Freedom

By Dixxy Mouri

Prologue

September 12

There is a legendary flower known as the Lotus of Life. It is said to only grow once every one thousand years and has a most spectacular power – revival from death. I recall hearing the legend over the course of my servitude in the Dynasty, but it didn't seem like such a flower could possibly exist. Bring back the dead? That was something neither Talpa nor the Ancient One could do! Contacting spirits is one thing, but a complete revival seemed preposterous to me.

That is, until I realized that I had been awakened from my eternal slumber and was lying naked in the middle of a field. Alive. My heart was beating, I was breathing, and I could move. The tattoo on my hand told me everything, and it seemed to me that there had only been one person who would have gone through the trouble of bestowing the gift onto me.

I had no idea that the Ancient One valued my life enough to give me a second chance should I be fated to perish, though I suppose that all things considered, he knew. He had to have known. The moment he stopped Talpa from bringing me back, he knew that I was going to perish and he was unable to stop my impending death.

Talpa had long sensed my confusion of allegiance – I was no longer serving him without question. Things were not as clear as they had once been, and he sensed that I would be a danger to his cause. As such, he cursed me and knew that I would not last another month – unless, of course, he succeeded in reclaiming his dark armor and trapping all nine armor bearers in eternal limbo.

But that was a fate that I escaped, yet I knew that my days were numbered. With the little time I had left, I realized that I needed to do something to stop my former master from controlling the Mortal World – and that meant helping the five young Ronin Warriors in their quest against Talpa, and convincing the other Dark Warlords to change their ways.

That was the first time in a long time I felt like I was doing something right. Certainly I had enjoyed my work as a Dark Warlord – as shallow as that pleasure was – but now there was a different feeling inside of me that made me feel wonderful. I had, somewhat, befriended the Ronin Warriors. I had fallen in love with a woman (and it ached me that I would be unable to stay with her for much longer). Had I been able to live, I thought, I would have a happy life.

Instead, I end up naked in the middle of no where in a country that speaks a foreign tongue (though, as luck would have it, one of the many tongues I had studied during my unnaturally long life). I had a second chance, and I decided that, once I was able to figure out how, I would return to the Ronin Warriors and my lovely Mia as soon as I could.

But the presence of the Ancient One's Staff made me realize that there was something else I had to take care of first. My senses told me that the five Ronin Senshi were nearby, and I could feel the will of the Ancient One telling me that I had to help them before I could do as I pleased.

For now, I must give up my quest to reunite with my lover and my friends.

I have been somewhat lucky and I have made a companion here in the United States (the name of the country I have found myself in). His name is Michael Jones, though he prefers to be called Mike, and has a young daughter named Susan, or Susie for short. Somehow, he came across information about the armors and the Ancient One's clan and knew that I was connected to them the moment he and his daughter found me. He offered me a place to stay in exchange for information, and we agreed on that.

September 24

The search for the Ronin Senshi hasn't gone very well yet. Mike and I have been pouring over information contained in his computer (as well as something called the "Internet") and within the various scrolls I was able to summon using the staff. So far we haven't found very much about how to locate the Senshi, but based on what I know of the Ronin Warriors, it is likely they are still fairly young, which has its benefits and difficulties. It is beneficial because they are strong, flexible, easy to teach – the perfect students. But their age would also make them very inexperienced – that could prove fatal.

I have also been trying to integrate myself into the Mortal World, and it has not been an easy task. I had visited many times so I knew some of the basics, but many of the nuances of life were still very foreign to me. Learning to use a computer in and of itself was difficult, but I do find that I enjoy computers very much now. They're quite useful at storing information, and I've been entering several of the scrolls into the computer. It's been a long process (especially since typing is a skill that I'm not yet very good at), but I've made progress.

I'd also like to get a job – Mike and Susie have been more than gracious about letting me stay with them, but I don't enjoy staying in the house all day, nor do I feel comfortable eating, staying, and using Mike's money to clothe myself – I need a job.. Mike doesn't think it's a wise idea for me to travel on my own through Boston by myself yet – that's the city we live in – and even though it would help in my search for the Senshi. . . he's probably right. There's so much I simply don't understand about this world.

October 1

I've managed to find all five of the Ronin Senshi. It wasn't easy, but they all seem to at the very least understand that they have "magical marbles that do stuff". Albeit it's a very basic understanding, but they seem to realize that I am the one who will train them into the young warriors they are destined to be.

But getting them to pay attention is impossible! Ria stops by often enough to ask questions about her role as Wildfire of the Senshi, but even she's been having trouble getting a good grasp on what I'm trying to teach them. Torrent of the Senshi and Halo of the Senshi don't want to fight at all – Hardock and Strata don't seem worried enough and are taking everything far too lightly. It's VERY frustrating!

Mike thinks that it might also have to do with my job search. I've decided that I would like to become a police officer, but I first need to establish myself within the Mortal World on paper. I don't have a birth certificate or a social security number or anything else people in the United States use to hire or not hire someone, and it's VERY annoying. Especially since my true information would be laughed at. They would never believe how old I really was.

Ria tells me I should "chill" and not worry about the job thing too much – after all, I have five Ronin Senshi I need to train, and she's right. Getting into the police academy won't do me any good if the world is taken over before that happens. I remind her that I am trying to blend in with society – something that she seems to have no interest in.

Ria is a rather unusual character. I think she's unhappy with her body because she's always doing things to change it – especially her hair style. She doesn't dress as conventionally as the other girls and is much more rash and outspoken than the others about what's on her mind. She reminds me of her armor – she's a wildfire, all right, but she willingly picks up her swords and practices every day with them – she's getting better.

I don't know the others girls nearly as well – Rona, Strata of the Senshi and Keisha, Hardrock of the Senshi have been friends long before they discovered their armors – they usually arrive and leave together. Samantha, Halo of the Senshi – or "Sam" for short – is withdrawn and doesn't say much during our meetings. Sara, Torrent of the Senshi, seems a bit mousy and is petrified to fight. These are the ones I'm worried about.

October 21

I've been accepted to the police academy. As Ria would put it, this is "awesome". I'm very excited, but at the same time I now need to balance my own studying with teaching the girls. Ria comes by and tests me from some of the books I've purchased. She'll find an odd yet what she claims to be comfortable position somewhere and start asking me questions. We go back and forth, her giving me information on the police force, me on her armor.

It's a good system, and I feel as if she and I are developing a very good working relationship. Perhaps we could even be friends instead of just student and teacher.

December 24

Mike has asked me to do something for him that I don't know if I can do or not. He's decided that, in the event something terrible happens to him and he dies as a result, he wants me to be Susie's legal guardian. To take care of her until she's old enough to survive on her own, to be her father figure when he real father is gone.

I declined.

Susie is a wonderful little girl, and I don't deserve her. Susie is truly amazing – she's a sweet, loving little girl who is a constant reminder of what it is I've decided to protect. I believe she does the same thing to the Senshi (who are getting a little better at taking the whole "the Evil Dynasty wants to kill you" concept a bit more seriously now). She smiles, brings me drawings from school, and wants me to play with her when I'm not studying, training the Senshi, or researching with Mike.

I don't deserve her. I simply don't deserve to have a little girl like Susie be mine to love and cherish like a father loves his daughter. I don't deserve her. I don't understand why Mike doesn'tsee that – there are so many people more deserving of her than I am. But Mike persisted for a solid hour before finally giving up. He knows what I've done and how I feel about it, and his faith in me is astounding. Perhaps I have become a better person, but I still don't deserve her.

February 9

Trulpa is coming. I can sense it.

March 1

All things considered. . . the war went well in the sense that the Senshi were able to defeat Trulpa and prevent her from taking over the Mortal Realm. The chaos that had been brought to Boston has subsided, and no one but a few remembers what happened. Ria's great aunt, Sally, has admitted that although she knows something happened, she feels as if it's very hazy and she really doesn't recall anything.

This, however, is the bright side of the situation. In reality, the situation was much, much worse. The war has left four of the five Senshi refusing to speak with each other or me. The one Senshi who has stayed – Ria – is completely alone without her comrades if another battle were to ensue, and the unthinkable happened to Mike.

I don't know what was going through his mind. He knew that Anubra meant to attack and kill me, effectively getting rid of a valuable ally to the Senshi and extracting revenge on the Dynasty traitor. Normally I would have been able to take her, but as I no longer have my armor and the Ancient's Staff had been knocked far from my reach, I expected to die.

Again.

And yet, when I should have been impaled, I saw the body of my best friend in front of me, taking the blow meant for my head through his abdomen. I screamed, and Anubra was stunned enough that she didn't do anything for a minute or two (a minute or two that would ultimately save my life and put an end to hers).Certainly I don't believe she actually cared that she had killed him – likely, she was probably more surprised that he had willingly sacrificed his life for mine.

But the damage had already been done. Mike had been impaled, and with Sam no where to be seen, he was done for. I wouldn't even be able to reach the Ancient One's staff to try and heal him. I screamed at him, asking him why he had done it. Why had he thrown his life away for mine? I wasn't worth it. I didn't deserve him as the man who had become my best friend. Why had he saved my life?

Mike just smiled and asked me one last time to take care of Susie.

With that I was stunned. All I could do was accept the responsibility. Michael was dying – this was his final wish, and even though I still don't believe I deserve her, I couldn't deny a man his final wish. I told him I would take care of her. With that, Mike smiled at me, thanked me, and closed his eyes for the last time.

He was dead, and I couldn't help but blame myself for his death.

I wanted to have time to grieve. Susie certainly needed time to grieve – this man was her father! And now she was all alone except for me. It wasn't fair that he had to die like that – but there was nothing I could do. Nothing. . . I couldn't do anything, with all the magic at my disposal I was helpless to help one of the few people who has ever believed in me like that.

But now I have other things I need to worry about. For one, I suddenly have a young daughter on my hands and four Senshi too far disturbed by the events of the war to even look at each other right now. I can't just leave them like that – not for the sake of the world, and not for them, either. Just because they have been chosen to bear these armors doesn't mean these lives should be filled with this kind of emotional trauma. I want to help them, but they won't let me close enough to do it.

Ria, on the other hand, seems to be doing somewhat okay. She's grown a bit cynical and sarcastic, but she's trying to get the other four Senshi to respond to her and she usually visits Susie and me at least once a week. She's become Susie's favorite baby-sitter when I have to work late (and as a police officer, that does happen) and the two have grown quite close. I'm thankful to have her around to help me out.

But I still miss Mike, and I know it's far from over. . .

Anubis closed the journal he'd been keeping off and on since his revival and sighed. This entire situation was far from desirable, and he desperately wished that he could figure out what to do or say to make the other four Ronin Senshi feel better and at least be able to carry on with normal lives outside of the armors.

It was in the evening, and he was sitting in the sun room of Mike's house (even though he was now the technical owner, he still felt that it was the house that belonged to his late best friend) with his foster daughter and his only remaining student. The girls were sitting on the floor near the table he was writing on, playing some kind of board game and drinking hot chocolate. He looked over at them and smiled – it was nice that he wasn't alone on a night like this.

"The sky looks nice tonight," Ria said. Anubis looked up and nodded in agreement. "The stars are so pretty. Rona used to like looking at the stars – remember that? She'd bug the rest of us to camp out on the roof of her building and we'd just sit and talk and look at the stars, and it was great, you know?"

"I remember," he said. "She loved those nights."

Ria sighed and swallowed. "I want to do that again."

Anubis closed his eyes. "So would I."

"And I want to go to the beach with Sara, and go see a play or a movie with Sam, and go on a run with Keisha," said Ria. She grinned. "I just need some time and I'll get my friends back. They can't keep doing this forever. I won't let them." Susie looked at Ria with a slight pout on her face. Ria just grinned and patted the girl on the head. "Yeah, that's right – I'm going to get them back. Just you wait."

"But after everything that happened. . . how can you be so sure?" asked Susie.

"I've got a hunch," she said with a wink and a cheeky smile. Susie smiled up at her, trusting the older girl. I watched with amused skeptiscism. "Woman's intuition – you'll get it when you're older."

Anubis frowned and rolled his eyes. "Don't you have school in the morning?"

The girls responded in unison. "It's Friday night."

The temporary Ancient One nodded. "Well, no school or not. . . I need to work in the morning. And I'd like to get a good night's sleep so I don't make a complete fool of myself." That was true – he'd graduated from the police academy with flying colors and was finally going to be wearing a uniform as a police officer first thing in the morning.

Ria downed the last of her hot chocolate and raised an eyebrow at Anubis. "Anubis? They're probably going to have you giving out parking tickets or something – are they even going to give you a gun yet? I mean, I could probably give our parking tickets and I haven't even finished a year of high school yet."

Anubis stuck his tongue out at her. Ria grinned – she enjoyed getting a rise out of Anubis. "I already have my gun and, well, I'm not sure what I'm doing but I'm not going to be the city's meter maid tomorrow. That's why you're staying over tonight – as talented as a warrior you are, I really, really need a baby-sitter right now."

Ria shrugged. "Hey, unrestricted access to your fridge and free cable for a day? I'm down with that," she said. Susie giggled and the girls exchanged a high five. Anubis wondered what condition he would find the house in when he get home. Certainly he knew that Susie would be SAFE with Ria, but that wouldn't stop the two of them from making a mess.

Anubis bit his bottom lip. Deal with it – you're got bigger things to worry about.

He didn't know how right he was.

A few months later. . .

Even though it had been a while since Trulpa had lost to the Senshi, her anger was just as terrifying as it had been on the day of her defeat. Certainly she had a backup plan in the event the Ronin Senshi won, but her defeat had been catastrophic. Not only had she been completely humiliated by those little girls, but she had lost one of her Warladies – that made her very, very angry.

Of course, now that the Senshi had defeat her she was able to more than double her number of Warlords thanks to her brother's former idiots and Osiris, but she also had three personal chew toys to play with as well. Indeed, if Anubis or any of those little girls knew that she had three of the Ronin Warriors in her clutches, they would be weary.

In an attempt to calm her nerves, Trulpa was taking a mud bath in her personal chambers. She didn't stay in power for this long because of stupidity – she knew that making angry decisions would only worsen her chances of extracting revenge on those little brats. She needed to be able to concentrate and plan out the details of her plot – she could not let her anger over her loss get the best of her.

"M'lady?"

Trulpa looked up – she had been joined by Daria and Vanessa, two of her remaining Warladies. "Well? What is it?" she asked. "You both know I'm very angry, and unless you have news to cheer me up, I would suggest you leave immediately." Even when she was naked and taking a bath, Trulpa still commanded a sense of superiority about her.

The two Warladies exchanged a look, and Daria decided to take charge. "We have a plan," she said. "But I must confess we didn't come up with the plan until we stumbled across some of Anubra's paperwork – Mistress Trulpa, why didn't you tell us one of our special guests was the Child of Destiny?"

"What!? How did you-?"

"It's not important – what IS important is that we know how to stop the Ronin Warriors and the Ronin Senshi," said Vanessa. She cleared her throat. "Because of the Child of Destiny, this is the Age of Legends – your defeat is only a small taste of what those little brats are capable of. As it is we know that one of the Hardrocks is a seer – who's to say what his partner in arms can do, or what any of the others might be capable of?"

"I'm not an idiot – I know all of that! Get on with it!" Trulpa snapped.

"The Age of Legends requires all ten Ronins to work," Daria added in quickly. "All it would take to make their group fall apart is the death of one of them. Just one. Kill any of them – even the Child of Destiny – and you will be unstoppable. They won't work if they aren't ALL together."

"I've already tried to kill the Senshi – it's what I've been trying to do for the past nine hundred years!" Trulpa said. "What's changed now that they have the potential to be even MORE powerful? Amongst them is the Chosen Mate and some Third Eye whose powers we don't even know about yet – the other three are complete wild cards!"

"You have three Ronin Warriors in your grasp – why don't you just execute one of them?" asked Daria. "They don't have their armors, and even if they did, the three of them together wouldn't be able to take you. I strongly doubt that the Child knows how to control his powers, or even if he's aware that he's the Child – if they tried to fight back, they would die. They know that, or else they would have tried harder to fight back."

Trulpa leaned back in her bath and mulled this over. "An execution, eh?" she said. She chuckled to herself. "You're right – it wouldn't take much for me to kill one of them, would it? Just off with his head and the rest of them are finished." She turned to her Warladies. "I already know which one I'm going to kill. We'll schedule the execution at once."

That afternoon. . .

Sage wasn't sure what Trulpa was up to this time, but he was being led somewhere in chains, escorted by Daria and Vanessa, both of whom were fully armored up. They're not taking any chances right now – do they know about what I am? He internally shuddered at the thought. No. It seemed unlikely. If they knew they probably would have bound his back or something as well.

The Ronin Warrior of Halo was led into a small outdoor arena. Now he was confused – Trulpa almost NEVER let them outside except for sitting on a balcony, and even then she didn't like it whenever they got a taste of the air outside of the castle. So why was he being brought outside now?

In the middle of the area was Trulpa, standing next to a wooden block and holding an all-too familiar sword. Sage narrowed his eyes in suspiscion. This can't be good. That's the sword Talpa made using our powers – what's she going to do with THAT? He didn't dare vocalize anything right now – Kento and Cye weren't around, and he did NOT like it when Trulpa directed her anger at them – especially when they were alone.

Trulpa stepped forward. "Put your hands out." Sage stared at her, considered spitting in her face, but held back when her eyes started to glow. "I said put your hands out, you insufferable little brat!" Now was not the time to argue, and Sage closed his eyes as he held out his hands, afraid of what she was going to do.

Much to his surprise, his felt a familiar round object fall into his hands. He opened his eyes in surprise as he saw the green marble proudly displaying the kanji for "Wisdom". "My. . . armor orbe?" he said. He looked up at Trulpa in confusion – what was she up to now? "You don't expect me to be one of your Dark Warlords?" His captor only grinned in response and snapped her fingers.

Daria and Vanessa shoved Sage to his knees, and Trulpa lifted her foot to push his head onto the block. Sage's eyes widened, clutching his hands around the armor. Are they going to. . . oh no! He started to shake, holding back tears. Trulpa was finally planning on killing them. And she was starting with him.

"I'm going to have to kill you now, but if I want any kind of control over your armor afterwards, it needs to be in your possession at the time of death," she said cooly. He felt the blade glide across the back of his neck – she was teasing him now. "Don't worry about your little friends – I'm not done with them – yet. For now, I need them alive."

"Why are you doing this!?" Sage demanded, the two Warladies holding his struggling body at bay – between the two of them and Trulpa, he couldn't fight them off. I can't give up, but I'm not going out ignorant, either! "What made you decide to kill me all of a sudden?!"

"That's for me to know."

Sage looked up and glared at Trulpa. "Miserable bitch."

"Good-bye, Sage of the Halo!"

Sage closed his eyes, waiting for the blade to drop down, but it never came.

What came instead was a loud barking noise and the clanging of the sword as it hit the ground. Cautiously, he opened his eyes to see none other than Dash barking in the arena, distracting Trulpa, Vanessa, and Daria from his execution. Stupidly, all three women started to chase after the dog. "What the. . .?"

Sage quickly snapped back into reality. There was an exit to the area – it led out into the Nether Realm, but it wasn't all under Trulpa's command – he might be able to get out of her domain. It was only about a hundred yards away – he could make that easily. There were no guards – just two distracted Warladies listening to Trulpa's orders. He had his armor orbe. . . and, come to think of, access to that sword as well. Cautiously, Sage got to his feet and quietly wrapped his hand around the sword. Better in my possession than theirs, he realized. He began to back towards the exit, keeping his eye on the women.

It was about that moment that Dash changed his mind and started to charge towards Sage – it was also about then that Trulpa, Daria, and Vanessa realized he was about to escape. Trulpa started to scream and began to prepare some kind of nasty spell. Dash, you stupid mutt! What the hell did you do that for!?

Of course, Sage now began to see just how fast Dash was – VERY fast.

Before Sage realized what hit him, he was on Dash's back, carrying the sword and his armor orbe, and was riding clear out of Trulpa's reach. He looked behind him to see Trulpa and the Warladies trying to catch up, but even with his added weight, Dash was still too fast for her, and Sage realized that he was escaping.

Cye and Kento must have figured out what Trulpa was planning on doing and sent Dash to get me out of here, he realized. The Warrior of Halo looked behind him to hear Trulpa swearing and yelling at him, and for the first time in many months, Sage realized he was smiling from genuine happiness, and he began to laugh as Trulpa faded from view. After months of torture, imprisonment, and enslavement, it was over.

He had his freedom.

Author's Notes

The point of Anubis' journal was to get through the parts of the story that now replace what was once RSL. I have had a TERRIBLE time just trying to get that story STARTED that this seemed like the better way to do it. Of course, that's only part of the story, and little bits and pieces of the war will filter into this story – especially where it concerns why the other Senshi have flipped out.

I've also learned that Nilla Wafers plus vanilla frosting is a pretty awesome snack.

Furthermore, I would like to take a second to explain my extended absence. In short, I had a sort of "mental breakdown" (using the term very, very loosely). I wasn't send to the funny farm, but I have been in counseling and I'm on Prozac. True, I have been updating a One Piece story since about January, although this problem has been around since last August. It's been tough. Very, very tough.

There's also college and social like and other anime. . . and video games. . . but I digress.

Consider this a sequel to the most recent version of Consequences of Capture.

Dixxy