8 Chapter 8: The Tailed Fox Spirit Guardian
It was evening. The train moved on the railroad and advanced towards its destination which still lay far ahead. Lucy was sleeping on a chair. The motherly squirrel Sandy had dozed off too. Only Sam was awake, reading a book she had brought along, about basic squirrel spirit incantations. She felt her stomach grumble.
“Hmm?” she looked down at her belly, “I feel hungry…” she glanced at slumbering Sandy and Lucy and smiled: “Would be a pity to wake them over such a simple thing. I’ll go to the wagon restaurant myself”.
She stood up and silently slipped out of the coupé. She passed the door of her wagon and appeared in a glamorous wagon restaurant, where people sat at tables and enjoyed their dinner. Some of them even had their spirits accompany them. Sam walked up to one of the free tables and wanted to take a seat when a tall sixteen-year-old boy with punk-like black hair and an arrogant smirk arrived with two coquettish girls, took the whole place, and pushed her away:
“Beat it, kid, I came here first”.
“I came here first! You go away!” Sam put her hands on her waist, not afraid of the robust lad.
“Eh? Who do you think you are, ordering me around? I’m giving you the last chance – beat it before I’ve gone mad!”
The two coquettish girls cackled playfully, hearing their boy’s ‘brave’ remark.
“Oh, so you won’t move? Then you’ll have it the hard way!” Sam cracked her finger-joints and touched her wooden bead-bracelet: “Twinkle, Sandra Nutts!”
Bright light emerged from her bracelet. In a few minutes, stupefied Sandy appeared in the wagon restaurant. She looked at Sam in surprise:
“What’s the reason for rousing me up, honey?”
“Sandy, this boy came after me and pushed me away from the table, claiming he came first. He was rude to me! Beat him up!”
“Oh?” Sandy furrowed her brow at the boy now, and put her hands on her waist just like Sam before, “It is not good to bully a younger girl! Please, kindly apologize to Sam!”
The boy and his two maidens burst out laughing:
“Oh, boy! You think you can punish me with that mere little rodent?!”
“She’s not a mere squirrel!” Sam flared up, “She is Sandra Nutts, the toughest of all squirrel spirits!”
“You are a very bad-mannered kid, laughing at strangers!” Sandy reddened up too and crossed her arms.
The boy still laughed hard.
“You both are goners!” he grabbed his skull necklace: “Roar, Tigran Zverev!”
A fire-light emerged and formed into a man-spirit with tan skin, red tiger ears, red-to-black hair, and yellow eyes. He was of a robust stature and barefoot. He wore a long orange black-striped coat and blue trousers.
The people presenting in the wagon watched the events unfolded and anticipated a battle. Sam and Sandy widened eyes once saw such a giant predator-natured spirit before them. Sam shivered and hid behind Sandy. The boy easily noticed her fear and laughed:
“I gave you last chance but you didn’t take it… Now fight!”
“S-Sandy… I’m scared…”
Sam looked up at her squirrel spirit with tears in her eyes. The boy and his girls burst out laughing:
“Go cry off, you scaredy-cat!”
At such insulting behaviour of the boy towards her beloved child and hostess, Sandy flared up and clenched her fists:
I will no more surrender to some brainless spirits only because they’re predators!
“We accept the challenge!”
Sam widened eyes – she was really going to fight a tiger spirit?!
“Sandy, don’t! You’re going to get hurt!” she clutched her mommy spirit’s yellow dress.
“Haha! You’re really going to take the challenge? You truly are nuts!” the boy laughed. “Fine, have it your way… Tigran, finish her off!”
“Alright, Rudy”.
Tigran snarled, took a battle pose, and readied his sharp claws. Sandy glanced at Sam with a kind smile:
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll be alright. You step back a little, to stay safe”.
She turned back to her opponent and took the battle pose of a swift squirrel. Sam indeed stepped back as advised, and murmured:
“Good luck…”
Tigran growled and charged at Sandy. Sam gasped and closed eyes in order not to see this gruesome view, but when she heard Sandy’s battle cry, she reopened them, to behold her squirrel spirit spring and over the tiger, dodging his attack. She rotated in the air, kicked the tiger, and dropped him to the floor. The people widened eyes – such an adroit squirrel! Sam rejoiced – Sandy had gained an advantage! Rudy instead snorted – how this squirrel dared act so tough? He yelled at Tigran:
“Destroy her!”
The tiger didn’t really need his encouraging words – he was already enraged enough to act on his own. He ran towards Sandy again and roared at full force. When Sandy wanted to repeat the same manoeuvre, Tigran grabbed her by the foot, rolled her in the air, and dropped her to the floor. Her forehead bled.
“Sandy!” Sam grabbed her in her arms and shook her: “Sandy! Are you alright? Answer me!”
The squirrel weakly raised her eyelids and gazed into her eyes. A sweet smile covered her face:
“S-Sammy…”
“Sandy! Please get up! Please be well!”
Sam began crying. She could hear Rudy’s evil laugh from the behind, and it brought even more tears to her. She felt something shade her. She looked up and screamed – it was that beastly tiger!
“Move!”
“No! Leave Sandy alone!” Sam frowned with teary eyes and covered Sandy with her body.
“I said move!”
The tiger roared, grabbed her, and threw her aside. Sam screamed as she hit the floor hard. She cried with hot tears as she got hurt. The tiger approached the barely-conscious fallen squirrel with the intention to stab his claws into her.
“Sandy!” Sam yelled in agony.
Large water current emerged from aside, hit Tigran’s claws, turned into ice, and froze his entire hand.
“Ahh!”
Tigran roared in pain and fell back. He and Rudy, as well as tearful Sam and the people, glanced aside, to widen eyes in astonishment.
“Lucy!”
Sam brightened with joy and hope – it was her big sis at the wagon door! She had a hand put on her Yin-and-Yang locket.
“Who the heck are you?”
Rudy squinted at Lucy, while his two girls hid behind him as they got scared of the freezing water-ice current that had hit Tigran.
“The name’s Lucy Caldwell. Leave my friends be if you don’t want trouble”.
“Trouble?” Rudy burst out laughing, “Tigran has beaten both of your friends in an instant. Who the heck are you to cause me trouble? You are just a weenie girl like them!”
Tigran snarled. His inner fire blazed on his frozen hand and melted the ice.
“Ice cannot overcome my fire. You are toast, woman”.
Rudy grinned with pride, sure of his spirit’s might.
“Oh, I would not be so certain…”
An ominous, sly voice sounded throughout the wagon. From behind Lucy, emerged a young man with long white hair, red eyes, white fox ears, light blue robes, light blue fans in both of his hands, and five white foxtails.
Sam widened eyes – since when had that demon fox become white? Many people too gasped in shock at the sight of a tailed fox spirit. Rudy, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow – how come a fox acted so tough? Tigran was a tiger, after all. Some stinky fox couldn’t beat him! Tigran, apparently, had the same thoughts as his master:
“How come a mere arctic fox talks so big to a fire tiger?”
The fox man chuckled in response and covered his mouth with his light blue fan.
“He is not a ‘mere arctic fox’,” Lucy frowned, “He is my spirit guardian. Yin – Huli Yuehong”.
All of the people widened eyes, while Tigran shuddered with utmost fear – Huli Yuehong?!
