Saki

  The next morning I woke up and yawned, then stretched. I opened my fox eyes and immediately tensed as I saw the area around me was not where I had gone to sleep.

  My first instinct was to panic, but I suppressed that. This was clearly another part of Trelloark, and after a moment I made a whining sound. I had a feeling I knew what this was. Shifting from my fox form, I looked for my clothing. Only to realize they were nowhere around me.

  I pursed my lips before sighing and saying, "This isn't funny, Tama. You can't just leave me in the middle of the forest like this."

  Silence met my words and I felt a chill run down my spine. Was she really gone? No, I could sense her nearby. Even if she wasn't going to answer me, I knew she was watching. That meant one thing she wasn't going to help me unless she felt I needed it, and knowing Tama, that meant near death.

  "Seriously, Tama, I get you are trying to train me, but leaving me alone in the forest is reckless and dangerous. There are a lot of horrible creatures out here that could eat me in an instant!" My voice echoed through the trees. No response.

  I looked around, looking for some kind of... anything. But there was nothing around me. She hadn't even left me a weapon. Snickers came from around me they sounded familiar. Looking around, I spotted a goblin coming out from behind a tree.

  One, two, three, seven, ten... as the number increased, my worry began to rise. These were definitely Trelloark goblins, and normally, they would be easy to kill.

  Even with thirty of them, it hardly would be a challenge for me. But this was clearly a setup by Tama to test me there was no way it would be this easy.

  That's when the first crossbow bolt hit me. It seemingly came from nowhere and pierced clean through my arm. I felt my right arm go limp as the muscle was severed. Horror began to dawn as I realized Tama's scheme.

  "No, Tama, NO! This is not acceptable!" I cried out as the goblins surrounded me. Another bolt flew at me this time I dodged, barely. My arm dangling useless by my side.

  "You is strategy lady! Tama said you give us honor death!" One of the goblins said as she twirled her dagger before throwing it at me. I dodged the dagger, only to have another bolt hit my knee, shattering it.

  I fell to the ground as I lost control of my left leg. The pain was excruciating and the goblins surrounded me.

  I felt the purple begin to cloud my vision. I felt the void start to take me over. My body rose, floating in the air as my hand raised. Inwardly I screamed the pain was immense, but being possessed was worse!

  The voice returned with glee as it spoke to me: Yes, yes, erase, erase them all!!

  Tears filled my eyes as I tried to fight back, but the void was too powerful. It began to eat at my sanity. A ball formed in my hand, black and seamless. It burst forth, hitting the nearest goblin. The goblin simply disappeared before the ball could hit it.

  I felt a rage bubble in me. I felt the void grow stronger and I realized it was feeding off my emotions. I tried to calm down, but one of the goblins stabbed me with a spear in my stomach. The pain caused me to lose what ground I had, and my tail was suddenly coated in void. It swiped and the goblin's body simply vanished where I hit.

  Tears streamed down my neutral face as I suddenly slammed down, the void controlling my form. Around me a wave spread out every goblin caught in it simply no longer existed.

  "Nya, don't fight, use!" Tama's voice seemingly came from nowhere and everywhere. Her words made no sense. I couldn't use the void. It was dangerous, it was all consuming!

  More goblins came and another bolt came for me. It never reached me as the shield of void around me erased it before it reached me.

  "It is a tool, Saki! Do not give it power and it cannot use you!" Tama's voice called out in that same ethereal tone.

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  Her words confused me, but they also gave me an idea. Instead of fighting, I embraced the void. I relaxed and allowed it to consume me. I expected my erasure and to be deleted from existence. Instead, I felt my body return to me.

  The void was still there, but I controlled it, barely. I could feel its anger at me, but it wasn't in absolute control anymore. I was able to feel it, let it flow through me peacefully.

  That was all I could do though. I floated there, face neutral. No movement, nothing. Trapped in a stalemate with the void.

  I watched as a goblin ran up and jumped up to stab me with her dagger. She was erased by the barrier around me. Ignoring the stupid goblins, I tried to push the void down. The reaction was instant.

  The void regained control over my body and fired a bolt, erasing the entire bottom of a tree. I quickly calmed myself and stopped resisting. I felt my body return to me, sort of. Once again trapped in a stalemate.

  ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE ERASE.

  I almost screamed. Instead, I ignored the voice and instead focused on calm, patient memories. Tama's face, her happy smile, purple parties, us sleeping together. The way she holds me. Slowly, the feeling faded and the purple receded from my vision. All at once the void was gone and I fell to the ground panting, coughing up more blood.

  I laughed, uncaring of the pain. I did itI really did it. I pushed back the void. No... I controlled it, if only barely.

  Slowly, I stood up. There were still at least a dozen goblins left. I smiled as I summoned a foxfire bolt. It was time to get serious. It was time to show Tama I could be taught.

  Instead of just launching the bolt, I shaped it into a small spear. I then leaned back and, using my left arm, launched the spear at the nearest goblin. Even as the spear left my hand, I shifted into my fox combat form.

  My five-foot size is now at the same level as the goblins. My front right leg wasn't working. I leaned on my left and coated all nine of my tails with earth. The goblins surrounded me and I smirked. They threw their spears ineffectually against my earthen tail barrier.

  I waited until they got close, then with a brutal and quick sweeping motion I swung all nine tails in a circular arc around me, firing the earth into sharp shards in every direction.

  Of the remaining goblins, I watched six of them die outright from the attack, with four more getting severely injured.

  I pounced at a nearby goblin, sinking my fangs into its throat. The coppery taste of blood filled my mouth and I jumped using my three working legs. Just in time as a spear stabbed from behind. I turned, opening my maw as I did. Foxfire spat out in a wave the goblin fell over, burnt to a crisp.

  The remaining injured goblins fled, leaving only one. I grabbed her with my tail for each limb and pulled. I strained and pulled as hard as I could. I heard the tear and the goblin was literally torn in four pieces. I threw all four pieces in different directions.

  I stood alone in the forest now, surrounded by dead goblins on all sides. I sat on my hind legs and let out a howl of pleasure. I had won, and I had done it by myself.

  A figure suddenly appeared in front of me and in my state of focus I fired my tail at them without even thinking.

  I only realized after I launched my tail that the figure was Tama. I tried to pull my tail back but it was too late. Tama didn't seem upset however and simply stepped to the side. She jumped, twirled, and cut down.

  My tail was reinforced with earth, which is probably why she didn't cut clean through it. Instead, the simple act of slamming the blunt side of Serenity into my tail caused my tail to smash into the ground and become unresponsive.

  I tried to move it only to realize it no longer listened to me. With fear I recalled my tail and thankfully it receded back into my body after a moment.

  Tama walked over to me, and I shifted back to my Foxkin form. She said nothing as she looked me up and down before placing her hands on me again. I thought she was healing me, and she was, but she also grabbed my breasts and squeezed them.

  "Tama!" I snapped. "We talked about this you know better!" My voice was filled with condemnation at her actions even as her water covered my body and healed my wounds.

  She giggled at me and let go. I thought it was over but instead she disappeared and reappeared with two sticks. Confused, I looked at the sticks in her hand, then her. In response, she simply tossed me one and put herself in a combat stance.

  Color drained from my face at what that meant. I am not going to go into detail about what happened next. Not only was it embarrassing, even more so than Tama's inappropriate grab, but the pain and suffering that one fight caused me was enough to last three lifetimes.

  The next morning, I awoke in immense pain. Every part of my body ached, bruises covered me from head to toe. Small cuts, scrapes, and the like almost outnumbered them.

  Standing even in my fox form felt like I was trying to push a boulder up a hill. I glared down at the naked Nekojin under me with an intense rage. The way she so peacefully slept there after that horrible torture she called training.

  A shiver ran down my spine at the memory of what she said to me at the end: "Nya, good job, Saki! We start again tomorrow morning!"