Chapter 244: Ki Ki

The more Ki talked, the more Kat started to feel something was wrong. *Sure, everything she said seemed fine, but that one line about the other copy being coated in the inky substance is strange, and I think she really was stalling for some reason…*

*There is something I'm not seeing here… Could she have been lying? Maybe? But I'd hope Minor knows her sister well enough to know when she's lying but… maybe she doesn't. Or maybe the fact that this is only half of Major is screwing with her.*

"Anyway, now that your both here we can properly confront the other half of me. If we can defeat them we should be able to get this whole trapped inside my head thing dealt with" said Ki

Kat stole a glance at Minor, and noticed something strange. Despite her smiling face, her tails were all twisted around each other behind her back. *Hmm, does Minor recognise something strange is going on, or is it something else.*

"I see" said Minor "How exactly are we going to do that?"

"Well" said Ki "the tree that you see behind is currently what is keeping the other half of me sealed away in another area. I can't let them break in here, but with your help… Minor, I believe that we can break into their area and deal with them for good" said Ki spreading her hands out to point at the giant sakura tree in the background.

"Sure, if you both want to come up to the base, there will be a door there. We just need to put enough metaphorical weight on it to cause it to shatter and then we can all head in as a group" said Ki with a nod, before turning around and heading towards the tree.

"Ok" said Minor and fell in step behind Ki. Kat took up the rear in a place behind her Minor, keeping her eye out for anything that was out of place. Nothing sprung out though. The only things moving wall the falling pink petals, and using a bit of demonic energy she could see the door that Ki was talking about.

It was a strange thing. It looked to have once been elaborately carved with thick lines and extra details, but much of it now looked warped, strange. As if someone had thrown acid over the construction and was satisfied with a job half done

Except it was the bottom half that took the most damage. The bottom edge of the door had a large amount of wood piled at the bottom as if it had sunk and pooled there. Above that was some designs that might have once been vines with flowers on them, that now looked like melting wax and reaching hands.

Above that, stood a picture of the sakura tree, which, with that context, meant that the vines were likely roots. It didn't explain the things that might have once been flowers but Kat ignored that part focusing on the tree itself.

It seemed to be a replica of the giant tree that it resided on, except there were a few differences she couldn't quite make out properly from this distance. *Does it just look weird because the real one is letting leaves fall and it's moving in the breeze?*

Wait… Kat's thoughts tugged on the end of her sentence. *Breeze? What breeze?* Kat let her tail hang softly to the side, away from Minor for the first time since she entered the area, making sure to still keep an eye on her kitsune companion.

As she held her tail aloft, she tried to sense any change at all in the wind, but there was just nothing. She could feel the slightest breeze that was caused by moving forward but aside from that there was nothing resembling a gust of wind, and certainly nothing that could cause the sakura tree to move as much as it currently was.

*Hmmm. Another thing that feels off* thought Kat to herself. Letting her gaze drift to Minor, she saw that Minor now had her tails flowing behind her like normal… though the gesture looked stiff, as if she was forcing herself not to do something else.

*Hmm, I wish I could talk to Minor about this somehow without Ki hearing. We should have invented like… a secret signal that something is horribly wrong. It just seems so useful now that I've considered it*

*Also considering how strange the dream is, it is something we really should have.* Kat let her tail drift towards Minor's abusing the extra length she had to touch Minor's tail just barely hopefully without notifying Ki

Minor's tails froze when Kat let her own touch the middle one. Minor seemed to stumble a bit in her step but kept walking. Minor moved her three tails so that they covered as much of Kat's as she could before pulling them away and walking forward as if she hadn't felt anything.

Kat retracted her own tail at the same time and tried to keep the frown off her face. *Something must be wrong. I think. I don't know if Minor was trying to assure me that everything is fine or assure me that she knows something strange is happening. I can only hope that if it's the first option she isn't too surprised.*

It was at this point that they reached the tree. "Now, I am aware that Minor is able to assist me with breaking through the scene, but what about you Kat? Do you possess the power to assist us?" asked Ki

"I'm not sure" said Kat "I possess power yes, but it is nothing like Minor's and I haven't really been able to help that much with scene transitions before"

"Regrettable" said Ki "In that case please stand to the side. Minor, please stand next to me as we lean on this door. Please try not to touch the lower half of it. When I count to three, I want you to throw your power into it like a hammer, and I'll try to make mine a sharp point for it to strike does that make sense?"

"Not really?" said Minor "I cannot do anything other than hammer at scenes to make them change but I will follow your lead"

Minor and Ki stepped up to the door. Kat stepped off to the side but made sure that her tail ran along the ground and was touching Minor's ankle. Ki didn't seem to notice or if she did, she didn't comment on it in the slightest.

"Please ready yourself Minor. Please strike the door when I finish saying the word three in just a moment" said Ki

Minor nodded and placed her shoulder against the top of the door. Ki did the same placing her flesh shoulder against the door. Doing this she faced Kat, and Kat looked back into her eyes without hesitation.

No change of expression seemed to occur, but they held each other's gaze for three seconds before Ki looked away "Ok. One

"Two

"Three"

As soon as the words left Ki's mouth her body started to glow blue and she pulled back before slamming into the door. Minor mirrored this motion, except she was glowing with a light red when she did.

As soon as they both made contact with the door, the world seemed to screech in pain. The scene shuddered for a second before tearing itself apart. Despite this, the giant tree stayed in place, while the storm that consisted of the remanent shards of the scene, whipped around its branches, dislodging a few petals, which just calmly drifted down towards the ground.

Kat felt herself tense as the aura contained within the tree seemed to double. It pressed into Kat's own bubble she hadn't realised she'd been keeping up. Despite its newfound power Kat's aura didn't yield to it, and instead pressed forward to full cover Minor.

She twitched slightly when the transition was complete but didn't otherwise react. Ki didn't react at all, and Kat tried to keep her aura from enveloping her as well. The moment stretched on, for a bit longer in Kat's eyes before everything snapped into focus.

Kat looked around, and other than the tree at her side, she found herself in a wasteland of snow and ice, with spikes jutting out of the ground randomly in place of trees.

The snow fell thick and heavy, making it hard for Kat to see much beyond a few hundred feet, even with her advanced vision, as the snow started to overlap too much for her to see any further details.

Minor seeing that the scene had changed, shifted herself so that she was within arm's reach of Kat, who for her part, let her wing extend slightly so that it would block the falling snow from hitting the kitsune.

*Of course, it's more snow. Why would it be anything else. It isn't as though we are on our third run through a snowy scene. Hopefully this is the last one for a long while.*