Episode 68

Shippo Gets an Angry Challenge is the sixty-eighth episode of the InuYasha anime.

Synopsis

 * 1) Shippō receives a challenge to a duel from the remaining member of the Thunder Demon Tribe, Sōten.
 * 2) Sōten utilizes many childish and under-handed (albeit effective) tactics to take out Shippō's friends, and the two do battle.
 * 3) When Shippō learns that Sōten is in fact a girl he concedes defeat in the duel, willingly handing over his crayons to her.

Summary
One day while walking through a meadow, an arrow is shot at Shippō from a passing cloud. Attached to the arrow is a duel invitation telling Shippō to fight Sōten, the last remaining Thunder Brother (see episodes 9 and 10). Inuyasha and the others see the invitation and they leave for the location specified in the invitation, much to Shippō's dismay.

Meanwhile, Sōten laughs menacingly as he received word from the cloud that the invitation has been sent. Back with Inuyasha, a petrified Shippō's slow movements aggravate Inuyasha, who then pushes Shippō towards the location with Tessaiga's sheath.

Elsewhere, Sōten, who is revealed to be a small child, tells the cloud, which turns out to be his little pet dragon Kōryū, his plans. His plans are very well researched and drawn out on paper with crude charcoal drawings. Kōryū acts out the first part of the plan by pushing a huge boulder at the group, thus separating Shippō from the others. Kōryū manages to capture Shippō in a net and whisks him off to Sōten's castle.

Miroku and Sango take off after Shippō. However, with help from some smoke, Kōryū manages to get Kirara "drunk" causing her to lose control and plummet to the ground. On the ground, Miroku and Sango see the source of the smoke and realize that it was a trap. Kōryū successfully traps the pair in a hole, with some help from a life-doll of a damsel in distress (Miroku's biggest weakness) over a pit.

At the castle, Shippō is surprised (and relieved) to see that Sōten is just a child. When Shippō calls Sōten a kid, Sōten just gets mad. Shippō proves his point by distracting him with a toy of his. This soon degrades to a war of drawings, as Sōten and Shippō both flash their drawings at each other.

Back with Kōryū, his trap for Kagome and Inuyasha fails because his crudely made Kagome doll fails to "sit" Inuyasha. Inuyasha grabs hold of Kōryū and demands that he take them to Sōten. He refuses and tries to act all tough, which just aggravates Inuyasha. As a result, Inuyasha bops him on the head three times. That soon proves to be a bad move and Kōryū transforms into a storm cloud and shoots lightning at Inuyasha and Kagome.

Shippō and Sōten are both exhausted from their doodle duel. Sōten asks Shippō why his drawings have such vibrant colors. He explains that its because of the crayons Kagome gave him. Sōten then tells Shippō that if he loses their duel, he has to hand over the crayons. Shippō agrees, and the duel is moved outside. Meanwhile, Cloud-Kōryū sends a lightning arrow straight at Kagome. Inuyasha throws himself into the path of the arrow and gets impaled by it.

Back with the duel, Shippō and Sōten throw their respective attacks at each other (Fox Fire and Lightning). Back with Inuyasha, much to Kagome's relief, Inuyasha gets up unscathed as the arrow is actually harmless. To get Kōryū to revert to his true form, Inuyasha just whacks him three times again. Now defenseless, Kōryū has no choice but to lead the two to Sōten's castle.

When the three arrive at the scene of the duel, Shippō and Sōten lie exhausted surrounded in seeds (Sōten had chucked heaps of acorn-like seeds at Shippō) and mushrooms (Shippō threw gobs of mushrooms at Sōten). Inuyasha seems a little irritated to find out that Sōten is a child. Kagome finds it cute and runs up to Sōten and starts hugging the child. When Kagome calls him a boy, she gets scolded by Sōten, who is actually a girl.

Kagome finds it all the more cute, while Shippō just finds it annoying. Shippō walks off and gives Sōten his crayons.

Later, Inuyasha and the others join up with Miroku and Sango, who managed to get out of their ditch. At the end, Sōten draws a romanticized view of Shippō with her new crayons.