Chapter fifteen: Fateful Night in Togenkyo, Part one

It was about 3 days after the incident involving Allura and her soul collectors, The group continue their journey after Shiro and Keith had gone through their ordeal with Allura now ready to continue their quest to find the remaining shards of the quintessence crystal.

During this time, Keith continue to be friendlier to Hunk, Pidge, and Lance, They were actually talking together more and there were even times they'd crack jokes (particularly about Lance's girlfriend trouble).

So far, they had no clues and Shiro hasn't sense any crystal shards, Partially because a lot of them were with Haggar. so the group of five decided to stop and rest for a while before they continued their search. While Hunk, Lance, Pidge, and Kiaion went to go catching some fish for dinner, Shiro decided to use this chance to sharping his sword, After all he did use it for a lot of battles.

Grroooooooowwwl...

Shiro momentarily glanced off to the right for a moment before he looked back at his sword.

Grrroooooooooooowwwll...!!

Shiro sighed before he went back to look at his sword.

Grrrroooooooooooooooowwwll~!!

"Ugh!!" Shiro groaned as he puts down his sword! "Keith will you stop with your growling!"

"I can't help it!" Keith argued as he lied on the ground next to his, limbs all sprawled out. "I'm starving over here!"

"You already ate some Romelle and Hunk's cooking AND 4 bags of food goo!" Shiro countered. "You can't be hungry, again! It was only an hour ago!"

"I'm a half-daemon," Keith retorted. "My metabolism is different from you humans! Where do you think all that energy goes?!"

"Why don't you go fishing with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge instead?" asked Shiro. "At least then, you'll have some food."

"Yeah," Keith muttered, "but it's a lot of work."

"Hey, look at this!"

Keith and Shiro looked up as they saw Hunk, Lance, and Pidge standing in a stream and Kiaion perched on Hunk's shoulder to keep from getting wet. As Stats sat on the river bank, that's when Keith spotted it: a nice, plump, juicy peach.

"Stats" Stats exclaimed "Stats!"

"Lucky you, huh, Stats?" asked Pidge.

"Stats!" said Stats "Stats!"

Just as Stats was about to take a bite, however...

"I'll be taking that!"

A blur of red suddenly snatched the peach out of the Larval's hand, causing his jaws to snap together before he looked at his empty palms, then looked up and saw Keith holding the peach in his hand.

"Stats!" Stats cried.

"I don't see your name on it," Keith smirked.

"Hey, now, that's not nice!" Pidge chided. "Get your own peach!"

"Give it back, Keith!" Shiro added.

"Ah, he can have what's left," Keith replied as he opened his mouth to take a bite...but then...

"Wait!" Lance cried as he grabbed Keith by the wrist. "Don't eat that!!"

"Oh, come on, man, I'm hungry!" Keith complained.

"Yeah but it has a face on it!" Lance questioned.

"Wha...?" Keith muttered before he looked down...only to see a real human face on the peach's surface, which caused him to gasp as he dropped the fruit. "Whoa! Okay, I'm not THAT hungry!!"

"Stats!" Stats grimaced as he pushed the peach away with his foot and Kiaion batted at it with his paws.

"I knew that you guys had peculiar-looking fruits," Shiro said "but...a peach with a man's face?! Where did they even come from?!"

"They don't just look human," said Keith. "They even have a human energy! This is freaky, even by my standards!"

"Look!" Hunk pointed. "Here comes more of them!"

The group looked up to see several more peaches floating down the river, all of them bearing human faces!

"Unbelievable!" Lance exclaimed.

"Oh, man..." Keith muttered. "I don't really like it when food looks back at me!"

"Where did they all come from?" asked Pidge while Kiaion tilted his head, mewling in confusion.

"...I sense something evil is afoot," Lance spoke, ominously.

"What do you think, Keith?" Shiro asked. You think we should look into it? We're still trying to find the quintessence crystal shards, right?"

"...For now, the quintessence Crystal can wait," said Keith. "This just reeks of a dark daemon's work, and where there's a daemon, there just might be the Galra involved."

"That figures..." Shiro muttered while Hunk and Pidge both sighed and Lance and Stats just shook their heads, exasperated. Nonetheless, the heroes followed the trail of strange fruits to their source.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a deep fog...a young, scrawny man was seen, running down the rocky trail, his clothes tattered and his face smudged with dirt and what looked like dried blood.

"T-This should be safe enough…" the young man cried as he looks behind. "I can't believe I let myself be fooled!-OOMPH!!" he gasped in horror upon seeing a large, rotund man, holding a staff with leaves on it. He had on a fur vest and a black and blue striped robe and brown pants and he had a guard tied to his waist.

"And just where are you going?" he asked. "And just as I accepted you as my disciple."

The young man whimpered in fear as he backed away.

"After I made you an apprentice… Sneaking away from training!" the larger man went on. "You were suffering from exposure and hunger. Then you were forced to fight in the war", He then grinned...revealing a mouth full of sharp fangs. "but you didn't want to die like a worm. You were the very one who said that to me!"

"F-Forgive me!" the young man cried as he dropped to his hands and knees, tears of fear forming in his eyes. "P...please, spare me!"

"Are you telling me what to do!" said his 'teacher'. "Such a fool!"

The big man opens the gourd on his guard which starts to suck in the man who becomes smaller and smaller until he enters in the gourd.

Sometime soon after, the large hermit was seen, sitting at the edge of a cliff.

"Hmph...the fool," he muttered...holding the gourd in his hand. "If he'd just become a hermit master, he'd have lived a long life." He then open the gourd and pour a strange purple liquid onto the ground.

Concurrently, somewhere down below, Keith and company were walking through the dense fog, being careful not to trip and accidentally slip off the riverbank.

"This fog is so thick," said Lance "I could through it with a knife."

"We have climbed quite a ways, haven't we?" asked Keith.

"I've got a bad feeling," Shiro said while Stats drifted alongside him. "Keep your eyes open, everyone."

Just then...

Hunk gasped as he looked around.

"You guys heard that, right?" he asked.

"It came from somewhere up ahead," Shiro replied.

"Be prepared for anything," Keith said as the group rounded the corner...and through the mist, they could see a huge tree, sitting on the river's edge.

"Please...someone...anyone...!" a voice called, causing the group to gasp.

"The voices are coming from...the tree?!" asked Pidge.

"How Weird," said Lance as the group approached the tree...and to their shock, they saw many of the same human-faced fruits dangling from its branches...and some of them still looked mostly human!

"Stats!" Stats screamed. "Stats!"

"There are heads growing out of the tree!!" Hunk cried.

"Ugh...that's enough to make me lose my appetite," Keith grimaced.

"Someone...please, help...!" whispered the head of an old man.

"Help you?" Lance inquired as he approached the tree. "With what, exactly?"

"And who are you people?" Shiro asked.

"...We were devoured...by the peach man man of the mountain," said the old man's head.

"The...the peach man?" Keith repeated.

"So it's not a daemon?" Shiro questioned.

"We are all people who grew tired of this world," the old man answered. "We left our homes to escape from the war! we heard rumors of a mountain paradise on Earth...tended by an ancient master...but we were fooled. We were meant to be food for the hermit known as Tōkajin, the Peach Man."

"Tōkajin?" Shiro repeated.

Keith scoffed. "Idiots. Taken in by a stupid story."

"Keith!" Shiro chided before he looked at the heads. "Please forgive him."

"Is there a way for us to help?" asked Pidge. "Any way at all?"

"It is too late for us," said the old man. "However...I am certain that there are others up on the mountain that have yet to be devoured...if you can save them..."

All of a sudden, the group heard a strange Pouring sound, causing them to look up...only to see nothing but a purple liquid, the same one, fall in front of them. Stats yelped as he hid behind Keith, who remained unfazed.

"What is that!" Shiro said

"Look!" Pidge pointed out as the roots of the tree started to sucking in the liquid, and soon after, another face began to appear on the branches!

"It's another fruit...or head or something!" Shiro exclaimed.

"It must be from the owner of then liquid that the tree consumed," said the old man. "A head of enchanted fruit...the heart of the Peach Man's elixir of youth and longevity..."

"Youth and longevity?" Hunk repeated.

"Sounds more like a dark daemon to me," said Keith before he looked up at the cliffs from which the bones fell. "Well, I'll soon take care of him, no problem!"

With that, he soon leaped up into the air, climbing up the cliffs on his own.

"Keith!" cried Shiro. "What're you doing?!"

"Keith!" Lance called. "Don't you think it would be better if we all went up together!"

"I can't come up and down these cliffs and lug you all up, one-by-one!" Keith called. "By the time we all get up there, it'll be sunset! Just wait here for me!"

With that, he disappeared beyond the fog.

"...Is it me?" Hunk asked "Or maybe he's so impatient, sometimes!"

"I don't know, He seems to be nervous!" Pidge said.

"Really, I was thinking the exact same thing!" Lance answered.

"Mew!" Kiaion mewled in agreement.

"Sunset?" Shiro repeated. "What could Keith be nervous about!"

"Stats!" asked Stats.

"Huh?" Shiro asked. "What is it, Stats?"

"Stats!" Stats said.

"Ever since the attack of the Spider heads!" Shiro began, "You had been keeping track of the moon, every night!"

"Stats!" Stats said "Stats!"

"And, well, last night was a crescent moon, so...that means..." Shiro gasped in horror, realizing what Stats meant. "Lunar month? The night of the new moon! The night that Keith loses his powers and becomes a mortal And if he tries to fight Tōkajin..."

"We have to get up there!" Shiro urged "Right now!!"

"Huh?" Hunk asked. "Why?"

"I'll explain on the way!" Keith answered. "Hurry!!"

Up on the mountain cliffs where a temple lies amidst the fog, Tōkajin was seen sitting inside his room, taking a bite out of one of the human peaches while being fanned by small animals in kimonos.

"Ahh..." he sighed. "Damn! No Fruit of Longevity yet! Eating this is becoming boring."

Suddenly, the door was kicked off its hinges, causing the animals to scatter in fright...and in walked, Keith.

"What's this?" asked Tōkajin. "A black-hair man?" He then chuckled, darkly. "My...you're a tough-looking one, aren't you, boy?"

"The name's Keith," Keith spoke while cracking his knuckles. "You're this 'Peach Man' I heard about, right? Well, guess what: you're gonna die, today."

Outside...the sun was slowly setting beyond the mountaintops.

"Wait a minute, I'm confused," said Lance as he sat on top of Pidge's balloon form with Shiro while Hunk was riding on Kiaion's back, both flying up to the mountain. "Why is it so imperative that we get Keith out of there before sunset?"

"Tonight's the night of the new moon!" Shiro exclaimed, urgently. "It's the night where Keith turns into a human and loses his daemonic powers until daybreak!"

"That's right!" Hunk exclaimed. "I heard about this from my Father! Half-daemons have a period in which they're left in a temporary state of vulnerability!"

"And Keith turns human tonight!" Pidge exclaimed. "If he tries to fight the Peach Man now, he could get killed!"

Hunk glanced up at the mountaintop before a look of determination etched his face, then he looked back at the others.

"Kiaion and I will go and help him," he said. "You three, see if you can find the rest of the Peach Man's prisoners."

"Are you sure, Hunk?" asked Lance.

"Just go!" Hunk answered. "We'll be fine!"

"If you say so," Shiro replied.

"Kiaion! Fly higher!" Hunk commanded, and with a roar, Kiaion soon ascended higher into the mist-covered peaks while Pidge took Shiro, Stats and Lance and flew off in a different direction. All the while, the young man could only watch, worriedly.

"Keith...Hunk...Kiaion...please be careful...!" he thought.

Keith glared at Tōkajin, who sat up from his place on the floor while his animal servants scattered from the room.

"Humph…what do you want?" T��kajin said.

"Are you the one who planted this demon tree??" Keith asked while eyeing the Peach Man's rotund body. "Damn…I don't pick up any dark energy from him, but he reeks of dead men." He then drew his dagger from its sheath.

"I'll finish him in just one swing," he thought. "This guy's so fat, he probably can't even stand. This is too easy."

"Prepare to die, !!" the half-daemon yelled as he stab his dagger at Tōkajin's stomach...but to his shock, the blade ended up bouncing off his round belly like it was a piece of rubber! "What the world?!"

"All that blubber on him repelled my weapon!!" he thought.

"Hmph...impudent fool," scoffed Tōkajin as he held up his staff. "I don't know who you are where you come from, boy daemon...but you should know that I don't just pose as an ancient master of Togenkyo."

"Ancient master, my foot!" Keith glared as he clutched his dagger's hilt. "You're nothing but an murderer!"

"Keith!!"

Keith gasped as he turned to see Hunk come rushing in with Kiaion at his side.

"Hunk! What are you doing here?!" he questioned. "Go back! I've got this covered!!"

Suddenly, Tōkajin swung his staff, causing tiny flowers to come sprouting out of it.

"Huh?" Hunk muttered. "Flowers?"

Keith scoffed. "You think you can scare us with some measly little flower show?"

"Look closely at them," Tōkajin said with a toothy grin...and suddenly, the flowers began to grow huge!

"What the-?!" Keith questioned. "Why are they growing?!!"

"They're not growing," Hunk replied as he looked around. "We're shrinking!!"

Keith gasped as he saw that now, both he and Hunk had shrunk down to the size of rats. The only who hadn't shrunken was Kiaion!

"Crap!!" Keith cursed.

"Look out!!" Hunk shouted as Tōkajin reached down and points his gourd at them.

"If you're truly a sage, why'd you stoop to this?!" Keith cried.

"Kiaion!!" Hunk called to the shocked nekomata. "Go find Shi-"

Tōkajin opens his gourd and him and Keith before he could finish his plea are sucked into the gourd, then glanced over at Kiaion, who growled at him as his fur bristled. Before the Peach Man could reach for him, however, he let out a hiss before he skittered off to find Shiro.

"Hmph...damn cat," Tōkajin grumbled before he glanced down at the floor...where he saw Keith's dagger in its powerless form as well as Hunk's Energy Minigun.

Back outside, Pidge was still trying to carry Shiro, Stats, and Lance up to the mountain temple...but it seemed that the young fox daemon was beginning to slow down.

"Ugh...haa...phew!" she panted.

"Hang in there a little longer, Pidge!" Shiro said. "We're almost there!"

"You're quite strong for someone your size, Pidge," Lance added.

"Why does that sound like an insult?" Pidge asked with a glare.

"I hope Hunk found Keith..." said Shiro as he looked up to the temple. "I hope he hasn't turned human, yet!"

"Ugh...S...Shiro...Lance" Pidge groaned. "I'm sorry...but I can't hold on anymore!"

"What?" Shiro asked...but then, POOF!! Pidge returned to her fox form.

"...Uh-oh..." Lance muttered before they soon fell towards the bottom, causing them to scream as Shiro grabbed Pidge and Stats and pulled them safely into his arms. Luckily for them, though, they managed to land on a cliff that was covered with soft bushes, thus breaking their fall.

"Phew!" Shiro sighed in relief. "That was a close one..." he then looked down at Pidge, who had a dazed look in his eyes. "You okay, ?"

"I'm sorry, Shiro," said Pidge. "I couldn't hold that form for much longer."

"You did the best you could," Lance replied before he looked around...and that's when he noticed a stone stairway. "Hello? What have we here?"

"Stairs?" Shiro asked before he began to walk down them with Lance, Pidge, and Stats following after him, and they soon entered what appeared to be a storage, filled with guns and pots of herbs and plants...but what caught their eye the most was the square box in the middle of the room.

"What is this place?" asked Shiro.

"If I had to guess," Lance began, "I'd say we're in Tōkajin's lair."

"And what's this?" Shiro asked as he looked at the box...and saw what looked like a scale model of a tiny village...no, more like a garden. "It...looks like a miniature garden."

That's when he saw something really shocking: there was a tiny man inside the garden...actually walking about. In fact, there were several of them walking around, running about, or plucking peaches from the tiny trees inside the garden!

"There are people in there!" Shiro exclaimed.

"Do they live here?" Pidge said as she looked inside, too. "And looks like they're pretty comfortable!"

"These people must be Tōkajin's imminent victims," Lance noted. "We have to find a way to get them out."

"Yeah, but how...?" Shiro muttered as he looked closer into the garden...and soon The bottle of Quintessence crystal shards in Shiro's pocket floats out and enlarges.

"The Quintessence crystal Shards are growing!" Pidge questioned. "And the box garden is getting bigger, too!"

"That's not it… We're shrinking!" Lance cried. "Don't look directly at it!!"

Too late. Suddenly, the trio found themselves sitting on a hill, surrounded by peach trees and vegetables.

"Where are we?" Pidge said.

"We're inside the garden...!" Shiro whispered in shock.

"This must be the work of Tōkajin's magic," said Lance.

"Oh, well that's just great," Shiro muttered in annoyance as a listless man walk past them.

"What?! What'll we do? Will we end up living here?!" Pidge said.

"We must find a way out! I'm worried about Keith. And the Shards, too." Shiro said, determined.

Just then, Tōkajin entered the room, groaning as he rubbed his huge belly and looks at Keith and Hunk's weapons. "Hmm…no matter how I look at them, they'd just a rusty, old weapons. Oh well…"

He looked out of the corner of his eye and noticed a pristine pink glow, causing him to turn to see Shiro's piece of the Quintessence crystal, which caused him to grin. "Well, well...what have we here?" He soon picked the fragments up. "Two fragment of the quintessence crystal! Just my luck..." He then opened up his robe, causing his stomach to come jiggling out...and inside his navel was another familiar glow.

"Just this one tiny shard of the chrystal has given me a body that will repel even the strongest of swords," said Tōkajin as he placed the larger fragment inside his belly button. "So I wonder...how much stronger will this fragment make me?" He then cackled before he picked up a huge jar. "Today just keeps getting better and better!" Soon, he poured the jar's contents down his throat.

"Cursed him!!"

Keith tried to climb his way up the fleshy wall, Inside the gourd of Tōkajin while Hunk stood beneath him...standing on a partially melted bone.

"Wait a minute, Keith!" Hunk cried, but then, Keith gasped as he was suddenly hit by a torrent of purple liquid, causing him to scream as he fell back down into the pit of Tōkajin's gourd.

"Ugh...bleh!" Keith cried as he sat up, completely drenched. "What the hell is this stuff?! It reeks of medicine!"

"Whoa!!" Hunk cried as he jumped onto another bone, just as the one he was standing on melted completely. "We have to find a way out of here, or we'll both be melting away!!"

"Looks like I've got no choice," said Keith as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll just rip its open from the inside!"

Keith punch his knuckles at the wall of flesh...but to his shock, his hand ended up bouncing right off of it!

"Curses!" Keith cursed. "This gourd is rubbery inside as he is, outside!"

"Maybe I can try something," said Hunk as he drew his assassin gauntlets, he yelled as he tried to pierce through Tōkajin's gourd with his weapon...but he ended up getting knocked back as well! "Shoot! Not even a dent!"

"If I just had my Dagger!" Keith exclaimed...but then, he gasped as he felt his body pulse. "Oh, no...no, not now!"

"What is it?" Hunk asked as he glanced over at Keith...only to gasp as he saw his black hair beginning to turn brown and his eyes turning a deep brown color. "Keith?!"

Keith gasped before he hurried climbed onto the same bone that Hunk was on...but it was slowly beginning to melt from the digestive juices in the gourd.

"Hunk...if we don't find a way out in the next three minutes, we'll be kissing our butts goodbye!!" Keith shouted.

Keith and Hunk couldn't believe the predicament that they were in. It was the night of the new moon and Keith has just lost his powers. He and Hunk were trapped inside Tōkajin's gourd, and if they didn't get out quick, they would soon be digested in a matter of minutes!

"Do something!" Hunk urged.

"If I had an idea, I would have done it by now!" Keith argued before he looked around, frantically...and suddenly, he spotted an eerily familiar glow on the side of the wall of flesh. "Huh?"

"...That light...it looks like the quintessence crystal's glow!" Hunk exclaimed.

"His gourd is translucent- AGH!!" Keith started, only to yell as he put his hand against Tōkajin's gourd fleshy wall and pulled it back as he felt a burning sensation. "Ah, dammit! I'm starting to feel the pain!"

"I hope Kiaion's found Shiro!" Hunk whispered.

"I don't understand the situation. For starters, let's talk to the men here."

Shiro and Lance stood over the several men and women that were just lying around on the ground in Tōkajin's miniature garden, acting as if they didn't have a care in the world. Actually...it was more than that, they meditating under a tree.

"Excuse me… What are you all doing here?" said Shiro.

"This isn't the real world. Do you realize that?" Lance called.

"Please…are you listening?!" Pidge said.

"Don't interfere! We're in the midst of training." said the one of the Men!

"Training?" Shiro called

"We are training in here to become sages." said a young woman.

"Training to become sages?" said Lance.

"When we become as strong as sages, we'll be released from here and Master Tokajin will give us the Fruit of Longevity." said a another man.

"Tokajin?" Shiro said "the villain who put you in here?"

"Master Tokajin rescued us from hunger and war! He is our saviour! Don't speak ill of him!" said a another woman.

Shiro gasps at this as the sun is almost setting.

Meanwhile, Tōkajin was sitting down on the floor, being tended to by his animal servants while he held Keith's dagger in his hand while Hunk's gun was propped up against a wall along with a collection of swords and other weapons.

"Hmm..." he hummed as he swung the dagger, but nothing happened. "I have never seen a luxite blade before, How did that boy get a blade like this!"

"Maybe if we hit that glowing point, we can get out of here!" Hunk shouted as he stood on a melting bone, who drew his sword's sheath from his hip.

"Let's see if the scabbard works against this!" Keith shouted before he pushed the sheath against the stomach wall.

"Huh?" Tōkajin muttered as he looked down at his gourd, only to shake in annoyance. He then gave his gourd a harsh smack. "Stop struggling and just digest, already!"

"OOF!!" Keith cried as he was knocked back, right into the acid, knocking Hunk into it, as well. "AGH!!, it burns!!!"

"Hang on, Keith!!" Hunk cried before he waded through the acid, flinching from the burns before he grabbed him and began to try and pull him to safety...but when he turned around, the bone she had stood on had completely dissolved. "Oh, no..."

Keith groaned as he looked at his jacket and pants, only to see that parts of it were beginning to tatter.

"Shit..." Keith cursed. "My clothes is starting to dissolve."

"My clothes are starting to melt, too," said Hunk as he looked down at the hem of his pants, which was beginning to melt off, as well, and he could feel the acid beginning to burn his feet.

"Heh..." Keith smirked, humorlessly. "I guess...this is the end of the road for us, Hunk."

"Don't think like that!" Hunk argued. "There has to be a way for us to get out of here!"

Then, all of a sudden...BA-BUMP! Keith Dagger's scabbard began to pulse.

"Huh?" Hunk muttered as he looked at the sheath. "What's going on?"

Keith gasped silently as the sheath pulsated, again.

"My sheath...it's trying to call my dagger back to it!" he exclaimed as he stood up. "Urgh...we might be able to get out of here, yet!"

"How?!" Hunk questioned before Keith held up the scabbard.

he declared. "COME TO ME!!"

Outside, Keith's dagger began to rattle and shake on the floor, which Tōkajin noticed.

"Huh?" he muttered...but then, the dagger suddenly rose up into the air and flew towards the gourd on Tōkajin's waist. "Huh?! W-What…? That luxite blade!!"

Tink! Keith's dagger strikes Tōkajin's gourd.

"What was that all about...huh!!" Tōkajin said as he tries to dislodge it from the gourd.

Whoa!" Hunk cried as the purple liquid flows out through the hole. "What's going on?!"

"Hang on tight, Hunk!!" Keith shouted. "I think we're about to get upchucked!!!"

"What?!" Hunk questioned.

"What…?" Tōkajin said as a wave of purple fluids came spewing out of his gourd...along with Keith and Hunk, who both grew back to normal size!

"GAH!!" Keith gasped while he grabbed his sword. "Ugh...and I thought...he smelled bad...on the outside!"

"You're that daemon kid!" Tōkajin said.

"Of course! This is payback time!" Keith said

Hunk panted as he looked around, then gasped as he saw his minigun propped up against the wall.

"My gun!" he exclaimed as he ran to grab it, but then Tōkajin growled as he suddenly leapt up into the air!

"Why you! You won't get away!" he roared as his belly transforms into stone.

"HUNK, WATCH OUT!!!" Keith shouted as he tried to run to his rescue. The daemon explore turned around, only to gasp in horror as he saw Tōkajin's massive belly plummeting towards him, but then, Keith pushed him out of the way, causing him to get pinned down, instead!

"AAAAAAAGH!!" Keith screamed.

"KEITH!!" Hunk cried in alarm.

"Hmph..." Tōkajin harrumphed as he stood up, then picked Keith up by his hair. The half-daemon turned human groaned...his right arm hanging limp beside him while blood dripped from his mouth. "I get it, now...you're a half-daemon, aren't you?"

Keith opened his eyes as he glanced down at Tōkajin's stomach...and that's when he noticed the crystal fragment in his navel.

"That's...that's Shiro's crystal fragment!" he thought.

"Hey, butt smack..." Keith hissed. "Where'd you get that shard?!"

"Hmm?" Tōkajin hummed as he looked down at his navel. "Oh, this? I found out near my secret garden."

"...Oh, no...don't tell me something happened to Shiro and the others...!" Hunk whispered.

"...Where's Shiro?" Keith asked.

"Who?" Keith asked. "I don't know who you're talking about, boy. I found this, so that makes it mine!"

"Don't play dumb with me!!" Keith barked. "Where's Shiro?! If you hurt him, then I-" He was suddenly silenced when Tōkajin grabbed his already broken arm and squeezed it, causing him to scream in even more pain as he felt the bones crack.

"Silence!" Tōkajin said. "I'll just turn you and that boy over there into fertilizer for the Demon Tree!"

"Put him down!!" Hunk shouted as he blasted his gun at Tōkajin, who grunted as he was getting shot at, causing him to drop Keith! "Keith, are you okay?!"

"My...my arm...!" Keith groaned as his right arm dangled beside him.

"Come on, get up," said Hunk as he helped him to his feet. "We gotta get outta here."

"But...what about Shiro?" Keith asked.

"Kiaion will find him, I'm sure of it," Hunk replied. "Let's just go!"

"Why you...!" Tōkajin growled as he tried to charge at the pair, only for Hunk to reach inside his pants and pull out a smoke bomb, which he tossed to the ground and made a smokescreen, clouding the Peach Man's vision. As Tōkajin coughed, Keith and Hunk hurried out of the room, the former holding his broken arm beside him. Once the smoke had dissipated, Tōkajin looked around, only to see that they were gone.

"Damn!" he cursed. "They got away...no matter...I still have other victims...which reminds me..."

Hunk and Keith panted as they sat against the floor of another room. This one looked like some sort of pantry, judging by the jars and old roots hanging off the walls.

"Keith, are you all right?" Hunk asked. "How's your arm?"

"...I...I can barely feel it..." Keith replied as he looked at his right arm. "It hurts...!"

"That looks bad," said Hunk as he inspected the broken limb. "How long would it take to heal?"

"If I had my powers," Keith began, "the bones in my arm would set themselves properly and heal in about a day...but right now, since I'm human..." He hissed as he felt another jolt of pain.

"Hang on," Hunk said as he looked around, then picked up two pieces of broken wood and set them together, then he reached into his pants and pulled out a cloth, which she wrapped around Keith's arm, forming a makeshift splint. "When I first started to daemon exploring, I broke my arm, once. My Father did this for me when it happened."

"...You're...pretty good," Keith said.

"I can only do so much," said Hunk as he used another cloth to make a sling. "Once we find Shiro, maybe he can help."

"I hope that fatso doesn't find him, Lance, Pidge, and Stats before we do," Keith said.

Soon Keith limped down the hallway while Hunk held him to his side. As they did, Keith could only think about one thing.

"Please, Shiro...until my powers return...please, stay away from that guy...!!"