Honor's Way (Dubois Chronicles 2.101)
July 2007
Rated T (Teen—language and some violence)
Notes Part 1: This is an abridged version of the story. For the full version, go to http://dante6. . Also, this is a Yori-centered fic. KP and Ron will appear in the next installment of my series. As this is my first ever KP fic, I'd appreciate feedback. Thanks!
Notes Part 2: The characters from Xena Warrior Princess belong to StudiosUSA and Universal. Smallville belongs to DC and the CW. Kim Possible and her cohorts on her show are owned by Disney. All other characters are mine.
Prologue
Gabrielle, Bard-Queen of the Amazons, writes….
As Nai-Jin's prophecy continues to develop, David seeks the way to deal with it. Two months had passed since the Child's last encounter with Isobel in Byzantium and no word of the sorceress or her evil schemes.
Still, there was enough to divert our attention……
On the one hand, two of our most deadly adversaries escaped confinement. Their minds focused on a goal in the care of someone near and dear to us. In that defense, a potential student will cross paths with us once more in the next few scrolls.
For now though, a story needs telling…and a face from Miranda's past will bring the prophecy ever closer.
Chapter 1
[Kyoto Prison—80 miles from Tokyo
A blanket of white covered the Japanese countryside on that early February night. An uncharacteristically cold chill kept people in their homes. While winter remained present well into the month, rarely had it been so foreboding….as if foretelling of something to come.
Far to the north of the capital, a granite fortress loomed over a valley from its mountainside perch. People typically avoided the pass passing under its southeastern corner. However, if they had stopped to consider the grim structure's purpose, they would've realized that it was meant more to keep criminals in than to threaten them.
In the most subterranean of the prison's floors, Hansei Arighatto fumed over his situation, swearing revenge on his enemies. Just four years earlier, he had control of a multi-national corporate/criminal empire, a daughter of his own and true power.
All of that faded as he ran into the loose end—his 'daughter's' uncle: David Dubois and the other's alter ego. Whether Arighatto had fought these nemeses one on one or with allies, it hadn't mattered. He lost—badly.
And now, I waste away like a rat. The gods hate me. He scowled, preparing for yet another round of the nightmares. He sat on the hard cot and meditated.
As he did so, he heard a ruckus in the hallway. "What?" He peered through the door slit to see an unbelievable sight.
In the hall, several short animal ninjas led by two darkly-garbed human forms had dispatched the guards.
Conchita Guisanto stepped into the light, carrying a sword under her arm. "Arighatto!"
"Hai. I am here!" he bellowed.
"Present. I trust you can take it from there?" she supposed.
As the prisoner gripped the sword, he discovered it to be the blade taken from him by the American authorities years earlier. As the blade touched his hand, it shredded the constraining spells cast by Martin and Kyla Littleclaw. He felt a surge of energy and snarled. A flash of light bathed the entire cell.
Once more, he was Yodoshi. With a single swipe of his blade, he leveled the cell's door and strode confidently into the hall.
She smiled as her once and future ally realized his freedom. "We have friends."
"Animal ninjas? What base sorcery is this?" the demon lord snarled.
"In that sense, no sorcery," the other ninja revealed while joining them. "You are as impressive as my research and Senorita Guisanto had led me to believe, Lord Yodoshi." As the pale moonlight shone on the last ally, the others could clearly see his monkey-like physique despite the British facial features and accent. "I am Lord Monkey Fist." He bowed slightly to the other villain.
"I owe you both for this escape," Yodoshi agreed "Now come!"
"Follow us," the simian agreed, motioning them out of the fortress and into the frigid darkness.
[Yamanuchi School
Meantime, about thirty miles away through the same mountain range, a secret school remained segregated from the rest of Japanese society. While the students learned about the outside world and its workings in order to interact with it, their main purpose there consisted of ninja training. Through active, passive and focused learning, pupils and master learned from one another about themselves and the hidden arts.
In his central chamber, an elderly man's eyes snapped open; his meditation broken. He rose slowly, feeling his aged knees protest and stepped toward the western window. "A darkness has been released this night." His eyes narrowed, knowing full well its source. "Yodoshi-San!" He took a deep breath as he recalled the last battles between demon-lord and demon spawn in the American heartland and southwest. "The girl." He rubbed his brow, calling out psychically to one of his students. Then he rubbed his bare scalp and fingered his beard in contemplation.
Five minutes later, a rapping roused him back to reality. "Come." He glanced up to find his best student bowing. "Yori, I have news."
The lithe eighteen year old girl straightened herself while smoothing her ear length dark hair. "Hai, Master Sensei. Arighatto-San is loose and aided by Monkey Fist."
"You know where the demon will go, do you not?" the elderly man supposed. "Follow the path of friendship and there you shall find him."
She scratched her head at first fearing that the demon samurai would strike at Middleton, Colorado and her two dear friends there.
"Focus," he advised her. "Look beneath the petals of the flower for the obscured part of the picture, Yori. Eventually you must seek them out but the answers come from a friendship from before either of those."
She sat in lotus style and concentrated, following the strands back in time through her training. From the time of her parents' death, she'd lived, learned and trained among other students and her beloved master. "Master Sensei, I…." Her eyes went wide. "Miri-Chan!"
"Yes. The one known as Miranda who was our sometime student much as Stoppable-San is. You will go to the desert southwest and seek her out. She is ready for her test, Yori. It is for you both to confront Yodoshi."
She nodded and bowed. "It will be my honor to do so, Sensei. When can I leave?"
"At sunrise. There you shall seek your sister in spirit out. Do not fear the darkness surrounding her."
"Her uncle? I thought he was dead!" she presumed.
"No. He has remained very much alive although under a dark curse. It is the malady from which we struggled to cleanse her. Do you not remember?"
She sighed, recalling dunking her older friend in the sacred fountain and watching the other deal with her situation. "I do. I will be proud to stand beside my sister once more." She bowed once more before departing.
Go with care, Yori. He sighed heavily, realizing the burden that the girl carried on her shoulders.
