Kreef would never make another prank again.

He prayed to Tizohi for his protection while he dodged blow after blow from the Ogre's kanabō. Its spikes could easily pierce through his natural armor.

He tried to flee by flying, but an enormous rock dome burst from below and covered his precious escape route.

She had magic, too! What a blast!

"I hate fleeing prey! Come and face me!" She flailed her weapon while producing a soul-chilling roar.

He had no choice. Kreef would have to face her head-on!

The Amikiri dived at the red brute with incredible speed. After swiftly dodging one of her blows, he coiled his body around her right arm and pecked it! She hissed in pain, but no apparent wound was made.

He only made things worse, didn't he?

The Ogre ditched the club and clutched the Amikiri's long body. She yanked the river Monoke with one swift motion and threw him to the stone wall! He could hear it cracking on impact.

"Not bad!" She picked up the kanabō. "But you have to try a little harder than that!" She slammed it on the ground, creating a shockwave that pushed Kreef back to the wall. "Bring it!"

The Amikiri opened his beak and spat out a sharp gust of wind, which quickly connected on her left shoulder. The Ogre grunted and put her right hand over the struck area. Did it bleed?

"That's better..." The blackness of her eyes turned into a small pupil surrounded by a burning yellow sclera. "More!"

Her left foot stomped the ground in a gesture of power and grandeur. A rock lifted from the floor as on cue. She swung her club at the earth mass, and it flew towards Kreef! He was barely able to evade it.

"Please, don't!" He begged, on the verge of tears.

The red beast chuckled while preparing herself for a shoulder charge. "Here it comes!"

The horned Monoke was powerful but slow. Kreef had no issue dodging the incoming tackle by simply flying sideways. The dome was vast enough.

He cackled at the dumb brute, wasting her strength in fruitless attacks. "You Ogres are so stupid!"

His mocking stopped the moment a bloodthirsty scowl took over her face.

"I. AM. AN ONI!" Her booming voice shook the very foundation of the arena she had created. Kreef was too stunned by the sheer power of her shout to notice the rubble crushing his scales and dragging him back to ground level.

He wasn't in much pain. An Amikiri's scales are much more durable than that. However, it was suffocating! He could barely move a muscle under the colossal weight of his rocky trap.

After a minute of strenuous effort, Kreef triumphally poked his head out from the rubble, only to find a grinning Oni with her kanabō high in the sky.

"Who's stupid, now!?"

Kreef's life flashed before his eyes. It wasn't a pleasant experience.

The voice of his disappointed parents loudly echoed in his mind.

"An 8/10?! You're pathetic!"

"When are you getting a job?! Your cousin Klou was already a famous boxer at your age!"

He was glad he had long since left the reef, but that meant he'd have nowhere to go after this beating.

Speaking of, why wasn't he knocked unconscious yet?

He paid attention to the Oni again. She had stopped mid-swing, a few inches from his head. He sighed with relief until the club fell on his head anyway, only less painful than it should have been. It still hurt, though.

After taking two minutes to free himself, he noticed something weird about the raging Monoke, whose muscles were relaxed even if she was still standing. It was hard to see because of the blue mist, but a faint purple cloud came from her nostrils every time she exhaled.

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"Hey! You're alive!"

Kreef flew a couple feet from hearing the unknown voice. After two consecutive ambushes, he was understandably on edge.

The tiny, round figure waved at him from below. "Sorry about my friend! She's a bit feral today!"

He sounded friendly, but Kreef couldn't lower his guard. He carefully flew closer to whatever this Monoke was.

"Good thing I have business with this one, huh? I know what you're about to say, so let me speed things up. I know I'm great, and you're welcome."

Geez, egotistic much!? Whatever, more important than that was his identity. He was a Baku.

Characterized by their chubby build, three fingers on each hand, black and white fur, and their elongated and flexible snout, the Baku was a revered species of Monoke, capable of absorbing and manipulating one's dreams. This particular one wore a purple yukata with a beige sash and... crocs with socks as footwear? The fashion of the land-dwellers was an unsolvable puzzle.

Kreef had never seen one before. Although there was a reason why, he couldn't remember it.

"Ugh... What...? What the hell's going on?!" The beast had awoken! The Amikiri and the Baku rapidly retreated.

She glanced at all sides with violent intent, huffing and gritting her monstrous teeth until she detected the interloper. "Gentō!"

The Oni approached him with earth-shattering steps. However, the dream Monoke was oddly unafraid. "Wait! Before you beat me to a pulp, I've found the perfect chance of quenching your anger!"

Kreef did not dare let a single noise, not even from his claws. He was dumbfounded by the relentless giant stopping in her tracks, though the scowl did not change. "Liar."

Gentō chuckled and snorted at the same time. It made him sound like a pig. "You think I jest, but I've found the most rare opponent you could ever find!"

Her expression softened. "Who?"

The Baku's face twisted into a villainous grin. It freaked the Amikiri out.

"A Human."

The Oni's eyes widened and turned back to black. "Bullshit."

Gentō shook his head. "Not only did I find one, but I consumed her dream! I had not tasted something that good in centuries!"

The Ogre cringed. "You still doing that? Can't you eat regular food and let folk dream in peace?"

His grin turned into a frown in less than a second. "My body wasn't made for regular food! Dreams are much more gentle to my tummy!" He continuously stomped the ground and shook his fists in the air.

His frustrated voice was annoying as fuck. And that was coming from Kreef!

As for me? Eh, Stúfur's was worse.

These two kept talking for a long, LONG time. Kreef wasn't afraid of these clowns anymore. It was more amusing than anything else.

He could fly away, but... Where'd he go? By Tizohi's antlers, he lived on a river! There wasn't much he could do! Maybe he could return to the Nexus, in a different reef. Nah, the Monoke there are a bunch of stuck-up pricks!

"Fine, I'm convinced." The Oni flexed her biceps, the size of a freaking watermelon. "I want to see the power of one up close."

"That's the spirit! You help me get that girl, and I let you beat her up!" The Baku rubs his hands together while chuckling like a lunatic. "I will become invincible!"

Hearing their upcoming scheme, Kreef decided to step in, snapping his claws in quick succession to make noise and claim their attention. "One problem, though. Wolf guards are protecting that Human."

The Baku snorted. "Please, how many can it be?!"

----------------------------------------

A lot. The whole Lycan Squad and that silver weirdo.

"FUCK!" Gentō shouted in indignance. "My plan is ruined!"

The Baku and the Amikiri stealthily surveilled the Frog's house at a distance. Due to her conspicuous nature, Hanaken, the Oni, had to wait a few meters away from them.

The Baku scratched the top of his head, then he closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and furrowed his eyebrows. Was he trying to squeeze an idea by force?

Surprisingly, something did come out. "If only I could know where the Human is headed next. There's no way they're actually going directly to the castle. Why would they waste their time here?"

Hanaken interjected in the distance. "How're you going to do that? Sneaking around?" She laughed. "These guards have an Oni's sense of smell. You ain't going past halfway through!"

That Oni had a point. It was a fun thought exercise, this harebrained plot. But it was dead before it even-

Wait. There was a way for them to get past the guards' noses. Something Kreef was already familiar with.

"Do you guys know air magic?"

Gentō stared at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

The Oni was not much better. "I don't know what you're on about, but I don't know air magic! Neither does that dainty fool!"

Before the Baku could scold his friend again, Kreef cut to the chase. "Someone with air magic can manipulate the wind so your smell doesn't reach their noses."

Both listeners let out a united "Aah..." only to be met with one more roadblock. "She's right. I don't know any air spells." However, his ears perked up when his eyes glued on the Amikiri. "And you?! Do you know any?!"

Uh oh... He got too close!

Erm... It was easy! He just had to lie!

"You can bet your butt he does! He actually made me bleed with one of his spells!" Fuck, Hanaken was always hearing them perfectly.

"I mean," Kreef nervously passed his claws through his spiky green hair. "I'm not that good-"

Kreef's heart (which, if you suck at biology, is located close to his back) skipped a beat when the Baku firmly held his pincers and looked straight into his eyes.

"I need you." He blinked. "Uh, what's your name?"

The Amikiri snapped his claws anxiously. "K-Kreef!"

"So, Kreef. Will you make me the happiest Monoke in Sayama and help me get that girl?" Gentō stood on one knee.

Something the Baku said struck a chord in Kreef. There was Monoke in actual need of his help. He was valuable to someone! "Suck on that, mom and dad!"

He even forgot he would be enlisting for a treasonous act. I don't need to tell you how dumb of a decision that is.

"Yes! Yes! A thousand times, yes!"