Back to the Future
Chapter 6
By
Lily of Trust
A growl of frustration escaped Rowen’s throat. It
seemed that no matter how far they walked, (and they’d been walking for
over two hours) they never grew any closer to the castle. Their armor had
begun to weigh heavily on their shoulders, and their feet were dragging.
For some reason, Rowen’s patience was wearing especially thin.
"This is ridiculous!" He exploded, causing everyone
to turn and look at him. "What is this? It doesn’t matter how far we go,
we’ll never get any closer. It just isn’t logical."
Sage choked back a bark of laughter. "Is that what’s
eating you? You aren’t able to figure out how this is happening? Man, I
thought you were going nuts!"
"I am!" Rowen threw his hands into the air futilely.
"This is so pointless! We’ll never get there!"
"This isn’t like you Ro." Sai said quietly, eyes
filled with concern. "What’s really the matter?"
Rowen sighed and sank to the ground, shoulders slumping.
"That thing Reika fought was so powerful. How can we possibly hope to defeat
whatever it was working for!?"
"And you are the Warrior of Strata that will become
my father?" Touma sounded incredulous. "That’s impossible, my father would
never speak like that!"
Rowen turned angry eyes on Touma, who merely crossed
his arms over his chest and raised both blue eyebrows. Reika hid a smile
behind her hand, seeing where this was going. Well, if Touma wanted to
play ‘bad cop’ she’d be perfectly willing to play ‘good cop’. (Authoress’
note: yes, I realize that there is no TV in Reika’s time, but I just used
this as an example, I’m not saying that’s what Reika is actually thinking.)
"Oh come on Sky, give him a break." Reika laid a
‘restraining’ hand on Touma’s elbow. "It’s been a long morning for all
of us, maybe if we take a rest, things will be easier."
"I still can’t believe one of the fabled Ronin Warriors
would give up so easily." Her friend grumbled, plopping down to the ground,
still glaring at Rowen. Knowing glances were exchanged between the other
eight. They hadn’t missed the exchange between Reika and Touma. Everyone
else also took a seat, catching their breath; they’d been hiking for about
two hours nonstop, which can tax even the most energetic person. White
Blaze was the only one who didn’t seem to be gasping for breath. But even
the mystical tiger’s sides were heaving as he lowered his head to his paws
and closed his eyes; taking a little catnap.
"So, do you think you could actually come up with
something Genius?" Touma growled. Rowen flashed him a glare as fierce as
Ryo’s sure-kill.
"Play nice boys." Reika muttered, lying on her back
and staring up at the sky. "I’m sure he can think of a plan."
Kento heaved a sigh and pulled off his helmet, pushing
strands of sweat soaked hair out of his face. "It’s like an oven in there."
He commented as the others followed suit
"Hmm," Rowen seemed to be considering something.
His eyes were locked on the castle, a scowl twisting his face.
Then his eyes grew wide and a panicked look appeared.
"Oh!" He gasped, "Oh no!"
"Oh no what?" Ryo cocked his head to one side.
"Sage, your sword can see through illusions, right?"
Rowen turned to his friend.
Sage shrugged. "Yes, you should know that by now.
Why?
"Look at the palace through the sword, tell us what
you see." The archer’s voice was insistent.
"Do it Sage." Sai suddenly grinned. "I think I see
what he’s getting at."
Sage held up his no-datchi and held the flat of
the blade between his eyes and peered along the edge of the blade at the
palace. His icey violet eyes narrowed and he watched as the outline of
the structure began to waver. It became see-through, almost like a mirage
shimmering in desert heat.
"What the?" He frowned and tried to concentrate
harder, only to pull back with a gasp of shock as it disappeared.
"What? What happened?" Shu demanded.
"It-it vanished!" He stammered. "The palace! It’s
just an illusion."
"I thought so." Rowen said in a tone of smug satisfaction.
"You mean we’ve been walking for hours towards something
that isn’t even there!" Kento gaped at him. "That’s bogus! Now what? Where’s
the real castle?"
"How are we supposed to know?" Seiji snapped at
him. "We only just now figured this out."
"Hold on a second guys." Sage said in a distracted
tone. He slowly got to his feet, eyes still focused along the length of
the blade, and began to turn a circle, scanning the entire cloud-scape.
"Ah hah!" He let out a triumphant cry and suddenly
whipped the Sword of Halo to point in the opposite direction of the mirage
they’d been following.
Everyone had been watching his actions, and so everyone
saw as the air in the area shimmered and formed into a duplicate of the
castle they’d been heading towards. However, none of them saw the illusion
behind them fade out of existence.
"All right Rowen!" Reika threw her arms around Strata’s
neck, hugging him jubilantly, ruffling his blue hair. "I knew you’d come
up with something!"
Rowen just chuckled and watched as Sage set his
blade down and sank back down to sit with the others. They did need some
rest, and they had a long walk ahead of them.
Touma turned to his ‘father’ with a grin on his
face. He gave him the thumbs up, leaving Rowen gaping. He’d thought that
Touma had been angry at him.
Shin smiled and leaned over. "It was just a ploy
to get you thinking again." He said under his breath, amusement tingeing
his tone. "And it worked like a charm."
"I should have seen it." Rowen shook his head ruefully.
Reika caught his eye and grinned widely before turning back to the conversation
the others were holding.
"I can’t believe we spent all that time heading
in the wrong direction!" Kento was saying. "Now we have to make up for
all that lost time."
"Well, if you think about it, the signs were right
there in front of us." Sai told him. "Those trees must have been part of
some kind of garden, so I’ll wager we were right in front of the palace
the whole time."
"Yeah, and don’t we feel stupid." Ryo said wryly.
"We should have figured it out earlier."
"Ah, it’s not as if we had any evidence other than
that grove of trees." Seiji reminded him. "And that demon of course."
"So we’ve got another two hours in the other direction."
Shu picked up his helmet and turned it this-way-and-that. "We’re gonna
die of heat exhaustion first."
"Maybe you will." Reika poked him in the back.
"You’re evil Rei."
"Runs in the family." Sage smiled, dodging the punch
Ryo threw at his head. White Blaze just climbed back to his feet and rolled
his eyes at their antics.
"Come on guys, let’s get a move on." Shin stood
back up and slipped his helmet back on. "We’ve got two hours worth of walking
to make up."
The mood between the Ronins was noticeably lighter.
There was even a small amount of joking going on, but no one’s heart was
really into it, and everyone knew it was just to vent the anxiety they
were all feeling.
Touma dropped back and pulled Rowen along with him.
The expression on the younger boy’s face could best be described as apologetic.
"Listen." He began. "I just wanted to say ‘sorry’
for what I said earlier. Ya gotta believe me when I say I didn’t mean it.
It was just to get you to actually use those brains of yours to come up
with a plan."
Rowen gripped Touma’s shoulder. "I know that, and
I’m sorry too. I don’t know what happened to make me so hopeless. You probably
know I’m not usually like that."
The other teen grinned. "Yeah, I guess so." His
face fell a little. "The thing is, well, you see, I know I’m not as smart
as my father, nowhere near as good with plans and stuff like that." He
looked down at his feet. "I’m just average, so we had to rely on you to
come up with something."
For a moment, Rowen saw himself in the boy across
from him; constantly trying to please by doing something he truly didn’t
want to do. Just like him and his father’s lab.
"Hey Touma, don’t sell yourself short." That blue
head came up to lock eyes with Rowen. "If you were ‘just average’ the armor
wouldn’t have chosen you. It picks its wearer, it can’t be forced. If you
were unworthy, no matter what your father did couldn’t have coerced it
to you. I’ll tell you something, I’ve seen you using a spear, and that’s
something I can’t do. The only weapon I know how to use is a bow. And it’s
these different skills we all have that’s going to win the battle for us."
The grin Touma gave him was full of gratitude. "Hey,
thanks!"
"Are you two blue boys coming?" Shin shouted. "Or
are we gonna have to drag you with us?"
"I’d like to see you try!" Touma hollered back.
"We’d better catch up with them." Rowen said, "Or
Shin might just make good on that threat and sic Shu and Kento on us."
"Ah! I’m going, I’m going!"
Interlude: Meanwhile, back at the palace…
(Authoress’ note: For this interlude, the Ronins named will be the
ones from the future, got that?)
The last few hours had been hectic for Mia. She’d
accompanied the Ronins and their wives, Kayura and the Warlords to that
mysterious ‘wing’ of the palace where the refugees from the city had been
camping out. It was no wonder Kayura had said that the staff was occupied.
There had to be a good quarter million people crammed into just two wings
of the palace. Floor space was elusive and it was difficult to walk around
without accidentally stepping on someone. The air was filled with the murmur
of conversation, the groans of the wounded, screams from the Healer’s side,
and the whimpers of little children clinging in fright to their parent’s
legs.
"How terrible." Mia gasped as they passed the section
of the wings roped off for the wounded. People of all ages and sexes were
sprawled out on bloodstained cots. Bandages were wound around heads, splints
were wrapped to legs, and arms were up in slings. They all stared at her
with haunted, pain-filled eyes. Eyes that told her they’d seen horrors
usually reserved for dreams, these people had escaped the massacres Kitai
had told her about; but they’d watched as their family and friends had
been slaughtered before them.
"I don’t think I ever realized just how cruel the
Dynasty could be." Christa said in a subdued tone.
"This isn’t the worst of it." Dais said grimly.
"I’ve seen what they do to captives, these people are the lucky ones."
"Lucky is hardly the word I’d use." Alera sniffed
disdainfully, edging away from an unconscious young man flopped on a thin
pallet, blood pooling out from beneath him.
"They are still alive." Her mother said firmly.
"And where there is life, there is hope."
Sage knelt down next to the man, boy really, turned
him over, revealing a bandaged arm. He unwound the blood soaked dressing,
revealing a horrid, jagged gash.
He shook his head sadly and held his hand over the
wound, sending tendrils of green light to bind the torn skin together.
"It’s a temporary thing, but it’s the best I can
do without my armor." He said, wiping his hands on his tunic. Sai squeezed
his shoulder in sympathy.
"Come," Kayura beckoned. "There is some work to
be done here. These people deserve to know about the battle going on over
our heads."
Those still conscious gaped as they saw the group
of ex-Ronins and Warlords coming their way. A path was cleared, though
it was still difficult to walk without jostling each other. The room fell
silent as they past until the only sound breaking the silence was the wail
of a baby, quickly hushed by its mother. Kayura, the unofficial ruler of
this place, was in the lead, a look of grim determination on her face.
She reached the opposite wall and turned to face the crowd. Every eye was
on her.
Kayura heaved a sigh. "I have news for all of you."
She said, her voice carrying remarkably well, bouncing off the rafters.
"Good news?" Someone shouted.
"You might say that." She admitted cautiously. "I’m
sure by now you’ve all heard the rumors. Reika returned two days ago with
the Ronins of the past."
A murmur of surprise ran through the gathered people.
"So she did it then? The girl actually did what she was sent to?" That
same person cried.
A frown creased Kayura’s forehead, an expression
not unnoticed by the people, who flinched visibly.
"Yes, and early on this morning, the past Ronins,
my son Touma, Seiji, Shu, Shin and Reika mounted an attack on the Dynasty.
A startled gasp rang off the walls and ceiling.
Exited voices sprang up as people began to chatter excitedly about this
development.
"But what about the Armor?" A young woman’s voice
yelled. "The Wildfire? Where is it now? And why did the boys go? They do
not have armor."
"They do now." Kento called out. "We no longer have
possession of the Mystical Armor. We’ve passed them on to our sons."
"And Reika is using the Armor of Wildfire as we
speak." His wife put in. "The only thing keeping her from doing so before
was an evil spell we were unable to detect."
"Well it’s about time!" That first speaker shouted
angrily. "My wife and son were killed by those monsters because she wouldn’t
give the armor to someone who could use it."
For a brief moment, Mia saw red. Maybe it was a
consequence of hanging around Ryo for so long, but her temper got the better
of her. She stepped up to the front of the gathering and raised her voice
to be heard over the clamor.
"Listen to yourselves!" She cried. "How can you
talk like that? Reika risked herself to go back, and the Ronins took a
chance in coming here. They didn’t have to do it, they have no obligations
to any of you. And Reika could have just escaped this battle by staying
in the past, but she didn’t." Mia leveled them the sort of glare she had
occasionally used on Yulie. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves. What
would you have done if there were no Ronins or Warlords to keep you safe?
If they are willing to risk their lives for you, the least you could do
is be a little grateful."
A few awkward coughs could be heard, and some embarrassed
mumbling. Rowen had to hide a grin behind his hand and Cale suddenly had
a ‘coughing’ fit.
"Who are you to judge us?" That same man hissed.
"I’ve never seen you before."
Kayura gave him a bland look. "The Lady Mia speaks the truth, and I
suggest you keep such negative comments to yourself in the future."
Eyes in the crowd grew to the size of baseballs.
Whispers of ‘Lady Mia?’ were running through it. Mia was confused at the
response, but shrugged it off.
"I think that was exactly what they needed to hear."
Sai murmured under his breath.
"At least that should take care of those restless,
and foolish, enough to go try and defeat the Dynasty on their own." Kento
frowned. "There’s been rumors flying around about a group of the younger,
more powerful, mages making a ‘raid’ of sorts."
Sage snorted wryly. "That’s got to be the stupidest
thing anyone could possibly attempt at this point, not to mention that
no good could come of it."
Lady Ashal nodded sadly. "Right now, it’s all up
to our children, and our friends."
"Phew, it took a while, but we made it back." Ryo
said, stating the obvious.
"We knew that." Sai replied. "The question is, now
what?"
"We’ve got to figure out someway to get in." Reika
pointed out.
"Why not just do what we always do?" Kento shrugged.
"Break down the door."
"Hmm, that appears to be our only option." Rowen
peered speculatively at the gate, while Touma glared at it as if it had
personally offended him.
"I hope you won’t." Someone giggled. "It’s the only
front gate I have at the moment."
A startled gasp ripped from ten throats as they
all whirled around to face…a teenage girl? Yes, a young girl, perhaps Reika’s
age. She had flaming red hair that poured halfway down her back. Like most
people with hair that hue, her skin was exceedingly pale, and freckles
were sprinkled across her nose. Large brown eyes stared up at them, for
she was rather short and very petite; almost pixie like in appearance.
A cream colored tunic belted at the waist and a pair of slipped on shoes
made up her attire.
"Who are you?" Shu asked, unsure if he should be
wary or not.
"My name’s Sotaru." She giggled. "This is my castle."
A ten-way glance was exchanged. This was their adversary?
"Uh, you mean to tell us that you are the person
who captured half the city’s population?" Ryo raised an eyebrow.
"Slightly more than three fourths." She corrected.
"Yeah that’s me. I’m in charge here"
"You?" Touma snorted.
"Yes me. I’m in control by right!" She raised her
chin and fire snapped in her eyes. "I was hand picked by Badamon four thousand
years ago as his successor." Her eyes misted over and her lower lip began
to tremble. Tears spilt down her cheeks. "And it’s because of you rotten
Ronins that I never got my chance. You went and destroyed my world before
I could ever get the power I deserved. Now I’m creating my own power base
and you can’t stop me, there’s one of me and five of you, you’re outclassed!"
Then she frowned and glared at them; they could
almost see the wheels turning behind her eyes. "Hey! There’s too many of
you! There’s only supposed to be five, four actually, Wildfire’s dead!"
"Didn’t your little minion tell you?" Reika could
barely keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "These Ronins are from the past."
The girl fixed a withering glance on her. "You did
it, didn’t you? You broke the rules Wildfire, you weren’t supposed to do
that." She stamped her foot like a spoiled child.
Everyone blinked in surprise. What was going on?
Then the Sotaru’s face lit up. "Oh well! Now that
there’s more of you, I can have more fun!"
"What’s that supposed to mean?" Shin choked. This
girl was clearly off the edge. Her moods swung from innocent child to serial
killer in the blink of an eye. This Sotaru was coming unhinged.
"Hmmm, decisions decisions." She drawled, eyes narrowing
as she surveyed them all. No one made a move to attack, though hands were
twitching towards weapons. They didn’t know how strong she might be. Even
the strangest opponents could be powerful enough to mop the floor with
their faces.
"Do I kill you all now or have more fun playing
around with you?" She had levitated upward and was now perched in midair,
legs crossed and elbows resting on her knees, chin in her hands. "I think
this is the most distracting thing to happen to me since I started pulling
my power base together." An insane giggle slipped from between her lips.
"Those puny little humans weren’t much fun." Her lower lip jutted out in
a pout. "I think I’ll take my time with you."
"I don’t THINK so!" Touma growled. He nocked an
arrow on his bowstring and drew it back.
"ARROW SHOCK WAVE!!" The huge surge of energy zoomed
straight for Sotaru. Rowen gasped in surprise. He knew just how powerful
his sure-kill could be; Touma had charged his attack to the max.
"Oh Puhleez!" Sotaru rolled her eyes absently making
a small motion as if swatting a bug away from her face. The Shock Wave
was deflected, dissipated really. The energy just faded and disappeared.
"No WAY!" Kento gaped. "That’s just not possible!"
"Sh-she absorbed it?" Ryo gulped. "How…?"
"Why thank you so much for that little addition
to my energy reserve Strata." Sotaru said, batting her lashes at him coquettishly.
"So much more potent than that feeble life energy."
Reika swallowed back a snarl of rage. How could
this…this…monster act as if the lives of all those people were nothing
more than the lives of gnats? Little girl she may appear to be, but the
callousness she treated their species with was intolerable.
"You might want to stop playing around." She growled.
"Too many people have made the mistake of underestimating us. Your little
skeleton friend, for one."
A look of vague disappointment crossed Sotaru’s
face. "You killed him?" She asked off handedly. "Oh well, he was incompetent.
Allowing you to break out from under his spell, failing to kill you in
the first place…and now losing to a pitiful little girl playing soldier,
laughable, absolutely laughable." She broke into a laugh that would have
made a hyena wince. Sai brought his hands up to cover the sides of his
helmet where his ears were.
Shin caught Reika’s eye and shook his head. She couldn’t rise to the
bait.
"I suppose I owe you one though." The red-haired
girl sighed. "He was beginning to stink up the Netherworld, I spent too
much time purifying the air around here."
Again with that laugh. This time everyone flinched.
"Hmm, do I use my own power to destroy you, or should
I bring out Screamer?" Sotaru debated with no one in particular.
"Screamer?" Rowen murmured to Sage.
"I don’t think we want to know." Halo replied grimly.
"Screamer it is!" The girl sounded positively cheerful.
She reached up over her head and made a pulling motion, like she was tugging
on something.
"Come here!" She grunted. "I command you!" She braced
her feet against an invisible wall and pulled even harder.
"NOW!" Ryo shouted.
"THUNDER BOLT CUT!"
"SUPER WAVE SMASHER!"
Seiji and Sai both threw their Sure-Kills at their
distracted enemy. The surge of electricity joined with the stream of water,
created an electrical shock that could have fried anything. Or at least,
that’s what they thought.
"Goodness, you certainly are thick-skulled, aren’t
you?" Sotaru chided them as the smoke cleared. She was still hovering over
their heads (off to the side though, no one could see up her skirt or anything)
her hands were clasped behind her back. "You do realize that all you’ve
done is give me even more strength."
"Damn, we can’t use our attacks!" Shu gritted out
from between clenched teeth. "She’ll just use our own energy and throw
it back at us."
"So we’ll do this the old fashioned way." Reika
muttered, tightening her grip on her katanas.
"We’ll see." The redhead smirked. "But before you
proceed in ‘tearing me limb from limb’, I’d like you to meet a good friend
of mine." She pulled something from behind her. "Ronins, this is Screamer."
‘Screamer’ turned out to be a staff. Mounted on
the top of it was a human skull, a skull with fangs easily six inches long.
A pair of horns curled up from either temple. It grinned demonically at
the group, the mere sight of it sent shivers up everyone’s spines.
"Ew." Shin commented.
"Yuck, it looks like something straight out of one
of Kento’s horror flicks." Sai wrinkled his nose.
"Oh, you’re hurting his feelings." Sotaru pouted.
"Apologize or face the consequences."
"Listen lady." Ryo snarled. "We don’t apologize
to heads on sticks, got that?"
"Consequences it is then!" She squealed in glee.
She raised the staff over her head.
"Souls of the lost, let your cries of torment be
heard!" She intoned in a voice much different from the one she’d been using
thus far.
"SHATTERED SOUL SCREAM!!" The cry ripped from her
throat. The jaw of the skull unhinged and fell open. A horrific keening
spilt forth, a wail that seemed to penetrate through the skin and muscle,
vibrating in one’s ear bones.
"Get it outta my head!" Shu grunted, clutching at
the sides of his helmet.
"Ahhhh! It hurts!" Rowen groaned, wishing desperately
for some way to plug up his ears.
One by one, they fell to their knees, weapons clattering
to the ground from hands that had suddenly gone to protect ears.
It’s like a Banshee’s wail Reika thought, glaring
at Sotaru through slitted eyes. It’s going to drive us all insane!
Sage reached for his sword, hand shaking against
the need to cover his ears.
"STOP IT!!" Ryo shouted. "STOP IT NOW!"
A roar answered his cry. White Blaze launched himself
through the air, claws splayed out to rip through flesh.
"Ahhh!" Sotaru fell back, clutching her wrist to
her chest. Screamer fell to the ground, mouth closed once it had lost contact
with Sotaru.
"Good boy White Blaze." Sai gasped, scrambling to
grab his yari and get back to his feet; an action quickly followed by the
others.
"Owww!" Sotaru whined, rubbing her hand. "That hurt!
I’m bleeding! Oh Yuck!"
"Oh yuck?" Touma raised an eyebrow.
"She’s got the mentality of an eight year old."
Seiji muttered. Reika couldn’t help but snicker a little.
"You should look into getting your little kitty
declawed." She growled at Ryo. "I hate cats!" She held her hands out in
front of her, palms facing each other. A glowing sphere, crackling with
energy sprang to life between her hands. She slowly pulled them back, the
globe growing brighter and larger the farther away the hands were pulled,
until it was roughly the size of a basketball.
"I’ll make a rug out of you!" She screamed, hurling
the ball at White Blaze, who sprang nimbly away; but not quick enough.
The sphere exploded on impact with the ground, throwing everyone into the
air and crashing back down to the ground. Blaze was caught in the detonation
and flung against the stone wall of the castle gate.
"Man, what a spoiled brat." Kento groaned as he
picked himself up off the ground.
"Worse than Alera." Shu agreed.
"Remind me to tell her you said that." Seiji muttered,
planting his feet firmly on the ground. He was getting sick of being tossed
around like a rag doll.
"I’m getting bored with this." Sotaru yawned, mood
swinging from rage to indifference.
She flicked her wrist and her nails sprouted into
wickedly sharp, foot-long claws. She jerked her arm up towards her face,
shooting the spikes into the warriors’ midst.
"Oh now what?" Shin cried even as he hit the dirt.
"My aren’t we cynical?" Her other hand suddenly
grew claws as well, and this time she was aiming.
A gasp ripped loose from Touma’s throat as one of
the spikes grazed his cheek. An identical sound of pain choked from Ryo.
He hadn’t been quite so lucky. A claw had penetrated the protective plating
of his armor and had stabbed deep into his bicep.
"Touma! Ryo!" Reika turned to make sure they were
alright. "You okay?"
"Ugh." Touma wiped a trickle of blood off his face.
"I think so, but…" His hands started to shake and he clutched at his head.
"I feel kinda woozy."
"M-me too." Ryo slurred. Things had gone blurry
and unless everyone suddenly had an identical twin with armor, he was seeing
double.
"Give it an hour or so." Sotaru said nonchalantly.
"The poison in my little nails will get to your heart eventually. It will
be a slow, particularly painful death." Her voice lowered to a maniacal
hiss. "It is only what you deserve."
Before anyone could react to that statement, the
‘ground’ began to shake. A crack snaked along the clouds, linking the hurled
claws together. A huge gap opened up, but instead of revealing the palace
and courtyard so far below, an inky darkness gaped up at them.
"GET BACK!" Seiji cried, grabbing the two nearest
to him, Rowen and Shin, and hauling them backwards.
"You won’t escape my little trap that easily!" Sotaru
shrieked.
"That’s it!" Kento growled, somehow keeping his
footing on the unsteady clouds. "I’m not gonna listen to this psycho bitch
anymore!" His eyes narrowed and he began to spin his tetsubo over his head
with practiced ease. "IRON ROCK CR-"
"NO!" Everyone shouted. "DON’T!"
He was suddenly cut off as the ground opened up
beneath his feet and everyone else’s. With a collective shout of alarm
and shock, the Ronins and White Blaze fell down...down…endlessly down into
a darkness nothing could pierce.
"Oohh!" A faint moan from off to his left brought
Seiji back from unconsciousness. His head was throbbing and flashes of
bright color frequently zapped across his vision. He thought he recognized
the voice.
"Shin?" He asked groggily, sitting up only to fall
back when a swirl of dizziness overcame him.
"Seiji? Is that you?" The other sounded about as
dazed as Seiji felt.
"Uh huh." That was as much an answer as he could
manage.
"Hey, how ‘bout some light?" Shin asked weakly.
"Good idea." After a few moments of groping around
in the darkness, he managed to locate his no-datchi. The sword’s blade
began to glow a watery green, faintly illuminating…wherever it was they
were.
It almost appeared to be some kind of room. The
ceiling was lost in shadow, and there didn’t seem to be any doors or windows
of any kind. There was no sign of how they’d managed to get in.
"Where are we?" Shin wondered.
"I don’t know." Seiji replied grimly. "But something
is seriously wrong here. We should find the others"
As the sword of Halo only illuminated a small area,
the search went slowly. Wherever they were was rather large well as dark.
There was no way to mark the passage of time, so it could have been five
minutes or an hour before the two Ronins found any sign of their friends.
"Seiji, is that..?!" Shin gestured wildly over to
his left, where a dark lump was sprawled.
"I think so." They both stumbled as quickly as possible
over towards the figure. The silhouette was too small to be Kento, but
much too large to be anyone but…
"Shu!" Shin went down on his knees next to his friend.
Seiji knelt down as well, holding the Sword over their heads to they could
see.
"Is he okay?"
"Shu! SHU! Wake up!" Shin was shaking his friend’s
shoulder so hard that Hardrock’s head was snapping back and forth.
"SHIN! Stop it! You’ll snap his neck!" Seiji grabbed
the other’s wrist to pull him away then leaned forward.
"Hey, come on, wake up Shu." He said, sending a small mental push with
it.
Shu moaned a little and cracked an eye open. It
felt like somebody was inside his skull attempting to pound his way out.
Two pale blotches hovered over him, standing out with startling brightness
against a blackish background. He blinked rapidly and the blotches swam
into focus as two very familiar faces.
"Seiji? Shin?" He mumbled, trying to clear away
the fog around his brain.
"Phew." Shin sighed in relief. "At least you’re
okay."
"Hmm, looks like a hard head runs in the family."
He joked feebly.
"Not to mention a terrible sense of humor." Seiji
smiled wanly.
"Uh, where’s everyone else?" Shu sat up and tried
not to swoon back down to the floor. Things fuzzed in and out of focus
for a moment before his vision cleared over.
Shin nibbled his lower lip anxiously. "We don’t
know. Sotaru put us somewhere, but you’re the first we found."
"Damn." Shu growled.
"All we can do is keep looking for them." Seiji
said glumly. "They’ve got to be here somewhere."
"Great, we don’t even know where here is!"
"Panicking will get us nowhere Shu." It appeared
that tempers were close to the fraying point.
"Uh, guys?" Shin’s voice cut through the admonishments.
They both turned to glare at him, only to find he was staring intensely
at his palm. "I think Rei’s over that way." He pointed off into the inky
darkness.
"Well, you would know." Shu shrugged, back to his
usual self.
"Seiji?" Shin glanced pointedly at the Sword of
Halo. "We’ll need the light."
"Oh, right!"
"Are you sure about this?" Shu frowned.
"Positive." Shin nodded firmly. "Reika’s over here
somewhere…"
"OW!" Shu stepped back from the wall that had sprung
up out of nowhere and rubbed his nose ruefully. "Where’d that come from?"
"Hmm, so this isn’t just some endless blackness."
Seiji mused, ignoring Shu’s grumbling. "It’s some kind of room."
"Do you think we’ll find the others if we stick
to the wall?" Shin asked. There were seven others to locate, not counting
White Blaze.
Seiji shook his head. "Don’t count on it. Who knows
how far away the other wall is? They could be smack in the middle of this
cavern and we’d never know!"
"But the door is most likely on the wall, unless
there’s a hole somewhere in the floor, so if we’re gonna find a way out,
it would be along here somewhere." Shin pointed out.
"We can’t just leave without everyone else!" Seiji
frowned.
"Oh yeah." Shin said faintly.
"Maybe if we just walk in a straight line we’ll
find someone." Shu suggested. "After all, it can’t be that far to the other
side."
"Should I add that to your list of famous last words?"
Shin muttered, getting a very bad feeling about the whole thing. But there
honestly wasn’t much of a choice. They had to find the others before they
left.
Silence fell for a moment as the three friends searched
the darkness fruitlessly. The silence was ear-ringing, and the darkness
seemed to swallow everything whole. What little speaking did take place
sounded hollow and empty. Depression set it.
"We’re probably walking in circles." Seiji muttered.
The light on his sword flickered for a moment, only to re-solidify slightly
dimmer than before.
"Seiji snap out of it!" Shin sounded frantic. "You’re
letting this get to you. Don’t let the light go out!"
Before Seiji could reply to that, a shout broke
through the darkness.
"Hey look! There’s something over there!" Shu cried,
breaking away from the small circle of light and tearing off out of sight.
"Shu! Come back here!" Shin shouted, starting after
him. Seiji grabbed his arm.
"If you try to find him, you could get lost too."
He said sensibly. "Now, Shu obviously saw something, what’s that link of
yours telling you?"
Shin glanced down at his hand and then back up at
Seiji. "It’s pulling towards where Shu was headed!"
"He must have found Rei!"
Ugh, all that arguing was getting us nowhere! Shu
thought angrily. He realized that he was still able to see, sort of. His
armor was giving off some kind of glow. He hadn’t realized it before, probably
because it was so faint and Seiji’s sword had been glowing fairly bright.
Must be because I’m getting close to somebody.
I’ll bet what I saw was Reika or Touma, they’re the only ones my armor
would react to, I think.
However, his armor wasn’t the only thing glowing.
The faint outline of something crimson could be seen not far off.
I knew it! Shu thought triumphantly. There
was something over here! It’s gotta be Rei.
He took off towards the glow, a little more confident
now that he had some sort of destination. And sure enough, a few moments
later, he screeched to a halt by the source of the glow, the Wildfire armor
and its bearer.
"Reika?" Shu asked, not really expecting an answer.
He crouched down next to his cousin’s prone form and gently shook her shoulder.
"Hey Rei, are you alright?"
The only answer he received was a quiet moan.
"Hey Shu!" The sound of footsteps and ragged breathing
echoed from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the emerald light
given off by the Sword of Halo.
Shin and Seiji pulled up behind him, gasping for
breath.
"Don’t DO that!" Shin shook a finger at him. "Geez,
you wander off in this darkness and we might never find you again!"
"Heaven forbid." Seiji muttered, undaunted by the
black glares his friends shot him. He was too upset about being ditched
to care much.
"I had a guide." Shu told them. "I think our armor
starts to glow whenever we get close to another Ronin. The reason we didn’t
notice was because it was too faint to see in normal light. That’s what
caught my eye, Reika’s armor."
"Well, she doesn’t look hurt." Seiji went down to
his knees and checked for pulse and breathing.
Reika shivered suddenly. Apparently the sub-armor
was cool to the touch. Her eyes creaked open, peering shortsightedly up
at them.
"Ugh, somebody tell the guy with the bell to stop
with the noise." She grumbled, sitting up slowly so as not to jar her head.
"Um, Rei? There is no guy with a bell." Shin said,
a puzzled look on his face.
"Oh, well then…man, is my head ringing." She buried
her face in her hands, trying to keep her friends from spinning around
her vision.
"I think you may have landed on your head." Seiji
grinned.
"Heh, no kidding." She rubbed her eyes and then
blinked back at them. "What the? Hey, aren’t we missing a few warriors?"
"And a tiger." Shu nodded. "We’re looking for the
others, but so far, we haven’t had much luck."
Reika’s eyes went wide. "You mean you haven’t found
Ryo or Touma?"
Seiji frowned. "No, why?"
"They got hit by Sotaru’s claws! She said they were
poison and that they only had an hour to live!" She sounded slightly hysterical.
"And who knows how long we’ve been unconscious…" Her voice trailed off.
"Oh NO!" Shin looked frantically at the others.
"You don’t think they-"
"No." Seiji said firmly. "We’d know. Our armors
are linked, remember?"
"Phew, that’s right."
"Hmm, so why don’t we just use our armors to Touma
then?" Shin suggested.
"But there’s no way to find Ryo and the others."
Shu said thoughtfully. "They have an identical set of armors, but that
doesn’t mean they’ll all link up."
"I’d be surprised if they were even in this weird
cave." Seiji frowned.
"What makes you say that?" Reika raised her eyebrows.
"Sotaru was saying that she was going to split us
all up and take her time with us, remember? I’ll bet that the others are
somewhere similar to where we are."
"So the first thing we have to do is find Touma,
then find a way out of here, and then find everyone else." Shin sounded
a little discouraged.
"That’s a pretty tall order." Shu sighed.
"As Touma would say, "Nuthin’ we can’t handle’!"
Reika grinned. She climbed unsteadily to her feet. "Let’s get moving."
He hurt. That was pretty much the only way to describe
the way Touma felt. Whatever had been on those claws had hit him hard.
It felt as if the blood in his veins had changed into molten fire. It roared
through his ears, creating a dreadful light-headedness that made it feel
as if he was constantly spinning. Breath came in short, sharp, painful
gasps, as his chest felt like it was clamped in a vise. If there had been
anything to see in the strange darkness, he wouldn’t have been able to,
for even his hands, when held up in front of his face were blurry and shaking.
He lay on his back on a cold stone floor, letting the chill seep into his
bones. Simultaneous rushes of hot and cold made Touma want to collapse
to the floor and give in to the suddenly sweet promise of sleep.
But Sotaru’s words kept echoing through his head.
Give it an hour or so….poison…slow, painful death….
I can’t let myself die yet. He told himself,
the first coherent thought he’d had for a while. There’s got to be some
way to fight off the effects of the poison, I only caught a slight dose….Oh
God, if I’m this far gone, what happened to Ryo?
A sudden blue glow lanced through Touma’s eyes.
He squeezed his lids shut, blocking out the pain it caused; but still it
shone redly through.
Now what? He wondered cynically. He cracked an eye
open and peered down, realizing that it was his armor that glowed, pulsing
slowly with his heartbeat. A trembling hand held up to his forehead revealed
that his kanji was also alight.
Life
It flickered for a moment before dying away, but
leaving him with a new strength.
That’s right, Life is the soul of my armor, I guess
I can’t die that easily after all. Touma shut his eyes and drifted into
a kind of half-sleep. It could have been hours, or even minutes before
the first noises startled him into snapping his eyes open and reaching
for his bow, never mind that he wasn’t strong enough to draw it.
"Over here! I felt it, a flicker of something!"
"I think I may have seen a glow…"
The next thing Touma knew, four pale oval shapes
were leaning over him. He blinked for a moment, watching in puzzlement
as four faces blurred into view. Reika, Seiji, Shin and Shu.
"Oh great, so I’m hallucinating now." He muttered.
"Hallucinating?" Reika sounded puzzled. "No, we’re
right here." She reached over and tapped his forehead. "Your kanji led
us to you."
Shu reached over and helped Touma into a sitting
up position. Privately he thought the blue-haired teen looked like death
warmed over already. If there was any hope of saving him, they’d have to
do something soon.
"What’s going on?" Touma asked, voice slurred over.
"It’s a long story." Reika answered him. She knelt
next to him and pulled his helmet off. She pushed damp locks of blue hair
out of his face, shuddering at how clammy his skin felt. "We’ll explain
later. Are you alright?"
Touma couldn’t help it, he knew Rei didn’t deserve it, but he turned
an icy glare on her. "Is dying ‘alright’?"
Reika bit her lip and pulled back a little.
Shu frowned at Touma. "It looks like death makes
you cranky."
"Stop it! Both of you." Shin interjected. "This
isn’t the time, nor the place for that!" He turned to Seiji. "Do you think
you can do anything about this?" He waved his hand to take in the whole
scene.
Seiji hesitated for a moment. "I-I don’t know…"
He said uncertainly. "I’ve never tried to cure someone of poison…I just
don’t know."
"Try at least!" Reika begged him. "We can’t just
let him die like this!"
Touma blinked groggily at her. He suddenly felt
ashamed for snapping at her. She’d only been trying to help, after all.
"Rei, ‘m sorry, I-" He started to mumble.
"Yeah, me too." Shu began.
"Sush you two." She chided them. "Let’s save the
apology for after we get out of here."
"Okay, I’m gonna give this a shot." Seiji announced,
effectively changing the subject. He tightened his grip on his no-datchi,
a frown of concentration creasing his brow as he channeled his energy through
the chill metal of the sword. It was an exhausting process, especially
since he’d spent so much power in lighting up the darkness. Wisdom
flickered briefly on his forehead, and then the Sword of Halo flared to
life, flames of brilliant emerald-green licking up and down the length
of the blade.
"Now or never." He muttered, reaching out to grab
Touma’s metal-clad hand, which he placed on the hilt of the sword, next
to his own. He heard Touma gasp in shock as he felt the healing energy
flow through his body. Seiji’s breath hissed between his teeth as he concentrated,
seeking out the poison which lingered like black smoke in his friend’s
blood. It was difficult, and the engulfing darkness didn’t help at all,
keeping his power to a mere minimum. If only there was some light source
nearby…
"AH!" A startled gasp went up from the five teens
as an intensely bright light flooded the room as if someone had flipped
a switch.
"What the?-" Shin shielded his eyes with his hand
and blinked at the source of the light. It took a moment for everyone’s
eyes to adjust to the bright lights but still all anyone could see was
a dark silhouette.
"Tsk tsk, Ronins." Sotaru’s voice chided them. "You
wouldn’t be trying to cure my lovely poison now would you? It took me so
long to concoct it."
"And why wouldn’t we?" Shu spat, almost as if the
words left a bad taste in his mouth.
"My my, you sure talk big, but can you actually
back that up?" Sotaru cocked her head to one side and drew Screamer from
behind her back.
"Oh not the head again." Shin moaned. He was really
beginning to dislike that thing.
"Shall we find out just what your capable of?" She
continued, ignoring him. "I know for a fact that you can’t have had that
armor for more than a few hours. Let’s see how well you wield the power
without those other little Ronins to back you up."
Dear God this one took a long time to get done, partially
because I started it during finals, I joined an online RPG, a mailing list
and I’m working on about two other stories right now. Anyway, I’ve got
apologizing to do. It may not seem like it, but I do not hate Ryo, okay?
He’s not my favorite character, but I like him anyway. I know, I know,
I’ve killed him (sorta) and now he’s been poisoned. He just sets himself
up for these things. I had to cut the chapter off here because the next
one has too much going on and there wouldn’t have been any other place
to stop. Please just stick around, I promise to make better progress on
the next one. Please Please Please E-mail be with what you think!
I really need the feedback! [email protected]
Literature
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