought I'd locked that door.”
	“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
	“No matter. Step aside. This matter does not concern you.”
	“I think I'll stay. That was a lot of stairs to walk up after all.”
	“Very well. One more fool to put down.”
	In a heartbeat he closed the gap. There was no time to think, only react. His hand cleaved towards my chest bur my wings cupped the air and pulled. He snagged my ankle as I tried to gain height. I clawed at his arm, gained my release, only to feel a blow to the midsection. Pain was dulled by adrenaline. I corkscrewed in the air around his slashing leg. Blood spilled. A long gash had appeared on his shoulder. Feathers crumpled in his grip and the ground rushed towards my face. The other wing flapped, aided by a gust of wind, reversing the throw. He flew through the air to slam into the leg of a nearby Tori.
	The entire exchange took less time that it did to write and cost far more effort. He was good, whoever he was, but he was no Amon or Ranma. I banished such thoughts as I waited for him to gather himself up.
	“You can't kill him!” The fox spirit suddenly shouted. My eyes snapped away from my opponent for just a moment in surprise. I looked back to find a pair of fist sized rocks heading towards my face and chest. Dodge the first, bat second one away, avoid the charging fist, block furious jabs, duck under spin kick, uppercut into knee joint then dance backward. I spared another glance over my shoulder as the masked man howled over his broken bones.
	“If you kill him, we'll be trapped here forever. He's the master of this realm.”
	“I don't think he's going to let us just walk out of here in any case. Ideas?”
	“Just one, if these two would hurry up!”
	That remark confused me, but a fresh crunch of bone told me the masked man had reset his leg. The fact he was only limping told me just how tough the bastard was. Time to take off the kid gloves.
	Wakana, eyes.
	She said nothing, as was her norm in battle, but I could feet the force building just behind my eyes. Others would see hers fill with yellow light before my own does the same. This was the “Broken” aspect of her abilities. It allowed me to see the best avenues of attacks, possible weak spots on my opponent, as well as heightening my vision in general. The catch is that the information provided started very general and only grew more specific as I fought the opponent. Wakana had described it as a mix of mystical insight and applied intelligence.
	“Aaaahhhh... thank you.”
	And just like that, my enhanced vision was gone. The yellow tinge to the world flickered like a light going bad, then died. The red lines and points suggesting possible points of attacks or weaknesses blinked off as if a switch had been thrown.
	Wakana?
	I don't underst... Watch out!
	The moment of confusion and distraction was quickly used to the advantage of the masked man. Yellow light glowed out from behind the porcelain. Flat palmed strike towards the face, false fall backwards, roll to the side followed by kick impact to the hip. Suddenly I was accelerating towards the shrine, fingernails breaking as I try to arrest my momentum. I land against something wooden that crumples under the impact. Vision spinning, pain lancing up my spine, I struggle back to my feet.
	Everything seems to freeze for a moment. Time just... halts in between seconds. My vision goes crystal clear so I have a perfect view of the masked man with a sword in his hand, blade slashing through three of the fox spirit's tails. The hilt matched the other eight still buried in fur. Her face was contorted in shock, just on the edge of transforming into intense pain. The boy in her lap had his eyes open now, hands gripping two different hilts. Raven was diving away from a bloody heap of flesh in an attempt to intervene, but was no where near close enough.
	Reality having ensured that it had burned that moment of time into my memory, it resumed. I tried to shake my head clear to no avail. People were screaming. Two in rage, one in pain. Warm wetness splashed across my eyes, stinging and tinting everything red. I hissed and wiped furiously, whispering the words to a healing spell. Wakana was trying to talk to me in my head but the connection was fuzzy until the healing kicked in.
	…n! This is bad!
	Can't see!
	It felt like hours had passed before my eyes were finally working again, but the battle was still raging on. Minutes, at most. The masked man still had a sword in hand, eyes glowing yellow, as the young man with two swords swung wildly. Raven danced around the two, forced to pull many of her attacks as the masked man maneuvered the young man to be his unwitting shield.
	Eyes!
	But... I...
	Try anyways!
	The force came struggling into place behind my eyes. Like a reluctant child pulled into line by an exasperated mother. Then it snapped into place, a rush of information flooding my senses. All the data he had gathered fighting myself, Raven, and the boy was there. I did notice the light flickering out from behind the mask. Finally, things were turning in our favor. The universe detected that thought the instant I had it.
	The young man's left hand flew away into the bushes.
	You know what I learned in the next few moments of combat? No martial artist is ever prepared for his opponent to slip a laser pistol out of their sleeve and melt their hand to ash. I didn't even attempt a second shot, not that it was needed. The instant he turned to glare in my direction Raven drive a spike through his chest. A moment later, a sword found its way rather clumsily through the left eye hold of the mask.
	The body slumped to the floor, thankfully lifeless. I stared at it for several long moments just to be sure. When it failed to stand back up, twitch, or even flail, I turned to the more pressing matters of keeping people alive. The fox spirit had turned into a young girl in the moments of the fighting, her right arm laying a short distance from the rest of her body. It was a struggle, but Raven and I managed to stabilize both of them and the older blonde man. The severed limbs we couldn't save. Our magic had grown, but healing had never been a specialty for either of us.
	In the midst of all this, a creature burst out of the ruined flesh that had been the dog monster. The Wooden Cat and Miike, we soon learned. At least she was smart enough not to mistake our attempts to save the young man, Fushimi, and woman, Toume, as anything but what they were. The fox spirit was Dakini and was apparently possessing Toume as part of some deal struck between the three. An Ayakashi, like Wakana and Yamato, if far more independent of mind. Miike was blunt with her explanations but managed to compress a lot into a few words.
	Breaking back out of the locked shrine dimension, or whatever you want to call it, proved to be difficult, but not impossible. It had been decades since I had used any of my Spirit Realm related powers from our time in the Avatar worlds, after all. I was bound to be a little rusty. Eventually I was able to punch a very messy hole through the master's control and back into the real world. I dumped everyone though, quite literally, before sealing the hole behind us.
	Raven and I slipped away as paramedics came pounding up with steps. Not that they needed their attention anymore, but perhaps they could find a way to reattach the arm and hand.
	“Well... that could have gone better.” Wakana chimed in as soon as we were bedded down in a hotel, several hours before dawn.
	“Yes. But at least we were able to help.” Yamato muttered.
	“It really didn't feel like we did much beside muddy the waters.” I complained, hissing between words as Raven pulled splinters and chips of wood out of my back.
	“At least you weren't forced to take a literal blood bath.” Raven shot back, still streaked with crimson. Water Bending had taken care of the worst of it but her clothes were still ruined and she would need a shower before she could sit anywhere without ruining the furniture.
	“I do think we helped though.” Yamato insisted again.
	“Two crippled main characters and the fox spirit binding them together probably out of action for a while? I don't really call that a win. If I know anything about these kinds of worlds, they would have figured their own way out without that much damage.” I nearly yelled the last word as a particularly stubborn chunk of wooden shrine was tugged free of skin. The pain faded quickly under healing magic, thankfully. Tough as I had become, I had never gotten used to experiencing pain.
	My rest that day was interrupted by the need to find Raven new clothes. Wandering around in the daylight felt strange after roughly a month being nocturnal, but the sun felt good on my skin. News was circulating through the town about a cop and two kids who had been horribly wounded up on the mountain there in town. I picked up a newspaper and confirmed that, at least, they weren't suspecting Toume and Fushimi of anything. Based on the damage they were speculating that a group of hooligans was the culprit. Unfortunately, the doctors were unable to save Toume's arm or Fushimi's hand.
	I'd have to apologize for that at some point. If they'd even care to see me after the fuck up.

	As it turns out, they did and seemed far more grateful than I was expecting. We saw them a month or so later and it was more or less a calm meeting. Miike and Dakini had explained the situation and helped the two cope with the loss of their extremities. Toume came out better in the end, possessed as she was Dakini could replace the lost flesh. Fushimi could at least project a sword from the stump of his left hand in battle. I still regretted not being able to help more, but they seemed so grateful I tried not to let it show.
	We spent the next two years in Japan, helping out the quartet root out Hitogata and generally making the urban areas of the country safer. There was little we could do in the country. The monsters were too spread out and incidents too widely spaced for an effective response to be mounted. Maybe if there were more of us, but the most I could do was hand out Airbending via the scrolls, which would only be limited help against the monsters. That said, I did teach it to the police officer, Kanda, so he would be able to defend himself. A few others who were attacked but survived joined onto the team as well, some of them with their own powers, Ayakashi. A Hitogata was even added to the team at one point.
	By that point, Raven and I had determined that the team could thrive without us, so we left to see the rest of the world. We promised to return if we were needed, had a fairly eventful farewell party, and then caught a plane to the United States.
	The rest of our time in the universe was spent wandering and determining that the rest of the world was just as anime. We encountered cults of Skinwalkers in the Midwest of the United States, Cthuluists in New York, a whole city of forgotten Mayan spirits in South America, and even a vaguely Dracula fellow in Transylvania. Yes, I know, there's all kinds of things wrong with that statement, but every time I pointed it out to him the immortal would break down in tears and wail for a few hours about how pitiful his existence is.
	The most eventful year of our stay, besides the early ones, was the sixth. We were in London and spent most of eleven months tracking down a Jack the Ripper copycat. We assumed it was a Hitogata gone rogue or a spirit finally broken free, but in the end we never got an answer. After most of a year slaughtering at least one woman a week and driving all of London into a state of panic, the attacks just stopped. There was one last murder, particularly brutal and gory, then that was it. Like the bloodlust had finally been sated or a goal achieved.
	The lack of answers from the whole affair bothered me, but try as we might we could find no more answers. Even Wakana and Yamato were at a loss. So we moved on.
	Raven and I were more than happy to leave this blood soaked world behind us and move on to something, anything else. Wakana and Yamato came with us, not as mere spirit batteries or 'Masters', but as friends and allies.