Disclaimer: I do not own Ronin Warriors, although I did swipe my friend's DVD's (jk Usagi-chan) I also do not own Into the Land of the Unicorns, Bruce Coville does. I don't own any of the games either. Hell I don't own anything! ::pout pout:: Please don't sue me. I think all you'll get out of the deal is pocket lint.
Sai winced at the crash he heard upstairs. What were Sage and Ryo doing to poor ol' Rowen now? He wiped his hands on the towel on the counter and started up the stairs. He skidded to halt as he was nearly run over by Ryo, who was followed closely by Sage.
"RUN Sai!!" Ryo hollered. "Rowen's on the warpath!" No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Rowen came barreling out of his room. His eyes were blazing and he looked fit to kill.
"That is IT Ryo! That is the last time you are EVER going to wake me up! EVER! And you better stop grinning Sage, because your life is in as much danger as Ryo's!" Sai barely suppressed the urge to stick out a foot and send the blue-haired psychopath down the stairs, but he wasn't nearly that mean. Besides, he knew Ryo and Sage had whatever Rowen had in store for them coming. He sighed and followed the three young warriors into the kitchen. If anything in there was broken, all three of them were in for a NEW kind of wrath. The Torrent Torment Torture would reign over all.
He entered the kitchen and was greeted at the sight of Rowen and Sage in a duel to the death. Sage was very talented with a frying pan, (thanks Tinkerhell!) but he was NO match for Rowen and a rolling pin. Ryo was just cowering underneath the kitchen table in his sub-armor hoping that would provide a little protection against stray blows. Sage was beginning to look slightly panicked, and he knew VERY well that the only reason he wasn't unconscious was due to the fact that Rowen still wasn't fully awake.
Sai decided to end this insanity. He looked around and found what he was looking for: Hell Devil II. He sent a silent thank you to Kento's mother for giving him the idea of using a wooden spoon as a disciplinarian. Just as he was about to let loose with stinging justice, Kento walked into the kitchen. He took in the scene and screamed a warning to his comrades. He knew all too well what Sai could do with the spoon. As soon as he issued the warning, he ran. He did not want to get involved. Unfortunately, it was already too late. Ryo pounced him in a flying tackle.
"Oh no you don't! If we have to go through pain you do too!" he yelled. Kento fought back and eventually shoved Ryo off of him. He presumed his earlier cowardly action: running. Sai slammed Hell Devil II on the bar.
"Now you listen to me! You people can fight, holler, and wrestle all you want. BUT NOT IN MY KITCHEN!!" he shouted, brandishing the spoon threateningly.
Silence immediately took its place in the kitchen of Sai Mouri. Sai looked at all of them disapprovingly. "Now then. Sage and Rowen, you put my kitchenware back where you found them." Sage's lip poked out visibly.
"B-but SaAIi! This is MY frying pan!!" he pouted. Sai gave him a hard glare and Sage immediately dropped the pan. He then turned his look on Rowen, who calmly leaned down and put the rolling pin on the floor. Then he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Rowen always was the smart one. Or smart ass depending on whom you asked.
Sai bent down and picked up the frying pan and rolling pin. He then pointed at the door with Hell Devil II. "Now get out of here until I have breakfast ready." The rest of the Ronins filed out of the room like chastised little three year olds.
Kento flopped on the couch and picked up a controller to their N64. "Anyone up for a game of Wave Race?" he asked. Sage rolled his eyes. "Kento you know the only person who will play that stupid game with you is Sai, and THAT'S just because he likes watching the dolphins and whales during the race. Besides, he kicked your rotund butt every time any you get him to play with you."
Kento pouted for a minute. "Well, okay. Anyone wanna play James Bond?" he asked hopefully. Ryo vaulted across the couch. "Ooh I do!" he said grabbing the extra controller. Rowen was busy stumbling back up the stairs. He paused and turned around with a sour look on his face. "I'm going back to bed, and if any you so much as think about waking me up, you'll regret it." He spat. The rest of the Ronins didn't even acknowledged the fact that the blue-haired teen was making his way back to his room. Rowen yawned and fell across his bed when he had finally made it.
Meanwhile downstairs, Kento cursed as Ryo found the Golden Gun and began to hunt for his adversary. It was bad enough that Ryo always got to be James, but he always managed to find the Golden Gun first. And after your opponent got Double G, you might as well give up. One shot and you're a goner.
"Ah Ryo, you snake! Why not give me a chance every once and a while? HEY! You killed me AGAIN!! ARG!" Sage and Ryo just smirked at Kento and his crude remarks. "No Kento, my friend, Sekhmet is the snake. I am but a mere volcano, ready to erupt. HA!!" he shouted triumphantly as he once again killed Kento's character. Kento just screwed up his face and sputtered. "Humph. How poetic." Ryo smirked again.
"Kento, if it frustrates you to lose, why not stick to the games you're good at? Donkey Kong and Yoshi's Story." Him and Sage laughed as Kento turned a brilliant shade of red.
"HEY SHUT UP! I don't see you two doin' so hot on Donkey Kong. You can't even find Diddy!" he yelled defensively. Sage and Ryo just laughed harder. Kento rolled his eyes and decided to use this distraction. Valentino slunk through the caves and cocked his Magnum. Finally he came across his adversary, James Bond. A few quick shots and it was over. James lay in a quickly fading pool of blood.
"Hey HEY! That's no fair Kento! You can't kill me when I'm being distracted!" Ryo yelled. Kento took his turn to smirk. "Too bad Ryo, looks like I won that round." He said. Ryo picked up his controller again. "Yeah well the score is still 5:1 my lead." Kento scowled at that.
Just then Sai walked in. "Ok guys, time to get ready, uh, Sage? Where is Rowen?" he asked looking around. "Well uh, that's the thing isn't it? Uh, he kinda went back to bed." Sage said sheepishly.
"He WHAT? How can you let him go back to bed when you know it takes at LEAST half an HOUR to get him UP! What is WRONG with you people!?"
All three of them cringed back. Kento got up enough gall to ask, "Aw Sai he just went back for five more minutes. What's the big deal?"
"What's the big deal? WHAT"S the big DEAL?!" They backed away further as Sai started to walk towards them. "If we don't get going and get out of here in half an hour, we're going to be late. If we're late, I'm going to be in deep sh-, ahem, crap. Now. If I get in trouble, you don't even want to THINK about what's going to happen to you four. Now, you three go upstairs, wake up Rowen, get dressed, and if you get your sorry behinds down here fast enough maybe, just MAYBE, you'll get some breakfast." He began to glower when he saw that they weren't moving fast enough. Actually they weren't moving at all; shocked that Sai had gotten angry. At THEM!
"MOVE!!" That got them going. Pretty soon there was a bunch of stomping and colorful language on the second floor before Sai heard a loud crash and Ryo went flying across the hall to land somewhere out of sight. Then he saw Kento roll down the stairs.
"WHY DON'T YOU PEOPLE LET ME SLEEP IN PEACE!?" He heard Rowen yell before Sage too went flying.
"Enough of this" Sai muttered as he started to ascend the stairs. He stepped over Kento and made his way up to Rowen's dark pit of a room. Sage saw him coming.
"Rowen if you know what's good for you you'll get your sorry butt outta that bed!" he yelled. "You can all KISS my butt, cause I want some SLEEP!!" he yelled back. Sage shrugged and cringed in a corner as Sai stalked by him. Ryo sent a helpless look to Sage and both of the slunk down the stairs in order to avoid the carnage that was about to unfold.
From the amount of yelling, screaming, and choice vocabulary on Rowen's part, they assumed that Sai was winning the battle. Finally, they heard Rowen yell, "Alright, alright, I'll go! Just let go of my arm!" Rowen stumbled out of his room closely followed by Sai.
After he made sure that Rowen was in the shower and not going to slink back into bed, he went back downstairs. 'Now,' he thought, 'What to do, what to do….' He looked at the dirty kitchen and decided to clean it up to pass the time. He had already eaten and he was ready anyway. If they were late to his sister's wedding then both she and his mother would skin him alive. Not a pleasant thing to look forward to. He checked his watch a second time. Then a third time. Just as he was about to yell bloody threats up the stairs, Rowen stumbled into the kitchen, followed closely by Kento. Rowen slumped at the table and put his head on his folded arms. Kento on the other hand had made a mad dash for the food. Before he could scarf all of the food in sight, Sai had served him a plate and shoved him towards the table.
"Rowen? Do you want something to eat?" he asked the comatose boy. All he got was in incoherent grunt. He shrugged and fixed a plate anyway and shoved it under his nose and then turned to Kento. "Kento? Where are Ryo and Sage?" Kento swallowed what he had in his mouth. "Uh. Well Ryo is trying to get that black mop he calls hair into some sort of order and Sage is helping him while trying to get ready at the same time. They should be down any minute now." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Ryo came stomping into the bathroom mumbling about how he hated his hair. Sage came in a few minutes later looking no different than he usually did. Come to think of it neither did Ryo. The only difference was that they were all wearing Tuxedos. Well all except Sai. "Ok guys" he said gesturing to the food on the counter. "I'm going to go change, you can help yourselves." He turned and sprinted up the stairs. A few minutes later he was back, dressed in his own tuxedo. He looked around and found that Rowen was still snoozing on the table, Kento was eating everything he could get his hands on, and Ryo and Sage were idly picking at their food as they chatted about minor things. Sai checked his watch.
"Ok guys let's go!" he said cheerfully. He reached over and shook Rowen's shoulder. "Come on Ro we're leaving now. Come on wake up and go wipe the slobber off your face and my table." He said. Rowen shot poison coated daggers at him, as he wiped the drool off of his face.
Sai looked around. "Are we all ready? All right let's go." He said grabbing the keys and running out the door, followed closely by the others.
A few minutes later, they were well on their way to the wedding chapel, when Ryo discovered Kento hoarding a bag of Hershey's Almond Kisses,
"Kento! What do you think you're doing with those?" Ryo asked incredulously. Kento hid his bag defensively. "Hey I gotta have SOMETHING to munch on during that boring wedding!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he clapped a hand over it. Sai nearly wrecked the car.
"KENTO REI FAUN! Give me that candy!" he yelled grabbing for the bag. Kento held the chocolate defensively to his chest. "NO I won't!" he yelled back.
Sai growled quietly in his throat. "Kento you will give me that candy or I will take it by FORCE and give it to Rowen after the wedding and then lock you and him in a room until the sugar high wears off." Kento squeaked and Rowen immediately perked up at the mention of sugar of any kind. Kento thought for a minute, sighed and then handed over the bag of chocolate. Sai snatched it. "Thank you." Then he resumed driving, his new stash of candy tucked firmly away in a pocket. Kento pouted of course, as did Rowen who realized that he was probably not going to get any candy.
They were finally nearing the church when all of a sudden a strange feeling enveloped them all. Sage, who was more sensitive to spiritual occurrences gasped in pain and grabbed his head. Ryo leaned over the seat to see if he was ok, when a wave of dizziness hit him along with the rest of his friends. They felt a slight impact and when they opened their eyes again, they were met with totally different surroundings. They weren't in the church parking lot any more. Now a forest so dense that all they could see in any direction was underbrush and massive trees surrounded them.
They piled out of the car and looked around. Ryo summed up what they were all thinking in one sentence. "Sai, where in the WORLD have you taken us?"
Sai just looked around and shook his head numbly. "I have NO idea."
Sage shook his head a couple of times and then looked around himself. "This doesn't feel like Toyama. It's different. It doesn't feel like our world." They all turned around and looked at Sage with confused looks on their faces. "I think we should take a look around and see if we can recognize anything. Rowen? Can you form your barrier without summoning your armor?" he asked. Rowen shrugged. "There's only one way to find out." He said as he took out his crystal and started to concentrate. Before long and dark blue transparent bubble like barrier had formed around his body and lifted him a couple of inches off the ground. He opened his eyes and threw a look towards his friends before he sped off towards the treetops.
After he cleared the canopy he looked around. He saw a slight clearing in the trees that he suspected might be a steam or a lake of some sort a few miles to the south. He turned around and saw what looked to be a small village or town. Other than that there was nothing but trees, and a few meadows. He sighed and began to descend towards the rest of the Ronins. He was about to reach the top of the canopy when about thirty feet away the air shimmered and an arrow sped straight for his face. Before it could reach him however, his barrier destroyed it. He narrowed his eyes and was about to summon his sub-armor when he thought better of it, and the rushed down to the other guys, surrounding them in his barrier. This, of course, surprised the other Ronins.
"Rowen, what_" before Ryo could finish his question, Rowen had cut him off.
"We're being attacked. There's someone in the trees." Kento took out his armor crystal. "The why didn't you summon your armor?" He was about to summon his sub-armor, but Rowen grabbed his shoulder. "Kento don't do it. I think we ought to be little careful. We don't know what these things can do. If we summon our armor, then it could give off energy that might give away our position." Kento growled but put his crystal back in his pocket.
"Ok, while we're under this barrier we ought to be safe from most attacks, but I don't know what all these people can do so we need to be on our guard."
Before they could discuss the matter any further, the ground erupted and a hand snatched Rowen's ankle and began to yank him underground. He grunted in surprise and tried to pull himself back up. Ryo and Kento each grabbed an arm and began to pull him back up. In a sudden burst of strength, whatever it was that was so determined to abduct Rowen, jerked him out of Ryo and Kento's grip. He disappeared with a cry of pain. The ground sealed back up without a trace of ever being disturbed.
"Ok. What just happened?" Ryo asked with a confused and stressed look on his face.
"Those creeps took Rowen that's what happened!" Kento yelled as he began to dig at the ground. All he got was hard packed dirt. He sat up totally confused. "How did they do that?" he asked.
"I don't know, but now that they have Rowen, we're vulnerable. He had the barrier and now he and the barrier are gone." Sage said looking warily at the treetops.
"Well we gotta get him back!" Ryo yelled. Sage sighed. "Well it is pretty obvious that they know we're here. So I don't really see any reason we can't summon our armor." They all nodded and donned their sub-armor. Kento grinned. "Now this is more like it. I feel better already! Rowen! Hold on Bro we're coming' to getcha!" He started running to the north, for lack of anything better to do. The others looked at eat other and sighed, then took off after Kento.
Meanwhile, underground, Rowen was being dragged through a series of tunnels. Every now and then he would stumble due to a twisted or sprained ankle thanks to when his captors had jerked him that last time. He had already tried to call his armor, but those creeps had put some sort of shield around him that prevented him from doing so. So he struggled against them but to no avail; now he just followed them, blindly, to wherever it was they were taking him.
The rest of the Ronins had not gotten far when they came upon the same village that Rowen had spotted earlier. They slowed down to a walk and started to look around. Kento's stomach immediately started rumbling. They all turned around and glared at him. He grinned sheepishly and shrugged.
They went into the first shop they saw to see if they could find anyone to give them any information, or help. The shop turned out to be an ancient Chinese remedy store.
An old man greeted them at the counter.
"Good day to you sirs. What can I do for you today?" he asked smiling pleasantly. Kento strode forward. He leaned across the counter and looked the old man in the face.
"Yo old man. A good buddy of mine was just pulled into the ground by a bunch of weirdoes. Do you have any information for us?" The old man leaned back.
"Well son, it sounds like you have run into the delvers." He said matter-of-factly. The rest of the guys leaned forward. "Delvers?" Kento asked. "What's a delver?" Sage sighed and sat down. "The delvers are nasty little creatures. I read about them in mythology. We ain't in Toyama any more Toto." Ryo shrugged.
"Well how can we beat these delvers? We can't just leave Rowen with them. We've got to help him!" He said. The rest agreed. The old man sighed.
"Well I can tell you where you would most likely find them, though I do not know what you would be able to do to fight the little nasties. You would do best to just forget about your friend and stay as far away from the delvers as you can." Ryo practically exploded into the old man's face.
"Hey listen old man! Rowen is one of my best friends and we are NOT going to just leave him in the clutches of those little freaks! We faced a lot worse than those little mystical nuisances and we are NOT going to back down so FORGET about it!" he yelled in the old man's face. He put his hands up. "Now son, I don't want any trouble I was just giving you my advice. No need to get violent with me." Sage put his hand on Ryo's shoulder. He looked the man in the eye. "Sir can you tell us where to find these delvers?" The old man nodded. "Go directly south. When you came to the river there you are bound to run into the delvers or their like." Sai cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean their like?" The old man shrugged. "Unicorns, dragons and such. No telling what you'll find in this land."
Sage leaned forward. "And what exactly is the name of this land?" he asked.
The old Chinese man shook his head. "Call it what you will. This land has no name."
A/N: Yeah yeah, ok. It's weird, but hey, it's also fanfiction. Give it a chance.