Pandora's Box (closed to Reiko)

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal was hanging out in a jewelry store in the remote town of Dahlia. She had been for quite a while now. 3 whole days to be exact. The shopkeeper was a nice man who had agreed to let her stay there for as long as she wanted on three conditions.

1: No stealing anything.

2: No scaring away customers.

3: No heading into the back room.... Ever.

Even though she was new to this whole adventuring thing, Crystal sensed that something wasn't right. The customers were always invited into the back room, and they almost always went into the back room, but they never came back out. The shopkeeper was always telling her that there was a back door, but she didn't believe it for a second. Today was just like any other day. A customer came in, the shopkeeper took the guy into the back room, and they started talking.

Suddenly Crystal felt something pulling her towards the forbidden room and she felt a chill go through her spine. She tried flying against the pull, but without any success. Finally the vacuum type force stopped pulling her in and the shop keeper came out.

"Sorry about that missy, I highly doubt you would understand how unruly the customers can be."

Crystal had had enough, though. Her curiousity finally getting the better of her, She flew straight into the back room. There was no back door. None at all. She turned around and started to head out to confront the guy about it when she noticed a pretty jewelry box covered completely in diamonds. She heard the footsteps of the man coming towards the room. Not wanting to be discovered, Crystal pushed open the lid with the intent of hiding inside, but instead, it sucked her in and tossed her into a world that looked like hell.

Lava was on either side of her and monsters were in front of her. There was a gravel path below her with the dead corpses of a lot of the customers strewn here and there. Suddenly a voice called out to her. It was the man from earlier that day.

"Don't tell me he tricked you too?"

Crystal looked at him confused.

"What do you mean?"

"That man has a sick mind. He tells people that he has a valuable diamand he is wanting to get off his hands for 200 gold, he then takes them into the back room and opens the jewelry box it is supposedly in to show them the diamand. They get sucked into the box and end up here where they end up getting killed by demons... Odd thing is, he never gets sucked in."

Crystal looked him over quickly.

"But you are still alive, right?"

"Yes, but not for long. I am going to die soon, I used all my lifeforce in an attempt to resist the pull, but I wound up here anyway. It is up to you to break out and stop that man."

"But how? How do I escape this place?"

There was no answer. The man had used the last of his breath in an attempt to tell her the situation. A demon came in and tossed her towards the lava. Her wings kicked in at the last second as she started hovering a centimeter from death. Suddenly the lava formed a hand that attempted to grab her in its scorching grasp. She flew back to land as quickly as possible, only to discover another demon waiting there ready to rip her to shreds. She cast 'Crystal Shot' at it and kept going, only to run face first into a huge Cyclops' belly. When she realized what had run into she turned around, only to realize that there were more demons behind her.

"Damn it, I wish I didn't have to die here"
-------------------------

Meanwhile, the shopkeeper closed the box and waited for the next customer / sucker to arrive.

[Reiko]

Ki was once again shopping with her kits. The Radasanth bazaar was close enough to Akashima that if Doji planned right could get there and home within a day so shopping wasn’t too terrible every one in a while. Part of the reason was a nagging little feeling in the back of Ki’s head that she might run into Karuka though it was a distant chance at that.

But still it was a way to get the kits out of the den and Doji could always use a way to get them outside. Chiyo held to her mother’s hand and tugged when she saw a jewelry store. “Hey mommy, can we go in there, the stuff looks pretty?” The little vixen asked and caused Ki to look in the window.

Very expensive, I can’t afford anything from there. Ki looked at her daughter’s shining eyes and smiled. “It won’t hurt to browse but I doubt we can afford anything.”

Ryo looked at the place with bored eyes. “I don’t want to go in. There’s nothing fun in there.” The fox boy groaned as he bristled his tail.

Doji sighed, ”I can’t win.” She looked at Ryo and shook her head. “You can choose the next place ok.”

Ryo thought about continuing to whine but Ki would be stubborn and Ryo would lose his victory. The trio entered the shop, Chiyo’s eye lit up as she went to a display of circlets and earrings, imagining how she could look in the various gems. Ki looked at the display that her daughter was and was a little more pragmatic, though a couple things would look nice on her the price tag was a complete turn off.

The merchant jaunted in on the family, his eyes glared at the foxes as he moved his mouth to say something uncouth but he changed his mind. “Aww perfect, what a lovely mother and fine children. I know people like you have a very tight budget, it happens that I have some discount jewels in the back. I know you think that they’d be worthless but they’re pretty and you can barely tell the flaws. But they have flaws so I can’t have them upfront or chase away connoisseurs.” He led the way to the back and Ki followed with her children. “I keep them in this box.” The merchant opened the box and all hell broke loose.

It was like a hurricane in the store that was sucking up the fox family. Chiyo and Ryo were screaming and crying and Doji grabbed on to them both, she tried to tell them it’s going to be ok but her voice was drowned out.

The trio was flung onto a pile of volcanic pebbles in the middle of a river of molten rocks. There were several dead bodies. Not to mention a few big ugly demons hopping about after some small flying creature. They didn’t notice the kitsunes just yet but after a moment and the kits stirred a couple of the beasts shot powerful stares at the foxes.

“Mommy I’m scared!” Chiyo cried into one of Ki’s tails while Ryo held on to one while shaking.

“Please, stay close to me. I think we can get away some how.” Ki focused on the creature, she could barely make out the human like form on the diminutive body; the poor Fairy was going to die if Ki didn’t do anything. Then there were the charging demons too. “Hey! Little one, come this way!” Ki yelled as she took out the Seikyu, lucky for her Radasanth didn’t have any real weapon controls. The guards were well armed enough to take care of any trouble. Releasing two arrows into the demons legs would slow the beasts down and slow down the others behind them. “This way!” Doji yelled to the fairy then looked down to her kits. “I need you two to run with me.” Doji looked down the bridge and saw a tunnel not to far away, a good hiding place. “Lets go!” Doji ran with her kits towards the tunnel, hoping the fairy wasn’t too far behind. Ki used some illusion magic to make rather fake looking humans towards the monsters, thankfully the dumb beasts went for the easier prey. Ki and her children soon made it to the tunnel, though there was a bit of a jump. Chiyo and Ryo couldn’t make that Kind of Jump, so Ki picked them up, hoped she was strong enough and gambled on a leap of faith that ended happily enough. All three of the kitsunes groaned and whimpered from the bruises that the rough landing entitled.

“Hey mom, what was that little thing, and the big monsters too.” Chiyo asked weakly.

“The little thing was a fairy and the big things are demons.”

“Mom, Why didn’t you fight. I thought you’re a good swordsman.” Ryo complained and Ki sighed while shaking her head. “there were too many of them, running was the only thing that would work. My arrows only slowed the two that hit. We had to run.”

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal was surrounded by demons. There was nowhere to hide, so when she heard someone calling out to her, she didn't hesitate one bit before following the voice.

She flew as fast as she could towards the voice. It seemed the box had claimed another person, though. As she got closer to the cave, she realized it wasn't just one being, but an adult and two kids. Another human almost fell on her as she neared the cave, the only reason she was able to avoid it was that she could hear the man screaming as he fell, eventually hitting the lava.

The lava splashed up above her head and narrowly missed her wing, but she somehow made it through by forcing herself to divebomb into the cave. When she got up, she wiped herself off and looked herself over, her leg was scraped up a bit, but she was fine otherwise. She looked the family over and finally decided she could relax for the moment.

"So, thanks for the help back there, but, who are you?"

[Reiko]

Ki felt some relief to see the fairy fly away from the hord of hulking red demons that simply wanted to devour all that trespassed. However all wasn't happy for soon another guest fell and was stunned. Doji wanted to save the man but there was no way she could with too many monsters than she had arrows had pounced upon him and tore the man apart, thankfully the large bodies made it hard for the kits to see the carnage. Ki could only shake her head as she looked at the fairy, her diminutive stature was hard t make out in the cave. Still the trio could see a beautiful woman though rather small.

"This place is horrible, oh sorry." Ki said as she looked down on the tiny girl. "I didn't want to see him die. I'm Ki and these are my kits, Chiyo and Ryo." The vixen said as she pointed to each one respectively while both were on all fours with their tails swishing in the air as they inspected the fairy. Doji sighed with relief as the two children didn't see the man get killed, the little fairy was more interesting.

"How did you get so small?" Ryo asked as he move a hand to try to touch the sprite and see if she was real.

Chiyo smiled and looked at the wings, "Wow, those are so pretty, I wish I had wings like those and fly."

Doji let the curious kits bug the fey as she looked about, she was sure they were safe at the moment but not for long, sooner or later there would be something fixin' to eat them. And She needed to be ready. "Hey I don't suppose you would know how to get out?" Doji asked as she flattened her ears. She probably didn't know but it was worth while to ask anyways.

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal was sure glad to be in the company of someone who was not already dead, and three someones were even better.

When the kids started asking her questions she answered them the best she could.

"You know, Ryo," Crystal said as she dusted herself off, "We fairies don't get much bigger than this. It's just the way we are." She turned to Chiyo at this point. "Yeah, they are pretty, aren't they? Trust me, though, flying isn't all it's cracked up to be."

When Ki asked her how to get out, she paused.

" I wish I knew. I just know that it is possible, that's all. Still, there is a chance that this cave holds a clue. If you don't mind, I'd like your help exploring this place. My name is Crystal Suncrest, by the way. Oh, and thanks again for the save back there. I thought I was a goner. Now we should get going before.... Fuck!!! Too late!!!"

Two of the smaller demons had noticed them hiding in the cave and had started heading towards the cave with great speed. They looked read and frail, but they were still demons, and soon more joined in the hunt. There were five in total, and Crystal was quick to fire off a few crystal shots, but the demons were absorbing her spells, so she quickly changed her strategy, took to the air, and started weaving in and out of attacks, forcing them to accidentally hit each other.

After taking two down and severely weakening one in this manner, one of them finally managed to swat her towards Chiyo.

"Ow!!! That smarts!!!"

[Reiko]

Ki smiled as she watched the fairy weave to and fro between the imps that ambushed them. The diminutive woman was actually holding her own against the dumb beasts as they did far more damage to each other than the little fairy even to the point that two were dead from their own stupidity. But without the other two demons to get in the way the third was successful in it's attack. Ki moved in front of her children who were not used to battle and were cowering yet she was too late and Chiyo yelped and fell down as Crystal smashed into the young kit's bely.

Doji growled as the small scaled beasty with horns came at her, the thing was dead. The little creature would have no chance against the ronin fox if it as going to fight like that. A simple swipe left a fatal gash on the impish demon and that was it. But this place would have stronger demons, there was always stronger and even ones that Doji would be no match for. But Crystal was right and they had to keep moving.

"Are you ok?" Ki asked Chiyo and Crystal as she pulled up the smaller fox girl and carry her piggy back.

"It hurts..." the little white fox girl moaned as she puffed up her tail, the little fairy coliding with her was pretty bad but it was good that the little fairly landed on a soft kit or some bones would have been broken.

"Well Hold on Chiyo, Ryo you carry crystal, we're going to run again. Stronger demons will be coming."

Doji ran but not at her fastest since Ryo had to keep up, there was more little demons coming, this time a whole hoard that would bury them and the vixen knew that she couldn't hold off that many so she called upon her fox magic o call forth some falling leaves. "Ryo grab hold of a tail so you wont get lost." She then concentrated on an illusion of them running away down another tunnel, this way they would be safe for a little bit.

But there would be more demons up ahead. "I think there's a gate of some sort that we can get out, or maybe a lord of this place who can make a gateway. There's no way we're going to die here if we don't give up." Doji said looking to Ryo who was panting as followed. Chiyo was whining but Ki could not look at her and only offer a squeeze of comfort.

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal wiped herself off as she got up. "Yeah... I'm fine. Just a bit stunned, that's all. Sorry if I hurt the kid, though."

After the creatures started running the opposite way do to an illusion, Ki started giving off theories on how to get out of the hellhole they were in.

After running around the cave for a while, they came to an exit. There seemed to be four towers looming in the distance. Electricity was coming out of the top of the towers creating an electrical field around a floating crystal in the middle. Crystal looked up at it for a few seconds.

"Wait a minute... That looks important. Do you think that that could be our way out?"

Crystal attempted to fly up to take a look, but she didn't get very far before realizing her wing was broken and crashing to the ground.

"OW!!! I guess I am not ok, but I am sure that if we could somehow break that field, we could get home."

The lava started to rise up and create a monster, but Crystal was too quick for it, firing off a crystal shot before it got too big. The monster fell back into the lava with a cry of pain. The cry got the attention of a nearby group of monsters, though. The group included an ogre and three flying imps.

"Can you take the ogre out, Ki? I may be injured, but I can still take the three others on."

Crystal waited for the imps to attack her, and when they got close, She shot a Crystal shot in each wing, sending them spiraling into the lava, one by one.

[Reiko]

“Wow mom, that things so big and pretty!” Chiyo squealed happily as she wagged her tail. “Is that where we’re going to leave?” She asked and Ki smiled at her.

“I’m sure it is.” The Ronin mother answered and silently said I hope. Her tails were swishing too but Ryo growled at the lava. There were some more demons out for their heads and the ambush came with an ogre and several imps.

It wasn’t much since the attack needed surprise for the combination of the imps distracting the group so the ogre could smash them. But the surprise was gone and the flying buggers were dispatched by the sprites magic.

Ki smiled and looked at the ogre. “Don’t worry, I won’t even break a sweat. Kits, stay down and away.” Ki smiled and stood her ground.

Well breaking a sweat was a lie thanks to the extreme heat of the place making Ki’s kimono stick uncomfortably but she wasn’t afraid of the common demon. True the beast could squash the fox girl in its fingers and do worse but it would be slow, too slow to get Ki.

The massive fist came down on Ki as she simply stood still before moving at the last moment and cutting down on the wrist of the beast and slicing through the hand and then she charged up the arm and sliced the throat.

“See nothing much, Chiyo and Ryo, you can come out now!” Doji smiled and put her demon blade away. “Lets see if there’s a switch or something.” She stayed alert since a stronger demon was probably close since this tower was important even if it wasn’t the exit.

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal looked around. There didn't seem to be any switches around, but if the towers were holding up the jewel with an electrical field, then she was sure that there had to be a way to turn it the electrical field off in each of the towers.

Crystal climbed onto Ki's shoulder for the time being. Her wing didn't seem to be too damaged at the moment, so as long as she didn't try to fly, it would heal up eventually, she hoped. In front of them was a narrow path leading to the first tower. The door was closed, but Crystal was pretty sure it was unlocked.

"That way. There has got to be a switch or something in there." Crystal said pointing at the tower.

It seemed odd that the door was unguarded, but she could hear the footsteps of at least 3 creatures inside, so she didn't let it bother her too much. There was one thing that was bothering her though.

"Say, Ki, do either of those two little ones know how to defend themselves? Because something tells me that the danger only gets greater ahead."

[Reiko]

Doji looked at her kids when the fey asked if they could fight. She knew the fairy was right and it was going to be more dangerous. Both Chiyo and Ryo were scared but did their best to look brave but they were scared. “I’m afraid they aren’t really good at battle. I knew I should have trained them but I was hoping their lives would be more peaceful than mine.” Ki admitted as she shook her head.

The tow kits actually started to hide behind ki with 3 horned demons at the mouth to the tower. They weren’t attacking, just making a grin as if they knew the four outsiders would have to go through them to get out of the trap and they were sure that they could win. If Ki took them head on they might win but she had some idea that might help.

Ki smiled at her kits and Crystal. “Watch them, I have a plan but I need to go alone.” Ki smiled though she was afraid, she left the fairy with the kits as she walked up to the demons, all twice her size with great horns and claws, anyone of them could rip her apart with raw strength but Ki went forward. She tired to look calm and not a threat, though she was shaking.

“Um you wouldn’t mind letting us through? We just want to get home? I’m sure there’s some way I can make it your while.” Doji said feeling as if she was being an idiot.

“What you give Ktapa?” One of the horned demons said with a curious look.

“Oh, I dunno.” Ki took another step.

“You are Ktapa’s plaything?” The demon said as his buddies growled.

“Why Ktapa get plaything?” One asked and all three argued.

“Gorba better demon. He get plaything.”

“Tanma have more horns he get plaything.”

Ki smiled that she had her chance she bounded up to one demon and placed a kiss on him, his weak will made the magic take affect easily. “Ktapa love plaything, Ktapa make her happy. Gorba and Tanma only want play and eat her. Ktapa make her happy! Ktapa crush Gorba and Tanma!”

Doji took a step back when Ktapa turned on his friends, rending Tanma in a horrid way; the creature wasn’t ready for the betrayal and died quickly. Ki leapt at Gorba and sliced the throat out of the beast. “Thank you Ktapa.” Ki said as she petted the muscular thigh of the beast, she just needed to show some affection to keep the spell lasting longer.

Ki waved her Kits and Crystal to come. “This is Ktapa, he’ll help us out now.” She smiled as the kits looked wide-eyed at the beast.

“Mommy, how do you make friends so easily?” Chiyo asked.

“He’s so big…” Ryo said before falling silent.

“It’s magic.” Ki smiled at telling the truth though it was sad that being magic it wouldn’t last forever and Ki doubt she could make the beast truly fall in love before the spell wore off and she’d have a dangerous traitor on her hands.

(sorry for the long wait and thanks for your patience)

[Crystal Suncrest]

Crystal was impressed with the way Ki had wooed the demon into helping them, but she knew it was magic and she knew it would wear off. Crystal couldn't help but to be concerned about the fact that she had no clue when it would wear off, but she decided not to say anything at the moment.

Crystal walked towards the first tower when Ki got back. The inside of it looked like an executioners room. There were all sorts of deadly toys like iron maidens, guillotines, and even a bed of spikes on the ground right in the middle of the room. There were no stairs in the tower, but there was an elevater over the bed of spikes. The elevater had holes in it to make way for the spikes. There was a lever amongst all the dried blood on the wall that Crystal guessed would activate the elevater. In the corner next to a skeleton appeared to be a broken blue flask of a liquid that Crystal immediately recognized as a potion. The potion seemed too convenient, and it was because 5 mini-demons jumped out of the woodwork as she healed her wings with the potion and chased her as she flew out the door back to the group.

Crystal had a plan, though. The demons couldn't all fit through the door at once, and she knew it. As soon as she flew out the door, Crystal turned around to find the demons stuck in the doorframe. At this point, it was just a simple task of stabbing her foes in the throat with her fork after blinding them with a crystal shot to each eye.

Afterwards, Crystal turned to Ki and the rest of the group.

"It's creepy in there."