Sonic

Chapter 14
Life as a Shrine Priest and Priestess
Have we done this before?

Emeral and Joe proceeded to their lockers, getting ready to leave school. On the way they past Akane, "Where you guys going? School isn't out yet." she said. Emeral turned around, "An important matter has come up, so we need to leave early." she replied. Akane blushed for a second, "Well, see you tomorrow," she said, "Wait, what happened to your hair?" Emeral blushed and placed her hand on her hair, "That Damn Principle is what happened," she said in an angry voice.

At their lockers, they both changed their shoes, and closed the locker door. Emeral was busy placing her hand around the area where her hair got clipped. Joe looked at her, "Can we worry about you hair after we figure some of this out?" he asked. Emeral blushed and placed her hands in front of her, "Oh, Sorry," she said. Just then they heard a rather interesting rumbling sound coming from Joe. Joe looked at himself why Emeral looked with curiosity. "Been a while, but I think I'm hungry," he said. Emeral giggled, "It's been over 20 years right?" she said.

The two began their journey out of the school, "What do you suppose we should do?" asked Emeral, "We can't just sleep in the park until this is over, like we did last night." Joe nodded, "Now that our human physiology has re-assert itself, we also need to eat, bath, and change clothes," he said, "Since we didn't create ourselves an apartment or house to live in, we need to find someplace to stay." The two were now walking by the Tendo Dojo, "It would be nice to spend time with the Tendos, but I don't think they can handle anymore free loaders," said Emeral. Joe looked up at the sky, which was now turning black, "What about Kalshion's shrine?" he said, "They know who we are, and might be able to board us until our powers re-assert themselves." Emeral nodded, "That might work," she said.

When they got to the shrine, it had already started to rain. Joe and Emeral ran up to the shrine tree to take shelter from the rain. Kalshion's father was in the house, and sensed someone had just entered the shrine. He got off his chair and picked up an umbrella. He opened the door and proceeded to the shine's tree. When he got there, he found Emeral and Joe out of breath. "What's wrong with you two?" he asked. Joe gave a greeting bow, "Sorry to intrude, but Emeral and I have lost our powers," he said. "Lost your powers?" said Kalshion's father puzzled by this, "Lets go inside and talk about this."

Inside the house, he gave Emeral and Joe a good meal, and as they were sitting down, they began to discuss the situation. "A Barrier blocking you?" said Kalshion's father. Emeral nodded, "Yes, the old man that apparently created this world has placed a powerful spell, which is keeping us from using our powers, and essentially turning us into mortals." she said. "Since we had no place to go, we thought maybe you could help," continued Joe. Kalshion's father looked out the window, which it was now hailing, "Kalshion and Katarina aren't here, and if that barrier is indeed two ways, they won't be back for a while." he said, "so I have a few spare beds for you." he smiled. Both Emeral and Joe bowed, "Thank you very much," they said in unison.

*A Few hours later, around 4pm...*

Joe was out in the shrine; sweeping away some leaves that had fallen. The whether was now clear and sunny, at least for the moment. Joe was wearing a traditional Japanese priest Vestment, which he borrowed from Kalshion's drawer. It was white on top, and red on the bottom part. Lucky they were just about the same size. Emeral was tending to a few flowers; she too was in a traditional Japanese Priestess Vestment. She had tied her hair into a pigtail, with a traditional bow, which hid her apparent 'hack job'. Both were thinking in their heads over and over about the saying the old man had giving, trying to make sense out of it. Kalshion's Father had left to take a walk around town, to see if Kalshion and Katarina had made it inside the barrier before it was placed.

DS hid behind some trees in the shrine, watching Emeral and Joe. "Blundering idiots," he muttered, "They actually seem to enjoy not having their powers." He took a few steps closer and kept hidden in the trees, hoping to find any information that could help him break the curse, but keep them trapped inside.

Joe had just finished dumping the leaves into a trashcan, when he turned his head towards the trees where DS was. He squinted his eyes, staring at the trees. DS made more of an effort to hide in the trees, "Damn, he still can sense me," he said, looking for a quick and quiet way out. Joe was just about to walk over to the trees, when Kalshion's father entered the shrine. "I see you two have been busy," he said smiling. Joe turned around, but eyed the trees one more time.

The old man leaned in his chair towards the mirror, "How did he sense DS without his powers?" the old man thought. He looked through his information about Sonic, but wasn't finding anything that would suggest a reason. He then looked at info on DS, which was very vague for the most part. In fact, there were several unconfirmed rumors about where he came from. The most interesting theory was that DS and Sonic were related to each other, but didn't say how. He looked back at the screen, "If they were twins, they could have a normal mortal sense of each other," he thought, still not quite satisfied with the explanation.

Back inside the house, Kalshion's father sat down, "If I didn't know better, I say you two were actually shrine priests," he said, "Have you done this before?" Joe shook his head no, "No, we haven't done anything like this before," he responded. "But," said Emeral, "We did get to watch several priests in our life, Kaho, Kikyou, Kaede, Kogome, and Kogome's Grandfather." Kalshion's father eyes blinked blankly, "Who are they?" he asked. Emeral placed her hand over her mouth, "Oh sorry, just friends from other places," she said.

Kalshion's father then took a sip of his tea, "It's been a very odd day," he said, "First these barriers, then statues popping up all over town." Joe looked at him, "Statues?" he asked. "Yea, Statues," replied Kalshion's father, "10 Statues have suddenly appeared all over town, they say it happened just as the barrier and weather started to act up." Emeral pulled out the paper they recived from the old man and read the lines, "The Curse is set with Ten Stages, Their confining circle of damming the energy of ages." Joe stood up, "Might be worth to take a look at one of these statues," he said.

*Later...*

Emeral and Joe proceeded to the center of town where Kalshion's father said one of the statues was. They both were carrying umbrellas just incase the foggy weather decided to change again. They came up to the statue, which was shaped like a wolf with metal armor, and examined it. Emeral noticed three disc like circles on it, and pointed to them. "If I didn't know better, I say three pieces are missing from this Metalgarurumon," he said. "So, if we find the pieces to each statues, we have to place them in the correct spot, which will undo the curse," said Emeral, "But couldn't we just find a way to blow these things up?" Joe shook his head, "Remember that other line, 'For each stage you vanquish outright, the town's plight will grow in might'?" he asked. Emeral nodded, "I see, if we did destroy a statue, the condition of the town will grow worse."

DS stood on top of a building, watching the two discuss about the statue. "I see now," he said grinning. He looked up at the sky, "Lets see how you react old man when you are the cause of your town being destroyed," he said to himself. He then looked at the statue, "I should prepare the arrangements," he said with an Evil grin while rubbing hands together evilly and giving evil glances left and right.