Free Time at Dragon Empire (Xateramusa and Carlos)

The day was going way to slow for Carlos. Maybe it was because he sent his little sister, someone who has been in Japan for a couple of days, to an event without him, or that he was actually doing what the branch was paying him to do - His work. Whatever was the reason, it could be seen from miles away that the young man was dying from boredom. 'I'm dying from boredom!' He exclaimed, in a rather childish display. 'I wish I could just go to Star Gate to do stuff...' He added, not noticing that he was still talking alone. Now he looked like someone crazy. Thinking fast, he walked towards the rest area, hoping he could alleviate his annoyance.

Walking through the branch, the young man stopped at a vending machine just outside the rest room. Introducing the money, Carlos grabbed his can of Detonix Cola and proceeded to stare at the sky and think about all his friends. 'I wonder... How's Vic doing...' He thought while drinking. He was actually so bored that he stared at the sky for what he thought were 30 minutes. Actually, it was just 2 minutes. Noticing this, Carlos prayed to every deity willing to listen, even planet-shoulders, to bring someone to talk with in his direction.

A sudden and well delivered 'Hello there', coming from a female voice to boot, broke Carlos from his trance. Finally, his prayers were heard by someone out there. When he turned his gaze towards his new talking companion, Carlos noticed that... She was quite the peculiar one. The young man was taken aback by her appearance, namely the fox ears and the fox tail. Also, she was accompanied by some sort of baby fox, with jewelry on its head and a bag of chips in its mouth. The green color in its fur was also strange, but in a world where card game creatures are real, dogs talk, different dimensions cross over, deities with planets in their shoulders exist, and much, much else, everything was fair game at that point to him.

'Eh, hello there' He answered back rather nervously. 'If you're looking for the cosplay competition, it's down that way' He added, pointing the way to the entrance of the branch. With that attire, there was no way that the girl wasn't at the branch for any other reason. Well, maybe showing how good she looks in a costume.

At first, Carlos took the girl's comment about that appearance being her 'human world' form and not a cosplay as an obvious joke. But it became clear that it wasn't a joke when the strangely inteligent green fox put down the bag of chips and proceeded to talk, telling the young man that they 'sort of' worked at the branch, but their duties lay in 'another world'. 'Eh... Did that fox just talk? Did he actually say 'another world'?'. He didn't knew why he was surprised, given that one of his best friends is a talking dog. 'You know what? Nevermind. Animals talk. Cray exists. Go on'.

Then, a second person dressed completely in white appeared out of nowhere, directing some words to the little animal while taking a few of his chips. The man introduced himself as Tsurumaru Kuninaga, the spirit of the sword around that girl's waist. 'I see. My only question is: What?' Said Carlos, finally noticing that the girl was indeed carrying a sword. That could be illegal, but he is no snitch. The girl's name mentioned by the weird man sounded strangely familiar to Carlos, but he couldn't identify why.

After that, the little animal introduced itself as Kao, guardian of said girl. Again, the name was mentioned during his introduction but Carlos couldn't recognize why it was so familiar. In the end, the girl finally introduced herself as Xateramusa, even thought her companions already mentioned her name twice. She told Carlos that, after she saw him staring at the sky alone, she thought he could appreciate some company. 'Oh, I see. Thats very sweet of you. Thank you miss Xatera-'. Finally, it hit him.

'Oh my god...' Carlos said, genuinely surprised. 'It can't be. You're... You're miss Xateramusa. You're the Murakumo clan leader'. The young man was visibly shocked and happy to finally meet another clan leader. Even though he's been working on the branch for quite some time, he didn't have the privilege to meet all of them as he, well, skipped work on a nearly regular basis.

'I can't believe I'm actually meeting you! I've heard a lot about you! Well, mostly about how, eh, peculiar you appear to be' He stopped a little, looking for a better word to describe what he's been told. 'But still! Murakumo clan leader! Wow... Oh, I'm Carlos Estevez by the way. I'm a huge fan' He finished, shaking her hand. 'Well, I'm a huge fan of nearly every clan leader, but still it's such a pleasure to finally meet you'.

'And, eh, sorry about earlier. I actually like what you've done with the ears and the tail. Pretty cool. You look smashing'.

While Tsurumaru and Kao talked, Xateramusa tried to guess the name of Carlos' job at the branch. She mentiones 'PR', a term the young man wasn't really familiar with. 'Yes, yes. PR, Power Rangers, all that. You could say I'm exactly, without a doubt, the thing you mentioned'. Obviously, he had no idea what the girl was talking about. The breeze was starting to get unbearable for the young man, but before he could go get his jacket, Xateramusa lit up a small fire and made it fly around him to warm him up.

'... What the hell?' He asked, completely surprised and a little bit terrified at the sight of a floating ball of fire. He even tried touching it to check if it wasn't an illusion. As it burned his finger, it was clear it wasn't fake. But his surprise didn't stop as, out of nowhere, a girl materialized out of nowhere. The weird thing wasn't that she looked exactly like a Murakumo unit, but that she materialized out of freaking nowhere. At this point, he shouldn't be shocked at things like that given the world he lives in and what he experienced before, but he was just accepting the facts of his strange world one at a time. Also, he hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary in the past couple of years since the Messiah Scramble, so that caught him out of guard.

The new Murakumo girl asked Carlos if he was cold, something anybody could deduce by just taking a look at him right now. She also mentioned with a smile in her face how she sensed that he lost something very dear, probably referring to his deep bond with his Avatar. She said that 'her lady' could help him get it back as long as he told them what he lost. The young man just stared at them and, among the many responses the young man could've chosen, he finally went for the most logical one. '... What. The actual. Hell?'. Yep, that.

Seeing Carlos' completely rational reaction to this unexpected developments, Xateramusa proceeded to explain about herself (Also, she explained that PR meant Public Relations. Power Ranger was better). She mentioned that she, eh, 'basically' ruled the spirit plane existing between the worlds. Xateramusa was, in fact, a kitsune, a mythological creature that the young man was familiar with thanks to his knowledge of pop culture. Her powers allowed Tsurumaru to take a human form (Turns out he really is a sword) and Shirayuki (Yes, the Murakumo unit) materalize.

She then explained something interesting. Turns out, she can also connect people and units through her realm, but the person has to be asleep first. Could it be? A way to finally reach Recklessness Dragon and talk things through? It sounded way to good to be true, but given how a lot of stuff he thought was crazy turned out be true in the end, Carlos wasn't really sure on what to think. Xateramusa explained that she could also feel the damage she took during cardfights and that she could merge with her units in the physical plane... Whatever that means. To reiterate, she mentioned again that she was a kitsune spirit, and that her actual form was just an appearance she took while in the human world.

Kao, who has been jumping from one place to another and was really driving him crazy, explainen that they came often to the human world looking for Xateramusa's memories, something she lost during the Reaper Invasion in order to acquire her actual powers. The way in which the green fox said that made Carlos think that maybe they lost even more during the battle against the Deletors.

Carlos was... Pretty confused at the moment. Out of the supposed solution to his problem, there was a lot for him to process. Hearing it explained didn't make it easier to believe, to begin with. 'Give me... Give two minutes. To process all of this' He said while sitting on the floor, with his hands on his head. 'First Cray is real, but it's ok; I could understand that. Then alternate realities are real, which is ok; I kinda like that too. But now there's a spirit realm. A spirit realm. And I don't know why this surprises me; Oku- Tamotsu is a spirit after all. I was open to the idea even before I knew it was a thing' He thought, examining all the posibilities. If she really ruled the spirit realm... Could she help him contact any kind of spirit? Like the spirit of a dear friend?

Everything was getting surreal all of a sudden.

Carlos notices how Xateramusa sighed, followed by the disappearance of both Shirayuki and Tsurumaru. The young man was glad the Kao at least remained in the girl's shoulder instead of jumping all over the place. The Murakumo clan leader undestood that all that information was a lot to take, and that not even the higher-ups on the Association knew that much about her. She the finished by mentioning that it was his decision to believe her or not in the end. 'You know...' He spoke. 'After showing me all of this, it would be kinda difficult for me to don't believe you'. He then stood up, noticing how ridiculous he looked at the moment. 'Yeah, I believe you. It's strange and all, but I believe you. It even makes you look even more awesome to me'.

'But... There's something I don't get' He added. 'If not even the association know that much about you, why did you feel the need to explain all of this to me? I'm just a small fry in the association. I'm not even that important, being totally honest'.

'Oh' Carlos said, honestly surprised. 'So, Shirayu- Well, miss Shirayuki wants to help me?'. Shirayuki, from the Murakumo clan, wanted to offer her help. Did his face show how much saddened he was at the moment because of his strained relationship with his trusted Thunder Dragon? Or was it because of his worry towards his little sister, whom he sent to an event with his only deck? She before that she sensed he 'lost' something precious, so maybe it wasn't his face at all. Whatever was the reason, the young man felt somewhat flattered that another unit felt the need to help him.

It was also logical that, if he accepted the help, he should at least understand what he was getting into, as Xateramusa explained. 'Well, that's a nice gesture. Thanks for the explanation. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone about all of this. Not that someone would believe me if I did'.

Kao reassured to Carlos that Xateramusa that help will be needed only if she collapses after getting a memory. However, the kind fox mentioned that he thought the memory was indeed a memory of the 'big' kind. 'Well, sh-' His thoughts were interrupted by the clan leader letting out a scream and starting to fall backwards. 'Oh no! Miss Xater- !' Carlos motioned himself to try to catch her, but Tsurumaru the sword-guy appeared out of nowhere and caught her right before she could hit her head. The young man could only sigh in relief. 'Good catch, sword-dude. That was close'.

However, that relief was short lived. Tsurumaru looked at Carlos and then nodded to Xateramura's bag, a bag he didn't notice was there until that very moment. Instructing him to look for a 'healing item' drink of some sort wrapped in a leaf inside the bag, the young man hesitated for a brief moment. 'Do you really want me to rummage through her stuff just like that?'. Carlos then looked at Kao, nuzzling his master with what he thought was a worried look. 'Ah, forget it. I'll be respectful another day' He said to himself as he looked in the bag.

Taking out a strange bundle of leaves, he asked proceeded to ask the spirit. 'Is this the thing?'.

Kao went to retrieve the bottle of water Xateramusa bought for him and then nodded at the young man when he asked if the bundle of leaves were the magical healing drink. Carlos couldn't help but feel the leaves were way to light for something to be wrapped inside of them. And he was absolutely right. The small fox then proceeded to instruct him on how to make the healing potion. 'Hmm, what?' He asked, hoping it was a mistake.

The fox explained that all he needed to do was put the leaves inside the bottle and, as simple as it may sound, shake it. Even though he didn't knew about plants and medicine in general, he knew that medicine wasn't made like this. Kao continued explaining that the leaves were special and difficult to find outside their hometown, likening them to mythical artifacts or something like that. Well, now that was something. 'Put the leaves and shake it? Thats it?' He asked in total disbelief. He made tea a couple of times before, but this was getting ridiculous.

The young man proceeded to do as instructed, placing the special leaves inside the water bottle and then shaking it as if his life depended on it. 'Am I doing it right?' He then asked, still shaking the bottle.

'WHAT!?' Shouted Carlos, hoping understood wrong what was happening. Kao pulled out of the bag a syringe. A syringe. That where the mysticism of the whole deal abruptly ended. Given the state Xateramusa was at the moment, she wasn't able to drink the potion on her own. They needed to inject the thing into her blood stream, 'right above her heart' the little fox said, where the effect is quick. 'You want me to inject her!?' He panicked. 'Go to a stupid hospital to get her treated!! I can't inject her just like that!! I'm not trained!!'.

The small fox explained that they actually can't go to normal hospitals (What a coincidence), so that's why they bring their own medicine. Tsurumaru the sword-guy also added that beings like Kao and him weren't capable of touching the medicine, and that was the reason he needed to do it. 'Why do you even bring that medicine if you can't touch it!?' He shouted again, missing the point. No matter what, if that was the case, he needed to help the clan leader. But the last time he used a syringe was when he was inserting it into a ball of clay. And it wasn't a syringe, it was a toothpick. Always living on the edge.

He then proceeded to nervously fill the syringe with the mystical medical potion he just made. With his hands shaking, he tried to remember everything he could about human anatomy, as he always mixep up which side of the body the heart was supposed to be. Then he remembered that Xateramusa wasnt't really a human, but some kind of spirit-kitsune-whatever. 'Oh man...' He muttered. Nearly covering his eyes, he injected the clan leader 'right above her heart'. May planet-shoulders have mercy on his soul.