Chapter 9 – Together we fall

Smell of burnt chicken can be smelled as the burning tengu falls from the fireballs of Tala and Amihan. Kislap and Kulog are trying their best to hold of the swarm of tengus above. The crewmen below are also clashing their swords below deck from the tengus that infiltrated their ships.

Jasmine looks toward Juan and Leshin as they dodge Yokoshima sword and gust of winds. A strike from Leshin's spear manages to get close to Yokoshima but easily flies away to dodge it. Juan, ignoring his wounds, leaps to the air and tries to strike to Yokoshima but he uses his fan to blow Juan back. Juan lands on his back and more bloodied before as more cuts manage to get him.

Jasmine hides at the corner hoping that no tengus can harm her. She reaches for the book and gets ahold of the leather bookmark. Just as she was about to ask for the figure to appear, the lady appeared in front of her. "Hey, I need your help here. You gave me strength to fight of the devil's tentacle and I manage to hold him. Can you give me that same power? I need to help my friends".

The figure sits on the corner with her. "The power that the White Chronicle gave you is me, to defend you from physical harm." The figure says with her soft voice. Jasmine nods. She understands that the book gave her defensive powers but no offensive ability.

"Wait. If I jump directly toward the wind or anything harmful, will you block it? I mean if your defensive power comes from my confidence, you can surely block anything physical harm on my way." Jasmine cocks her heard to the lady. She hopes that her question will give them the fighting chance against Yokoshima.

The lady shook her head in disagreement. "I said defend, not walking into an attack that will result you to your death. There's a difference between being confident and being stupid." Jasmine understands what the figure meant – she is a manifestation of her confidence and this lady will be her armor when there's a direct assault on her.

"Can't you redirect that power? I want to cast magic as they do. I want to help!" Jasmine pleads but the lady gave her no answer. She stares back at Jasmine and she shook her head once more. "The White Chronicle will decide that. I am but a servant of it and you at the same time."

Yokoshima rushes forward to attack the wounded Juan but Leshin block the swings with his spear. Juan uses his magic to cast illusions of him in an attempt to confuse Yokoshima while he is distracted by Leshin. Yokoshima flies back and Leshin disengages.

Yokoshima praises Leshin from managing to block his attacks. "No land dweller has withstood my blows!" Leshin readies himself for another attack "And should I be honor by the words of a stupid bird?"

This insult manages to enrage Yokoshima. When looked around him, he is surrounded by 10 Juans. He anger fuels his hands. He uses his fan and generate a huge gust of wind that swipe the area. The huge winds blow the illusions off the ship and only leaving the real Juan clutching on the mast.

Leshin yells to Amihan "Hey Amihan! I got an idea. Can I use your ship? I need it to defeat this huge bird! I promise I will be gentle with her" Amihan shouts back in agreement "As long as you fix her after this mess, we are good!"

Leshin looked at the scattered wooden animal carvings of Amihan lying on floor beside Gil and Atlas. He crouches and uses his magic. The wooden carvings came to life. They started to run around in circles and leap beside Leshin.

Juan sees this and laughs "Hey! You're borrowing my magic. Okay, I'll be the bait for the stupid bird!" Juan exchange blows with Yokoshima while insulting him with bird puns. This angers the tengu more and more that he forgot Leshin and the other guardian.

"This is why Lord Orochimaru wants you dead. You witty insults won't save from him! You are a nuisance! A kid who pretending to wield a sword." Yokoshima yells to Juan as they fight each other around the deck.

"When did the leader of the Tengu Clan called Orochimaru his lordship? Did the tengu's pride dropped because Orochimaru's promise?" Juan asked as he parries the kiri-tengu from Yokoshima.

"No Jiraiya, he manages to acquire power. Power that we yokais can rally to and rule this continent under his protection!" Yokoshima then kicks Juan in the stomach. Juan rolls to the ground groaning in pain. Yokoshima flies to Juan with his sword overhead. His strike will be the last, he intends to cut off Juan's head and carry it as a trophy. His wings carry him as fat as they could. His bloodlust is getting the better of him. His anger fuels him.

Yokoshima's bloodlust was immense that it blocks his senses. He failed to notice the approaching reinforcement. A wooden bear leap from behind and attacked him. The wooden bear began to pin him down as 4 more wooden animal came to attack Yokoshima. Wooden creatures that Leshin manage to bring life with his magic and the woods from Amihan's ship gave them life. The lion bites off the armor off Yokoshima, the coyote gnaw on his mask, the huge snapping turtle break starts to crush his wings, and the anaconda and the bear work together to hold the tengu down.

Yokoshima raises let a loud roar. The tengus above began to form into one formation. The tengu meld into a huge mass and once the tengu finished their formation they formed a huge tengu claw on the sky.

Yokoshima yells in a foreign language. Those words happened to be understood by Juan and Jasmine. "He is going to smash the ship!" Juan yells the other guardians. "He will rip us if we don't do something. Kislap and Kulog do something!" Jasmine yells.

Amihan looks at the tengus from above and asked Tala to stop. "She isn't ready but I must end this now. Tala, give me the biggest fire you can create." Amihan flies in the air and stretches her hands toward the sky.

"Kislap and Kulog, support me. Pour thunder and lightning to my winds. Don't let up!" Amihan closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Her mind went blank and thought of her weapon came to her mind. Then she utters "Ginunting, hear my call and give me the winds you gathered."

The clouds above her dropped a short sword and her hands closed to catch her sword. As she catches it, huge winds began to gather on her vicinity. Storm began to form and tornadoes start to swirl. Huge clouds formed above her and large gust of winds encircle her.

While Amihan was preparing her attack, the huge tengu claw manages to hit the ship and ripped a segment of deck open and exposing the hull of the ship. The other guardians are safe but the crewmen below the deck were killed instantly by the claw.

The claw also manages to kill some of the crewmen that supplies magic to make the ship fly. The ship began to tilt on one end and began to lose its altitude. Leshin runs toward Jasmine uses his magic and manipulate the wooden floors to tie him, Jasmine, Juan, Atlas and Gil to the ship. The five animals are still attacking the Yokoshima and prevent him from escaping.

Yokoshima wings began to bleed. His body is crushed by the weight of the bear and snake. He began to spout blood from his beak and his wings are still being crushed by the coyote and turtle. He struggles more but the lion bite whatever limb that moves. He starts to yell curse at Leshin and Juan. His curses fell to deaf ears as the guardians are busying staving off the tengus.

As the ship descents the claws is relentless on its attack. More and more crewmen dying and the ship began to break. Amihan can be seen flying down from the sky. Storm, tornado and winds follow her. On her right is Tala flying with a huge fireball that is a size of a mountain. On Amihan's left, huge lighting streak is beside them.

Amihan shouts. "Leave my ship alone!" then she points her sword toward the claw. Hundread tornados began to swirl around the claws and merged into one big tornado that sucks the claw in it. Tala then hurls the huge fire ball to the tornado. Kislap and Kulog, as living lighting and thunder, rides the tornado like surfing on tsunami. They launch their thunder and lightning inside the tornado and mixing their elemental powers with Tala's fire.

The huge elemental tornado began to burn every tengu it manages to suck into it. Amihan uses her sword to guide the path of the tornado. The tornado eats up every tengu remnant she spots in the air and destroys them.

After using last of the Ginunting's stored wind power, she sheath her sword on her waist and the four guardians land of the falling she. Amihan uses her own magic to fuel the ship and soon the ship slowly began to stabilize.

"Phew! Glad that's over." Juan says as the wooden floor let go of their grasp on them. He looks around and sees Gil and Atlas are still passed out. Leshin assist Jasmine on getting up and he walks toward the Yokoshima on the floor. Beaten and bloody, the bird keeps on spouting curses at them.

One of the crewman shouts from within the hull. "Nice catch Captain! The ship almost crash on the island below." Tala flies on the edge of the ship and sees the trees almost hitting the ship. They would surely hit the ground and crashed if it wasn't for Amihan.

"Is this the island Juan?" Tala asks as she flies back towards the group.

Juan ignores Tala and look at Yokoshima struggling to break free while he shouts profanity at them in his foreign langue. Juan looks at the defeated Yokoshima and listened. "Hey Juan! I am asking you a question. Stop ignoring me." Tala demands Juan to answer her.

Jasmine also hears Yokoshima and somewhat understands the language he is speaking. The power of the White Chronicle also makes her multi lingual? She asked to herself but her attention and Juan are being drawn by Yokoshima words.

"You fool! You are all fools! You landed at the island now Orochimaru knows you are here." Yokoshima yells. Juan speaks in the same foreign language and asks Yokoshima what he knows: How did Orochimaru gain power after he was exiled? Where is he and where is Lady Tsunade, Juan's friend on this island.

"My clan was assigned to prevent anyone entering or leaving this island. You will soon die, just like your Tsunade. Locked up in her castle and soon Orochiamru's army will overwhelm her littler rebellion" Yokoshima says as he laughs. And he laughs louder and louder.

Then another huge swarm of tengu appears. From the distance and began to fly towards their ship. "What?! Another tengu army?" Leshin shouts as she spotted them.

"I guess that answer my question" Tala says sarcastically to Juan.

"Damn it. Why those birds just won't go away? I killed more than I can count!" Kislap asked his sister. "I agree, no matter how many we will kill their ranks are being replenished by another batch of tengus" Kulog replies to her brother. Both siblings are panting from exhaustion and sweats are pouring down their faces. Tala and Amihan flies down the mast and regrouped with the others.

Juan turnaround and walk toward Amihan. "Amihan, I know where we can land. A little further more to the north. See that mountain at the distance? On the other side of it is my old land that I let my old friend to manage it. I'm sure Tsunade have magic to help us ."

"Guys, keep me safe. I will try to land this ship on a suitable. Tala can you help me fly this ship? I am almost out of magic to energy the ship". Tala stands beside Amihan and she uses her magic to support flying the ship steadily.

The huge crowd of tengu began to race towards the ship. Pieces of wood, barrels and other stuff from the ship began to fall as the holes on the ship begin to break and give way. The crewmen prepare their selves for another assault on the ship.

While the other guardian are catching their breath or preparing for the fight, Jasmine approaches Yokoshima. The tengu is tired and he knows he is defeated. The wooden animals still pinning him on the ground and are still on him just in case he tries to escape.

"Ah the Chronicler came to grace me with her presence." Yokoshima mockingly says.

"I got one question for you Yokoshima. Why do the Orochimaru hate Juan so much? His minions tried to kill him twice now and I'm sure they won't rest until they kill him."

"Juan? Another name by Jiraiya to mask himself I guess."Yokoshima paused for a moment. Gathering his thoughts and continues "Chronicler, Jiraiya came to this land as a teacher. His vast wisdom helped the young minds to develop into good leaders. The lords of this land consulted him for his insight and soon they enjoy Jiraiya's company and asked the royal family to bless him as a citizen of the islands. Eventually the King and Queen agreed but to be realized as a formal citizen he must marry a woman from this land."

"Tsunade was the one destined to marry Juan and he refuses I presume? I heard her name a while ago . . . "Jasmine asked and Yokoshima nods.

"Yes, Tsunade was the woman chosen by the King to marry Jiraiya but he declined. Tsunade wasn't deterred and still advance her feelings for Jiraiya. This angered Jiraiya's old student Lord Orochimaru."

Jasmine held her the White Chronicle close as the magic within began to rumble and write the things the tengu told her. So this is all caused by a love triangle. I didn't know Juan was a ladies' man. . .

"Lord Orochimaru was in loved with Tsunade but her feeling is fixed on Jiraiya. If Orochimaru can't have her, then she will force her. Orochimaru kidnapped Tsunade but Jiraiya manage to save her. Disgrace by the actions of his old pupil, Jiraiya exiled Orochimaru from his lands. News about this reached the other lords and they decided to exile Orochimaru as well."

"So he came back wanted revenge. I got that but I was wondering how did exile manage to convince you and the onis to work with him?" Jasmine asked then she heard cawing sound as another group of tengu approaches their ship.

"Lord Orochimaru gained power and in power I believe. The onis are tired of guarding the underworld and the tengus are tired being assigned as messengers. We are destined for glory! Not some mere tools by the King and Queen!"

The ship shakes and the tengu began attacking the ship from both directions. Jasmine was carried away by Leshin and was posted back to the corner of the deck. "Stay here Chronicler. I will defend us."

Leshin uses his magic and made the wooden floors move and slam the tengu from the air. The intense shaking wakes up the two sleeping giants. Gil and Atlas stands up and look around them.

"Woah! What did we miss?" Gil asked the other guardians. Then he sees the large tengu soaring around them as the ship flies above the tree and racing its way toward the mountain.

Atlas twists his neck and claps his face. "Alright, I am wake and ready for round two!" he walks toward the mast and looked at Leshin. "Hey Leshin, you can manipulate wood right? Can you fix broken mast?"

Leshin looks at Atlas and replies "The mast isn't broken but it depends on the damage. Why?"

Atlas smiles and tore the mast. He swings the mast like a baseball bat and swats the tengu off the air like flies.

"YOU BRUTE! MY SHIP!" Amihan yells at Atlas and she demands Leshin to fix the mast.

"Hey! It wasn't me!" Leshin yells.

Gil then tore the two smaller mast of the ship and uses it just like Atlas uses his. "I can play that game too! Come on Atlas! Let us destroy these birds!"

"YOU IDIOTS! DON'T TEAR MY SHIP! LESHIN YOU BETTER FIX THIS!" Ahiman angrily yells as her armor changes color to intense red and the leaves on her armor changed from lush green to autumn red. Leshin is confused why he is to blame about this.

"You started to use your wood magic you idiot! This is why girls left you!" Tala adds.

Kislap and Kulog have exhausted the last of their magic and revert back to their normal selves. They might be tired but they won't back down from a fight. They leap between the wooden pillars that Leshin made to move and then slam every tengu they came across.

The guardians and the crew fight off the birds as hard as they could. As they approach the mountains Juan orders Amihan and the crew to launch the ship over the mountain.

"Everybody hand on!" Amihan shouts as she starts to expend her last magic to make the ship fly higher. Amihan, Tala and the crew uses the last of their magic to rise above the mountain.

Juan yells "Over there! Land near the castle! I'm sure they already seen us at this point after the huge magic show we done."

Amihan and the crew lost control of the ship and they began to slide on the mountain toward the huge Japanese castle beside. As they look behind them, the tengus are still following them.

"Is this how we are going to die?!" Jasmine says as she holds on to Leshin.

"Together we fall but we will not die my Chronicler." Leshin's magic began to morph the ships's hull and bow to a smooth surface. The ship began to slide across the ice of the mountain as the tengu still case them.

Atlas and Gil was busy hitting the tengus but they seem to notice that the tengu began to fall one by one. They began to stick to the ice, atop the trees and to the ground. The other also sees this too as the tengu began fall to the ground.

Leshin began to brace the ship with his magic as they approach the rocky edge of the mountain. Then noticed they are sliding smoothly. Leshin and other guardians are confused by this.

Juan smiles and sits on the deck "Snail magic. They were hit by the sticky webbing."

The tengus knows they must stop the chase as they enter enemy territory – Lady Tsunade's land. The sky clears and the ship is still sliding toward the castle. Juan says to Leshin not to worry, the oil guides the ship to slide on a safe land.

And just like Juan says, the ship slides to the outskirts of the castle and they were greeted by another army wearing red armor just like Juan wears. Juan asked the group not to worry as he will speak for them.

The army approaches them and their bows are aimed towards the ship; the commanding officer of the army step forward and yells "Identify yourself! This is the castle of Lady Tsunade! This is your only chance."

Juan steps out of the broken ship and approaches them in his red armor. "Is this how you greet your old friend Kento? I can't believe you are an officer now!" Juan laughs as he raises his hand.

The man looks at Juan and his eyes widen "Master Jiraiya? Is that you?!"

"It's me my friend! And here's your reinforcement against Orochimaru. I hear the bastard is back and giving you guys a hard time." Juan replies as he signals the other guardian and crewmen to come out.

Kento signals his men to lower their bows and asked one of his men to return to Lady Tsunade and tell her Jiraiya is back. He shouts toward his men and yells "Its Jiraiya! Master Jiraiya is back to help us!"

The men cried and celebrated. Their cheers are the loudest thing Jasmine heard. From monster yelling and trying to kill them, from the thunder and storm of the sky, nothing is louder than men rejoicing at a sight of their hero.

"Yeah, I'm popular here. Told you I was traveling around the world." Juan looks at Jasmine.

"What about Yokoshima?" Tala asked. "We should just kill him"

"No, we take him with us for information. I need every information from him so I can liberate this island from Orochimaru grasp" Juan replies.

"So this is Japan right?" Jasmine asked as she identify the kanji writing of the banner.

"Japan? What's that?" Juan replies.