A Spider Reborn

Chapter 1

The note that was taped to my face said 'Your name is Peter, protect the fox of Kyoto and listen to the sun'... No directions given, no memory of who I am, what I was doing, or how I got there. I just awoke in an alley, alone, in a city I did not recognize...

Great start to any day if ever there was one.

All I had in me was a red t-shirt with a spider design on it, basic blue jeans, and black sneakers. There was a Fallout 76 canvas backpack (which pissed me off for some unknown reason but hey at least it wasn't nylon right?) with a post it note that said 'Peter's only God given help'.

Of course the all seeing sticky notes had one small oversight... I was completely lost as soon as I woke up. I could of course read the note and could speak the language of the note, so piecing together that info that led me to believe that I could just ask around right?

But no, of course it is never that easy! What are you? Stupid?!

I awoke in an Asian city where they couldn't speak English! Also whoever said foreigners are treated equally needs to be slapped. Whenever I tried to talk to an adult, they just walked away muttering in their language... Something about gaijins or something... Anyway so I had no idea where I was, as no offense, but to an outsider who never really studied Asian culture, I couldn't tell whether the symbols in the sides of buildings and streets were Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or whatever. They were not English so they might as well be in alien for all they did for me.

So that's how my crappy day started, stupidly walking around a city I never seen before without basic details like who I was, why am I here, and why am I listening to a note that was taped on my head, and looking for a fox... Now that I think about it is their foxes in Asia?

As I searched for the maybe nonexistent needle in an unfamiliar haystack, I pondered my own case of amnesia. I can recall basic knowledge, such as geography, but my memories were gone. I deduced that I was probably in Japan recognizing the name of Kyoto, but I had no memory on where I learned that, for example. The strange thing was that I was otherwise fine. No pounding headache, no physical pain, in fact I felt rather good...

Well aside from the fact I felt smaller than I should be, but again I had no idea why I felt that...

After a few annoying hours of walking down streets and alleyways I started noticing that I was passing less and less people as I walked around. Normally I would celebrate as these people were rather unwilling to try and help me, but this was an urban environment. There are always people, one way or another. And after awhile I did find another two people dressed rather official looking with black suits and everything.

A shame they were beaten bloody and dumped right outside of a random alley. They might have helped me out.

I decided against my better judgement and went to investigate the alley myself. You know, like an idiot. Who was going to stop me? The voice in my head?

Oh yeah forgot to mention him. Ever since I woke up their have been whispering in my mind. Dispite it being a deep tone, it was just quiet enough to be nonundertandable. I didn't want to mention it because I would've sounded crazy. Crazy enough to walk into a dark alley after finding two with half of completely dead dudes outside it. Funny how that works huh?

Inside their was three large overweight men in biker jackets surrounding a girl in a red and white Japanese looking (kendo?) dress. She was my height and looked around twelve or thirteen. My first thought was that didn't sound right. I should be older right?

You may ask why I wasn't thinking about helping the girl. Good question! The answer is I was already intervening with the 3 guys that are probably three times my size, before my higher reasoning ever got a chance to kick in and I threw a nearby rock as hard as I can at the closest guy...

Apparently too hard... The rock struck home with more force than I realistically should of and literally embedded itself in his skull with a sickening crack. The guy went down immediately and blood started to pool around his head.

The other two quickly turn to look at me and started yelling in their language. I was more concerned with the guy I beamed with a rock. Was he dead?... No he's twitching and he seems to be breathing. We're good!

Then one of the men swung a bat at me. As he swung time seemed to slow down and my instincts started to take over. With agility I didn't know I had, I backflipped dodging the metal bludgeon, creating distance between us. He and his friend charged me and started to swing wildly at me. As I was gracefully dodging around them I started to taunt them.

"Yo guys, sorry for barging in, but didn't your mothers tell you? Girls will like you more if you treat them well. Actually looking at you guys... No girls wouldn't date people as fat and ugly as you. May I suggest plastic surgery and dieting? Might do wonders! You could get real girlfriends and stop annoying children!"

I couldn't tell if it was either the fact that they couldn't touch me or they understood what I said, but they roared in rage. They started convulsing and their pupils started to change to slits. Their skin turned to green scales and their nails to claws. Their face became reptilian.

I was speechless as this happened. They looked into my eyes and smirked and licked their lips. They dropped their weapons and lunged towards me much faster than before. I was able to avoid the worst case scenario, but one of their claws raked my side.

The one that got me looked at his now bloody claws while glancing at me with a predatory smirk as he slowly extended his tongue and licked it off slowly. Then his eyes brightened and he jumped at me again. Then a feminine voice spoke up from behind me. Too bad I still couldn't understand what anyone was saying!

A stream of black fire shot from above me and caught the lizard dude in mid flight and shot him into the side of the alley. His screams were deafening as the flames spread and burned him alive. He tried to extinguish them but they eventually engulfed his entire body. After a few minutes the guy stopped yelling and lay still as the flames turned him to ash.

I looked toward the voice and saw a woman but my vision was getting blurry. The cut must have been deeper than I thought. The second lizard tried to run but with a flick of her hand he was suddenly pulled throat first into her grasp. She spoke in the unknown language and flicked his forehead knocking him out cold. Then she turned to me and studied me carefully and curiously. She then spoke.

"Here I was thinking I was only doing a favor to Yasa-chan to find her daughter and a nekoushou she was with. But now I find not two lost children but three. And not just any lost child but an inert foreign longeinus user. How rare."

I then turned back to the girl I saved and sure enough their was another one. A white haired girl with a black cat hairclip. She must have been hiding. Both of the girls then ran to me and started yelling things in their native language over and over while crying into my shirt.

The fire lady chuckled "You have no idea what they are saying, so you? They are thanking you. Those girls were kidnapped a week ago and must have temporarily got away. Those criminals must have wanted to sell them into slavery. You have my thanks for defending them."

She then walked up to me and laid her hand over my wounded side and the cut started rapidly healing on its own. I was too tired to really care about the action. I just say men turn to lizards and get taken out by black fire and a forehead flick. Logic was discarded long before this...

The lady smiled, "Well since the princess and her friend probably won't let you go willingly, can you please come with me to their home? I'm sure Yasa-chan would like to meet the noble hero that saved her daughter."

"Wait a second, who are you? Why are you crediting me for saving them? What are they?" I asked. She giggled at my rapid fire questions.

"Ah, your attitude is rather refreshing. Nice to see not everyone treats me with unquestioned reverence. In order then, you can call me Ama. The one you knocked out was their leader who could've teleported them away and they are known as lizard men by the other yokai. Now please, come with me. I would rather not have to pry Lady Kunou and Lady Shirone off of you. They have strong grips."

"You got a car?" I asked deciding to go with her rather than risking pissing off a human shaped blowtorch.

She smiled, "Nope I'm going to teleport us directly there."

Can anything be normal in Japan....