Chapter 2: Spirit Of The Fox, Part 2: Into The Forest

After the light had vanished from the school, it then reappeared in a forest-similar to the one Taju had been dreaming about. segundos after appearing, the light formed into the shape of Taju and the fox--indicating that they had still been inside as it disappeared from the school. The light that surrounded them finally faded, and Taju wanted some sagot out of

"Alright, fox, you know where I live, and where I go to school--what's this all about? What do you want from me?" he asked the fox.

It took him a segundo to remember that the soro couldn't speak to him. Although the feral soro did seem to possess otherworldly powers, he still wasn't able to physically communicate with him. When realizing his efforts to get him to talk was to no avail, he facepalmed.

"Oh, right, you can't speak, but yet you seem to be able to understand me. That makes 0 sense, but who am I to argue with a magic feral animal?" he asked him.

But just then, Taju heard a voice in his head--a familiar voice, like the one from his reacurring nightmare.

"As much power as I have, I still cannot communicate with you. At least not physically. I only posses so much power, unfortunately," the voice spoke, echoing through Taju's mind.

"What the--Who sinabi that???" he asked, being caught off gaurd sa pamamagitan ng this.

"Relax, it's me, right susunod to you..." the voice stated.

He looked over at the fox, and had this creeped out expression on his face.

"Fox, is that YOU.... speaking telegraphically to my brain?" he asked the fox.

"Uh, the word you're looking for is telepathically, and YES, I am..." he stated.

"But how are you?" he asked, but was interupted.

"There's no time for that, you must hurry and transcend quickly. The Transcendance Period is coming to an end soon "the soro explained.

Taju only heard half of what was said. He was too focused on where he was, noticing the similarities between this forest and the one in his dream.

"Hey, this is the same place I've drempt about the past week," he said.

"Yes, yes, but now isn't the time to site see, we must hurry. Now," sinabi the fox

After stating this, the soro ran off further into the woods. Knowing Taju would eventually follow him. And Taju, in fact, follow him, mainlywanting madami sagot out of him.

"Hey, wait a minute, you still haven't explained everything!" he yelled at the fox.

But the soro decided to not answer him, and just kept going. He knew there wasn't much time left, and that Taju wouldn't be too far behind. And while Taju followed the fox, Junichiro was still standing in the school hallway, still trying to process what he just saw. It didn't make any sense to him whatsoever. As he stood there, the teacher came up to him, wondering why he was standing there.

"Junichiro, what are you doing? You should be in class, not standing around, staring at nothing..." she told him.

Juni thought about telling her what he had witnessed, but decided not to. He knew he

wouldn't be taken, and didn't want anyone at school thining he was crazy just for talking

"Oh, um... sorry, I had to use the bathroom and--" he explained, but was cut off.

"Did you find out who pulled the apoy alarm?" she asked him.

For half a second, he was going to say who did it, but chose not to. Which was probably for

"No, Ms. Tsukumo, I guess whoever did isn't here anymore," he told her.

"Fine, now head on back to class," she demanded.

And he did so, not wanting to get in madami trouble. But as he did so, Ms. Tsukumo didn't move. She continued standing right there, looking over at the area of where Taju and the soro had just been. She narrowed her eyes at it, and came closer. Then stood there, as if examining the area where they were. Afterwards; she proceeded down the hallway, headed back to where Juni and the other students were. As soon as she returned to the classroom, she sat down in her chair and started looking at her phone with a worried look on her face. Juni noticed this and asked, "Are you OK, Ms. Tsukumo?"

She looked at him, saying abruptly, "Yes, I'm fine."

After saying this, though, she stood up, and faced the students.

"Please continue what we had learned yesterday, I need to make a call. I'll return shortyly," she told them.

She left the room, leaving the students confused. Juni just sat there, hoping Taju was OK. Wherever he was. Meanwhile, Taju and the soro were still running deeper into the forest, the foxnot wanting to slow down even for a second. Taju started getting out of breath, and started going slower.

"Please stop for a sec!" he shouted.

"No, we're almost there!" the soro declaired back.

"Could you at least explain all this???" he asked.

Just then, the soro stopped running. Taju was relieved, also stopping as well.

"Any tanong you have will be answered if we continue beyond this point," he told him, looking over ahead of them.

Taju noticed this and looked at where he was staring at. But he saw nothing--nothing but trees blocking their path through the forest. Taju was obviously confused.

"Um, fox, are you blind? There's nothing but trees--is THIS all you brought me here for? To stare at trees?" he asked, visibly confused. The soro sinabi nothing, but instead walked over to a puno a few feet from them, and put his paw on it. And in doing this, the leaves on the puno lit up with an unusual rainbow-ish glow. segundos after, the trees that once blocked the way had vanished. And their place, a torii (Japanese gate) was seen materializing. Upon seeing this, Taju stood there amazed.

"Wow, so I guess you've been here before?" he asked him.

The soro nodded, and said, "Yes, this sacred forest has been my tahanan for many years now, ever since..."

He was about to continue, but Taju cut him off unexpected. Taju had noticed footprints near them, to his right. They looked like 3 sets of adult-sized footprints.

"Hey, look, someone beat us here," he explained, pointing directly at the area they were. The fox's eyes widened as he stared at the footprints in fear of them being too late.

"No... that's not possible, only I can gain access to the Kitsune shrine," he explaied.

"Kitsune? But multi-tailed foxes aren't real... are they?" he asked him.

But he didn't respond to his question. After realizing other foxes had definitly been there, the soro rushed through the gate as fast as he could. Taju didn't hesitate to follow along behind him. The soro continued running, knowing that the shrine wasn't too much further ahead. segundos passed, and they both came to what looked like another gate, identical to the first one they say. And just a few feet further down, they saw what looked to be 2 life-sized soro statues, both sitting down with their front paws on the ground. Each soro places on opposite sides of the pathway. And just inches from them, stood the aforementioned Kitsune Shrine. When Taju finally saw it up ahead, he also noticed a different soro statue inside the small shrine. This soro was on 2 legs and had seven tails, as oposed to just one. It also was made to look like it was holding it's right arm upward, as if to be holding something. After seeing the kitsune statue, he instantly thought back to his recurring dream. The soro wasted no time in rushing towards the shrine. Taju quickly followed him.

"Ummm, OK, now what? Is something supposed to happen?" Taju asked.

"Put your hand slightly above the statue's right hand, and wait. The Transcendence process should start immediately," the soro explained.

"What does that even me, though? No offence, but you haven't exactly filled me in on what this is even about, why should I even trust what you're telling me? Again, no offence," he asked the fox.

"You know, the kid has a point, " a voiced stated, coming from behind them.

They quickly turned around, to see an adult female silver soro standing there, sounded sa pamamagitan ng other 2 other foxes, both of which were clothed in all black. Even covering their faces. Taju seemed to recognise her voice, but she didn't look at all familliar. The soro knew exactly who she was, and growled at her. His eyes glowing with anger.

"I see you’re still alive after all these years," she told the fox, giving him a cold glare.

"If you don't leave this place, Airi, you WON'T be..." he told her, speaking telepathically.

"Sorry, but I came for the same thing you did, and I plan on getting it," she stated.

She motioned for the other two foxes to attack-and they did as she told them. They both came at them with swords swinging. The soro dashed out of the way of the attack, and then looked towards Taju.

"Taju, place your hand above the statue's hand! I promise you this is REALLY important!" he shouted at him, urging to trust him.

Taju noded and did as the soro said, while he tried his best to hold them off. The soro started shooting a type of energy blast at the two of them. But just as Taju went to place his hand above the kitsune's hand, Airi began to making her way towards him. Walking rather quickly. segundos after Taju did what the soro said, the kitsune statue's eyes, markings on it began to glow. Not a white color like that of the fox, but a bahaghari color. When seeing this, Taju was surprised. segundos after, his eyes began glowing with the same glow as the statue, And then, a bahaghari light materialize just above Taju's hand, and then finally took the shape of a hexagonal prism. But the moment was short lived. Airi came up behind Taju, holding a gun up to his back, ready to apoy if she needed to. Taju was unaware of what was going on, he was still entranced sa pamamagitan ng the prism, While fighting off the two foxes, the feral soro noticed what Airi was about to do, and his eyes widened.

"TAJU, BEHIND YOU!" he screamed.

With eyes still glowing, Taju turned around rather quickly--the prism still hovering above his hand--and summoned an energy blast similar to what the feral soro did. But this one was stronger. So stronge, Airi was unexpetedly forced back sa pamamagitan ng the blast. Landing on the ground on her side. She looked back at Taju, now realizing he had the prism in his hand. Taju flew upwards into the air. Both his eyes and prism still glowing brightly.