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[Amaterasu]

"Mother Amaterasu... wake up. Wake up please."

"Hmmnh...? What... who... who is this, where..."

"Wake up. It is me, Bakugami. Mother Amaterasu, wake up..."

The Sun Goddess opened her eyes and found herself lying on her back. Behind her was a massive tree which seemed frozen in time, the cherry petals dropping from it were stuck in midair, and the sky above her was dark like at night. A number of stars were brightly lit, she could mke out the shape of one of the Celestial Brush Gods. As she rolled around to push herself up with her hands she took notice of the thick grass between her fingers and the large stone block that had been behind her. This is where I woke up when I met Arthuria... the white plains. But why was she being woken up by Bakugami this time? The Celestial Brush Boar God had not been anywhere nearby the last time.

Well, no matter... she raised her eyes to the sky and reached for her hair, to grab her Brush. As she did so she noticed something new: her sleeves were torn and ripped, and a look over the rest of her attire revealed that the rest of her dress was even worse: it was torn, dirty, covered in blood and with fading colors. The... I remember now. The Graveyard... Hero Teucer... Somerled and Trunks... she had shielded Trunks from mortal injury at the hands of Warlock, then everything had gone black. She had been bleeding out before that, and then she had died. And the Hero Teucer had given her some Omnilium for her help... had she died and returned? Omni's words returned to mind.

"Do not fear death. For as long as you interest me, you will be reborn."

She had been not just reincarnated, but given the same body. She had come back as she had been at the moment of her death... although her wounds were healed and the pains were gone. But apparently her clothes didn't count into the equation. But she was losing track... Bakugami needed her aid. "I apologize for the delay, Baku. I will free you, just give me a moment..." With her Celestial Brush in hand, she drew a number of lines into the sky, linking the stars until they formed the correct constellation. Moments later it sprung to life, and the boar God Bakugami as well as his four piglets sprung out of the sky. The world turned white, everything disappeared except for Amaterasu, Bakugami and the piglets, who landed before Amaterasu and spoke.

"Amaterasu... Origin of all that is good and mother to us all... it has been a long time since we have met." Bakugami spoke whilst balancing on one of his large bombs wrapped in colorful paper.

"It has, Baku. I trust you have been okay?" the Sun Goddess replied as she bent down and petted the piglets, who played with each other and ran around the Sun Goddess, between her legs and only stopping for moments at a time to enjoy the pettings.

"It was weird. I have been with you throughout the time in Nippon, but then..."

"... you were drawn elsewhere. You aren't the first this has happened to, Baku... we were all drawn to this new world, and you all have been scattered across the world once again. Kaze and Tachi are already with me, but I am looking for the others. I didn't expect to run into you here."

"I have awakened a while ago, Tachi's voice called out to me... but you were nowhere to be found."

"This world is divided. There are a number of dimensions loosely linked to each other... I was somewhere different when I found Tachi, he must have awakened you all, but I did not return here, to the Nexus. It was... a lengthier story. But I am here now."

"That you are, Mother Amaterasu. In that case, I will join the others, and bestow on you the Cherry Bomb technique." Bakugami and the piglets turned into a number of kanji which flew into Amaterasu, and the world returned to its normal state. Amaterasu found herself at the fountain once again, near the tree where she had once come to the Omniverse for the first time. On the second sight she could see the little differences that hinted that it wasn't Nippon. The cherry tree did not have Sakuya's aura to it, the river lacked the life force of the Star River, and the path was also off. She hadn't taken notice the first time around... but now that she had seen it and knew the truth, she noticed.

However, the Sun Goddess did not do as she had done last time. Her clothing was torn, her body dirty and bloody even though her injuries were healed - she was in no state to travel, and much less presentable. Her clothes were unrepairable, she could tell. No point in keeping them... so she simply stripped out of them, put them into a pile by the river, and sunk into the waters to bathe. After soaking her body and hair with the fresh water she took up a seat on the side and stroked over the clothing, wondering if she could "remove" the Omnilium she had used to make them. It would save her from littering the place and give back some Omnilium, since she would make new clothing anyway. As she sat there and tried, a thin film of rainbow energy, like a rainbow-colored thread, unraveled itself and disappeared into her chest, without breaking off. The clothes indeed turned back to their original state, into raw Omnilium, though it was a time-consuming process. But, it worked out.

Minutes went by and the miko dress vanished entirely from Amaterasu's hands, followed by the remainder of her attire. Then she sunk back into the river and cleaned off the grime now that it was properly soaked with water and easy to wash off. Simultaneously to that she pictured her clothing in her head and focused her Omnilium reserves to create a new, fresh set, followed by her Yasakani no Magatama - she needed her weaponry back, after all. The river water was not strong enough to pull her along or break her concentration to any point where it mattered, and without any interruptions of other nature after some twenty minutes had passed she opened her eyes to a neatly folded dress, sash, thighhighs and everything else she had worn before, lying by the side of the river, as well as her Prayer Bead Chain, ready to be worn or used.

"Baku, Tachi and Kaze are back with me... but there are so many left yet. Perhaps if I only briefly visited each of these places if they are all linked to the central Nexus, I could gather the remaining Celestial Brush Gods", Amaterasu spoke to herself whilst looking at the cherry tree above her. She would need their aid if she was to bring any sort of order to this place. She needed her powers... without them she was borderline useless, she had painfully realized in the Graveyard. What had she accomplished? She had only saved an ally from death by intercepting a blast with her dying body, and caused grief for the others. She could not allow this to happen again. She had to grow stronger... much stronger. With a determined gaze in her eyes she climbed out of the river, rudimentarily dried herself with a Galestorm Celestial Brush technique, then put her clothes back on. Finally she descended from the hill into the main area of the Nexus and looked around. Where to next, now... or perhaps there were people around still, people from the Graveyard? Trunks or Somerled, or anyone else that she had met?

[Amaterasu]

Amaterasu was woken up from her half daydream half tought-train when the Nexus fountain behind her shifted its shape, returning from a large mountain with river to a simple fountain spring, with water flowing over the sides and splashing into the pool at the base. It was a mesmerizing process to watch, both magnificient and frightening. This place, the Omniverse, must indeed be overflowing with power, if it could bring forth such wonders without even a hint of someone manipulating it. She was certain that that wasn’t the case… the fountain was switching by its own accord, perhaps by picking up the thoughts of those around itself and shifting into a shape reminding that person of their homeland, but nonetheless.

Then she raised her eyes back to the sky. What was illuminating this place? There was no sun, not even a real sky to be seen. It was all white, as if some great deity had forged this place on a big white canvas and gotten bored of it halfway in, leaving it with a patch of objects in the centre and a handful of portals on its eight corners, and just leaving the rest blank. The other places she had been to… the memory of Coruscant brought unease and nausea. That place was corrupted. Just like in Sei’an City where the Oni Blight had infected the Emperor and spreaded its vile mist and curses across the city… there was a deep, underlying corruption, a tumour that needed to be cut out if the populace had any hope of shrugging the blight off.

And the Graveyard of the Hero Teucer… it was nearly as bad. The Warlock still made her shudder. The memories she had from this place… they would never stop haunting her - the pain, fear, panic and, above it all, the desperation. Her only consolation was that she had saved a friend, Trunks, and helped. But had the Hero Teucer been saved from the Warlock? She had no way of knowing. Neither Trunks nor Somerled had been anywhere when she had woken up, and they were nowhere to be seen even now. Were they still fighting? Had the Warlock claimed them as his prisoners, or somehow kept them from ever leaving the Graveyard again? He was powerful enough to be able to…

Her eyes scouted the place. Though she could only see distant specs she knew that there had to be more portals – and thus, more locations. More verses. Were they as corrupt and dangerous as what she had seen? And, the single biggest question on her mind… where were the kami to care for this place? Had there been any, she would know, she was able to feel them. Had there been any in Coruscant? In the Graveyard? She had been… but the more time she spent here, the more she realized that she was no kami here. She was not mortal either, she would return if someone killed her. But she could be killed. Warlock… the fighters from the Graveyard… even the men in white that had taken her to Coruscant. They all could kill her. Warlock was a powerful being, more powerful even than the great Kyuubi and Orochi that she had battled, but Yami had been more powerful, and she had defeated him. She had been in possession of all Celestial Brush techniques as well as the Imperial Regalia – she had been at the peak of her power – back then, but even during the early days of her journey she had defeated beings of similar strength as the ones she had found in the Graveyard. She concluded that here in the Omniverse, she was a kami by title, not by body. And if there were other kami around, they either did not know or were unable to do anything about the matters that she had seen.

What did that mean? It meant that she needed to regain her position: she needed a place in the pantheon of the Omniverse. But there was only one being she could think of, which could do such. He had after all drawn her to this world, as he had said “because she interested him”, and he had given her the powers she now possessed, like the ability to manipulate Omnilium. If he could do things of such magnitude in strength, he could also give her the power she needed. The power to cleanse the Omniverse of the Blights that had befallen it, and return the Sunlight to it. She believed that she could do so. She had done it once, in Nippon. Now she could do it again.

Of course, she thought as she began walking, she needed to find Omni first. She would have to ask people… to find someone who knew.  Perhaps the other Primes knew. It had to be someone who had been around for a time, here in the Omniverse. She could only hope to run into someone like that, some day. Until then she needed to gather the remaining Celestial Brush Kami, and fight the corruption wherever she could. People would regain faith in the kami that way, and if it did not empower her like it had in Nippon it would at least back her up when she claimed her place in the pantheon.

… actually, why was she walking? She remembered how it had taken a very long time for the white men to arrive in the centre from the Gate to Coruscant, even in a fast-moving… armoured device of some sort. She sat down again, and began to focus. She needed something to get around fast. Issun came to her mind, her little flea-sized companion. He had ridden on her back throughout their journey. Perhaps it was time for her to take the same route? “Kazegami, I call upon you…” She mumbled as she pictured her friend, the Celestial Brush horse kami. He was but a spirit, he needed a body. A body that she could provide… well, she had never actually tried this, but she was certain that it would work. “I require your aid, for I cannot travel fast enough in this human form. Come use this body I am creating for you, and let us run like the wind.”

“I hear you and I obey, Mother Amaterasu. I’m coming…” Kazegami replied. Time ticked by, until Amaterasu felt a nudge against her forehead. Kazegami stood before her and smiled confidently before stepping forward so that he stood sideways towards her. Amaterasu got to her feet and climbed onto his back, smiling brightly. “Thank you. This way… I have a good feeling about it.” She then said and pointed towards one of the eight gates. Kazegami nodded and broke into a sharp gallop, heading straight into the white nothingness. Amaterasu cuddled against the kami’s mane, feeling safe. She had friends here, the Celestial Brush Kami would not leave her alone. Perhaps not all was hopeless after all.
 

For a long time, neither spoke a word as the Kami of Wind tirelessly galloped through the empty space of the Nexus. The gate before them grew bigger and bigger as they approached. They could see that it was a massive arc, made out of rocks, ice and frozen dirt. Even near it, one felt cold. But Amaterasu smiled. “Keep going. Ride through the gate.” She told Kazegami. This was like the Valley of Laochi Lake, in Kamui. It was there that her journey through Nippon had ended. She did not feel cold. This felt familiar. A strange warmth formed in her stomach.

As Amaterasu disappeared from the Nexus, her last thought was about the one she had met in Kamui, and whom she knew she would meet again where they were going.

Oki… I’m coming.