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A New Quest to Find the Genbu no Shinzahou!

Episode 18

Lina was surrounded by a red light. Mitsukake was healing her, restoring her energy after the ceremony and the spell casting. Nuriko hovered over them, fretting, and Chichiri was concentrating his powers on his staff as the other Shichi Seishi returned.

"Hotohori-sama, what happened?"

He turned to Nuriko with downcast eyes. "The boy... his name is Amiboshi... is..."

Tamahome held the flute out. His eyes were downcast. "He's... gone..."

"Amiboshi? What do you mean? Where's Chiriko? That means..." Nuriko was confused. "Then who was playing the grass flute?"

"I was," piped up a young voice from the entryway. A boy of about thirteen years walked in. "I am sorry I could not arrive earlier, but I had many other businesses to deal with." He looked down at the floor.

A red character flashed from his foot.

Stretching.

"YOU'RE Chiriko?" yelled Nuriko in shock. (It was a good day for shocks, apparently.)

"Suzaku-sama... where is Suzaku-sama?"

"He did not come," said Mitsukake sadly, helping Lina to stand up.

Hotohori stared at him in disbelief. "Then... then..."

"Concentrate your ki, everybody!" Lina's command brought everyone's attentions to her. "Let's try this ceremony thing one more time, okay?

"The four directions of the sky,

"The four directions of the earth,

"The protector of the south, Suzaku,

"Come to us physically.

"Please make extinct every kind of evil

"By using your divine powers, protect us.

"Only I wish, please listen to this.

"Please come do to us from the sky!"

They waited expectantly. Something moved from within the flames of the brazier. Lina held her breath.

Taiitsukun's face appeared.

"KYAAAAAAAAAH! SUNAKAKE BABAA!" everyone screamed.

Taiitsukun got a sweatdrop. "Why does everyone insist on calling me that?" she asked herself.

"Taiitsukun! What happened? When's Suzaku showing up?" Lina recovered from the shock the fastest.

"Baka! The ceremony wasn't performed properly, so he can't show up!"

"That means..." started Tamahome.

"We've got to start over!" supplied Lina.

Taiitsukun rolled her eyes. "Baka, you don't have the scroll anymore. You can't summon Suzaku with this ceremony anymore."

"WHAT?" everyone screamed in unison again.

Lina stared at Taiitsukun. Her face was pale. Her eyes were large. Then everything came together and Lina got very, very angry. Her face was red. Her eyes were narrow. "What do you MEAN we can't summon Suzaku?" she demanded, clenching her fist.

"You can't summon Suzaku with THIS ceremony," Taiitsukun explained with the patience that only comes from being the Creator of the world and therefore omniscient about practically everything that goes on in it.

"Then. What. Do. We. Do?" Lina forced every word out of gritted teeth, veins popping all over her forehead.

"You must find the Genbu no Shinzahou. Only with this talisman can you summon Suzaku."

"Shinzahou?"

"Suzaku no Miko..."

"You're not very forthcoming, Taiitsukun," growled Lina.

"Suzaku no Miko, come here."

She did. (After all, who can refuse Creators of the world, even if they are tightlipped?)

Taiitsukun threw some ashes on her. "These are the ashes of the Shijintenchiso. They will grant you a little more power." She looked around. "As for the rest of you..."

Small spheres of glowing green energy appeared in front of everyone.

"A sword!" gasped Hotohori.

"A necklace, na no da?"

Nuriko stared at the bracelets that suddenly appeared in his hands.

"Another tessen? Wait, this one's made of something else... diamond?"

"Medicine?" wondered Mitsukake.

Chiriko blinked as he held a scroll.

Tamahome looked around. "Eh, where's mine?" He looked up expectantly at Taiitsukun and held out his hands. "I'm waiting."

She gave him her personal up-close stare. It became painfully clear that he wasn't getting anything.

As Tamahome scowled in the corner, Lina turned back to Taiitsukun. "That's it then? Find the Genbu no Shinzahou and then summon Suzaku? But what about Naga and Seiryuu? Can they still summon Seiryuu?"

Taiitsukun got a very annoyed look. "Must I tell you everything?" she frowned. "I'm not your babysitter. It should be enough that I've told you what you must do next." And with that, the Creator disappeared into the flames.

Lina puffed up a few fume marks. "Okay, that was very uninformative," she complained. "What in the world was she talking about?"

Hotohori looked down at his new sword. "It's a bit of a story," he sighed. "I suppose we should make ourselves comfortable before I start to tell it."

Lina felt better. Okay, so she felt 1% better after changing back into her normal garb and made sure her headband was secured tightly, but even 1% was better than no percent.

"Please know that this is what I have heard," cautioned Hotohori before he began. "I do not know how truthful they are, but they will give us a start."

"So tell us already!" snorted Tasuki, toying with his new halisen.

He was at the receiving end of a very hard stare by Nuriko. "Please start, Hotohori-sama," said the purple haired man.

The emperor cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right, so here goes. Each country has the legend of a miko coming from another world to save the country. In the north is Hokkankoku, protected by the black tortoise god, Genbu. Supposedly in my great-grandfather's reign, some two hundred years ago, a girl appeared from another world. She gathered the Genbu no Shichi Seishi and summoned Genbu... I do not know what her wishes were, but I do believe they were also having problems with Kutoukoku. It appears that Kutoukoku likes to attack anyone seen as weaker than itself... But I'm getting sidetracked. During the ceremony, she wore a necklace. Genbu endowed this necklace with some powers. If we can get this necklace, the Genbu no Shinzahou, we can use its power to summon Suzaku."

There was a pause after he finished. Lina spoke up, "But what about Seiryuu? Can they still summon him?"

"Think of it this way. If the one who was posing as Chiriko, this Amiboshi, is gone, can they still summon Seiryuu? Not by the usual route, na no da. However, it is plausible that they can still summon the dragon god if they use the Shinzahou, no da."

"Speaking of Chiriko," said Mitsukake, "what did you do to break the spell?" He turned to the young boy sitting next to him.

He ducked his head. "It was simple, really. He used his flute to send his ki out, and his music was part of it. By disrupting the song, it disrupted his ki."

"Hey, where do you come from, anyways?" wondered Nuriko.

"Gomen nasai... I was studying very hard for the government test and when I heard that Suzaku no Miko was searching for the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, well... I..." He looked down at his foot, where his character glowed softly. "I was scared that... my powers, they don't always work, so I thought..."

Tasuki patted him none-too-gently. "That's okay, Chiriko-chan! Let's go find that shindig thingie now, okay?"

"That's Shinzahou," corrected Hotohori.

"Uh, yeah, that thing," agreed Tasuki.

Lina took a deep breath, clamped down the urge to scream bloody murder and cast the dragon slave because things weren't working out, and said, "Yosh! We're off to Hokkankoku!"

Easier said than done.

Again.

Lina was rapidly learning that almost nothing was spur-of-the-moment around these parts. It took the better part of two days to plan the trip. First they had to figure out how to get to Hokkankoku, which included finding a ship to get them across the sea between the two countries. The Shichi Seishi were preparing as well, leaving messages with friends, relatives and loved ones, checking over the things they were bringing, and all that stuff.

It was enough to make Lina scream. So when, early the next morning, everybody heard her yell, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" they paid it no attention. She never worked this way. It was too frustratingly slow to work this way. Lina was the type to pack up her bags and run off at the least inclination just for the fun of it all. She never had a permanent residence, a set agenda or any idea what she would be doing the next day. To be waiting while transportation was arranged had her grinding her teeth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Lina indulged in another scream, sending groups of birds, bees, and bats into flight. Why couldn't they hurry up?

"Lina-chan!" Nuriko poked his head through the doorway. "Come on! We're just about ready to go."

"About TIME!" scowled Lina. She sped out of the doorway, causing a large breeze of wind to follow her.

"Ano..." said Nuriko as he looked at her rapidly departing form. "We're heading that way..."

Lina skidded for 10 seconds, finally came to a halt, turned around, and ran in the direction of Nuriko's pointed finger. This time, she snatched his hand as she passed him and dragged him along for the ride.

"Yaaaaaagh!" cried the Shichi Seishi.

She came upon the group quickly, especially considering the speed at which she was running. Too quickly, in fact. By the time her mind registered seeing the rest of the Suzaku no Shichi Seishi, she was already past them.

Screech! She skidded to another halt, turned around, and waved. "Yosh! Let's go! Ittekimasu!"

Chiriko blinked several times, looking rather nervous. He leaned over and whispered to Mitsukake, "This is the miko?"

Mitsukake nodded sagely. "You'll get used to her," he assured the young boy.

"Oh," said Chiriko, very, very softly.

Lina glanced around. "We're all here, so let's get this show on the road!"

"Just a moment," said Hotohori.

The others looked at him.

"As the emperor of Konankoku, I must stay here and make sure everything is going well with the country. I must also coordinate the army against Kutoukoku. I'm afraid that you must go find the Genbu no Shinzahou without me."

"Hotohori..." blinked the sorceress in surprise.

"Lina... Suzaku no Miko..."

"Eh?"

He gave her a sword. "This is the deity sword Taiitsukun gave me," he explained. "Because I cannot go with you in person, I can at least be of help in spirit. Use it wisely, and remember me while you are away."

"Hotohori," Lina said quietly, accepting it. "I promise you, when we come back we'll have the Genbu no Shinzahou and we'll be ready to summon Suzaku for real, okay?"

He nodded, smiling. "I understand. Now go, Suzaku no Miko and Suzaku no Shichi Seishi. Find the Shinzahou and save Konankoku!"

Lina brandished the sword high in the air. "All right!" she proclaimed. "Now, can we FINALLY get going?"

Continue: Episode 19: Splash! Giant Waves Cause Giant Problems!