Disclaimer: The Troopers and their universe do not belong to me but to their respective creators (whose name escapes me at the moment). Azhure, Orion and Silver belong to me and as for Aikyo and Rin, these characters belong to my friends Annette and Linda Marie.
About the story: I mainly wrote this fanfic for me and my two friends so yes, there will be pairings and yes, there will be romance. However, the story is mainly about the Troopers and how they will deal with a new threat. Love stories are on the side but not the main subject of this story. Also, I wrote that like I was reading a manga so if you want to have a better idea about the facial expressions and the action scenes, do the same.
About comments: Feel free to send me constructive comments about the story.
About misspellings: English is not my first language so, despite the fact that I'm not an awful writer, I'm sure there is grammar errors and misspellings in my chapters. Do not be shy to tell me about it and I shall correct the mistake right away. For future references, feel free to also explain to me the mistake to not repeat it. ^-^
From another world
Chapter 1: The flying sai
None of them were apparently destined to meet. They were all moving in different social circles and had different friends. And yet, an extraordinaire event will bring them together.
It all started by a beautiful Sunday morning. Having being apart for some time by their own different agendas, the Samurai Troopers decided to meet and spend some time together. They agreed to meet where they first met and to figure out their plans for the day there. The meeting was set for 11:00am.
Ryo was the first one to arrive. He looked around him, searching for a familiar face among the crowd. That's when he suddenly felt someone heavy jumped on his back, screaming. He tried to keep his balance and just before he felt his legs failing him, the weight was gone, followed by a laugh.
"Haha! Got you there, Ryo," said Shuu.
"Man, Shuu, you could have broken my back with all the extra weight you've gained," replied the red warrior with a grin.
"Hey! I didn't gain anything," shouted Shuu before taking a bite of the sandwich he bought on his way.
"I wouldn't be so sure. You DO look fatter from behind," said a cheerful voice behind Shuu.
"I've heard that Shin!"
"Well at least your ears are still functional despite all the noise you make," chuckled Shin.
Ryo was watching them doing their little hand shake thing when a hand landed on his shoulder. He looked over and saw the violet eye of Seiji.
"Seiji! Glad you could make it," he told him.
"I saw Touma on my way here. He missed the bus stop because he was too busy reading," the blond said. "I think he'll be a bit late because of that."
"That's our Touma," answered Shin with a laugh. "I hope he will realize it before he's too far away."
"By the look he had on his face, I think he did."
And as a matter of fact, fifteen minutes later, Touma came running to them, a novel under his arm. When he reached them, he stopped to take his breath.
"Wow, Touma. You ran like you had Arago after you," said Shuu.
"Sorry guys," answered Touma between two breaths. "I was so absorbed by that book I completely forgot to keep an eye out for the bus stop."
The five warriors were now reunited and after teasing Touma a bit more, they started to discuss about their plans for the day.
Not far from the meeting point, two young ladies were also enjoying the sunny day. One was a tomboy who was very popular with both genders and the other one was more known for her calm composure and optimism. Despite the fact they had some homework to do, both agreed no one could stay inside and study with an exceptional weather like this. So they went downtown to have fun.
"So…what do you want to do?" asked the long silver-blue braided hair girl to her friend.
The tomboy took a pensive position as she kept walking. Now that was a good question. They came downtown with no real objective in mind except going out. She grinned when an idea crossed her mind.
"Why not shopping? I'm sure you would look so cute in one of those dresses, Aikyo," she said as she pointed to a shop window. She chuckled as Aikyo made a face.
"I'm not here for shopping, Rin. Unless you want to make sure they have your size in there?"
"No way. You know how I hate that kind of thing."
"You will have to eventually wear one. For your boyfriend."
Embarrassment made Rin's cheeks go red. Here she goes again, she thought.
"Stop with that boyfriend talk!"
"Well unless you tell me you prefer girls, I'll start talking about girlfriend."
"I don't have time for that. I have to keep the perverts away from you! And that's enough to make me think that all men are perverts!"
Aikyo giggled.
"But they are. Some are just more gentleman-like than others."
"Yeah, yeah… Want to go for an ice cream?"
"It's a good start," said Aikyo with big smile.
Until now, it seemed to be like any normal day. But it quickly turned out otherwise.
Unknown to both groups, a small portal opened on the roof of one of the many buildings surrounding the rendezvous point. A young lady walked out of it and with the wave of a hand, she closed the portal. She looked older than her age and seemed to carry a heavy weight on her shoulders. The suit she was wearing was completely white: long white coat, short white dress with white shorts underneath it and white boots. Two sais were strap around her thighs.
Her gaze searched the area around her. She knew she wouldn't find what she was looking for right away but still hoped she would. She walked closer to the edge of the roof, wandering in what kind of world she ended up in and looked down. People were crawling all over the place like ants at a picnic. Things seemed relatively calm and for a moment, she wondered if she didn't mess up her spell again.
"I surely hope not," she said to herself. "I can't afford any mistake right now."
As the words escaped her mouth, the beautiful clear blue sky turned into dark and cloudy. The girl knew what she was pursuing found what it was looking for. By the darkness, she concluded the object of his attention was near of her. She looked down at the crowd again and saw everyone vanish at the same time except seven people.
"Only those with powers remain. Just like the other times. That's bad. There's too many of them. I won't be able to save them all."
On the street, the Troopers were already back to back, checking around them for the enemy. They held their orbs tightly in their hand and with a nod, they changed into their sub-armor. Many things crossed their mind, mostly related to the Netherworld since the city looked just like their first battleground some years ago. But as the minutes pass, nothing happened and they started to wonder what kind of trap this was.
"Geez, where's the bad guy so we can just kick his butt already?!" said Shuu who finally broke the silence.
"You know it won't be that easy," replied Seiji, still scanning the area with his sharp eyes.
"Ryo, does any of this look familiar to you?" asked Touma.
The black hair warrior nodded. It WAS like when the Netherworld took their world but something felt different. He opened his mouth to share his thoughts with his friends when Seiji pointed something ahead of him, saying two persons were running at them. The group turned to look at the persons and lowered their guard when they realized it was two girls. As Shin and Ryo engaged the conversation with the girls, Touma and Seiji looked at each other.
"This is too much like the first time," said the blue warrior. His companion nodded.
"Too much to be a coincidence," replied Seiji.
"What's going on here? And who are you guys?" asked Rin. She blinked at Ryo. "Hey… Aren't you the guy who brought a white tiger in the city a few years back? I saw you on the news back then."
"Er… Well…" Ryo didn't know what to say and looked at Shin with pleading eyes that were saying Help me.
Shin gave the girls his best smile in hope to calm them down.
"Girls, calm down…" he started to say but Aikyo frowned at him.
"Calm down?" she asked him a bit angrily. "You ask us to calm down when everyone on the planet seems to have vanished? What kind of guy are you? And what makes us believe you're not responsible for all this?"
From the building top, the white magician looked at the group. With the city empty, their voices could be heard even if she was very far from them and by the tone of them, she guessed they were arguing. A normal reaction considering the situation she thought. But time was running short as she saw shadows crawling toward them and took humanoid shape. She prepared herself to jump to the rescue but watched with amazement the boys changed into something else. Five lights blinded her temporarily and when they faded, she saw them fighting the shadow people with weapons. One of the girls seemed to have something on her right hand, protecting her other friend.
However, this wasn't enough.
"Our weapons don't work on them," shouted Touma to his friends. He kept shooting his arrows still, but they were all passing through them. The bodies of the shadows were like jelly and any wounds made on them immediately closed up.
"Damn! Even my claw doesn't work!" yelled Rin. She stood in front of Aikyo protectively, backing them both to the Troopers's circle. No matter how many times she slashed the enemy, it got up, closed the wound and kept walking toward them. "I fee like in a horror movie."
"Oh… If I had some water around, I could try something," said Aikyo.
Seiji, to his surprise, had no problem fighting the shadows. His sword slashed through them and they vanished afterwards. Touma noticed this as well and quickly understood the reason.
"It's your light! Seiji, use your Rai Ko Zan on them! It will surely take care of them!" he shouted to the green warrior.
He didn't need to hear that a second that. Seiji summoned all his strength and slashed all the shadow people with his special attack. None remained but the feeling of victory was short. From under them, their own shadows attacked them. The jelly-like substance surrounded completely the armors of the warriors like a big hand and started to drain their energy. One by one, they fell to their knees, feeling their strength leaving them. On their side, the girls were simply trapped in the jelly. Only their heads were not covered. Rin struggled with everything she got but she could barely move.
"ARGH! Let me go!" she yelled.
"Will someone explain to us WHAT's going on?" shouted Aikyo. Nothing was making her more angry that being in trouble and not knowing why.
"If you want to know, I'll tell you," finally said a deep voice ahead of the group.
A man wearing a hooded cape slowly walked to them. He was hiding in the shadows all this time, watching and preparing his move. As he moved forward, the darkness around them got darker and more threatening. He stopped a few steps ahead of Ryo and grinned.
"You're all helpless now. Your powers…are mine."
"Dream on, buddy!" shouted Shuu. "We'll never surrender our armors!"
"Oh but you will. I can feel them plead me to take them to the darkness. They want to fight but you all refuse. You restrain them. With me, that won't be a problem. And they might be the edge I need to defeat her."
His gaze landed on the girls. He was surprised to see such lovely ladies with so much power in them. He walked toward Rin but kept his distance, feeling she could play a dirty trick on him and get free. He looked at her claw.
"My, my… What a dangerous weapon you have there. With a heavy destiny too. I've met someone like you but she didn't carry your willpower," he told the girl. "But I'm not sure if you're a girl or a man."
"Grrr… Why don't you come closer and find out?"
"No thanks. I can see your curves well enough from here I am, miss."
He then turned his eyes to Aikyo. He laughed a bit when she asked him some answers.
"Not much impress you, is it?" he asked her.
Aikyo rolled her eyes. "Look, if you know I have some kind of power, you know nothing can't impress me though your tricks are quite unusual."
"Calm and witty. I like that."
"I know when struggling is useless but it doesn't mean I'm one to give up easily," she told him with frown. But that made the cloaked man laugh more. He walked away and returned in front of Ryo and looked at them all.
"I never thought it would be so easy to catch everyone with powers in this city so fast. I guess I can be lucky sometimes."
He started to bore them with his speech about how powerful he will be and how feeble they were to struggle, not knowing that above him, someone else was watching and she wasn't going to let him get anymore powers. She took out one of her sais and cast two spells on it. The sai had a strange glow surrounding it with a small wind blowing all around it. She held it up and she thought Don't miss.
"…and since I am a superior being," continued to say the cloaked man.
"Will someone find a way to get free to shut him up?" groaned Shuu. "It's already hard enough to focus to fight that energy drain thing on my back."
"Does anyone really listen to him?" asked Shin before collapsing on the ground. He was still awake but his arms couldn't support his body any longer. "I think I need to do more push-ups," he said with a weak smile.
"Damn… It can't end like this," Ryo said, looking up at the man. At this instant, a sai came down and landed at the man's feet. Ryo heard him curse before an explosion of light blinded him. He felt his strength returning and when he opened his eyes, the people started to appear on the street like nothing happened. Realizing they were all gear up, he told the guys to remove their main armor and to follow him out of there. He quickly grabbed Aikyo while Shuu took Rin in his arms and at the group ran out of sight, their speed making them invisible to any normal human being. But before leaving, Touma took the sai with him, thinking it would be better than leaving it there. Who knew what kind of artifact it was. And he had a theory to confirm about this weapon…
From the rooftop, the girl sighed.
"Of course, he HAD to take it," she said, sighing again. "Well…I guess I better go and introduce myself," she continued, scratching the back of her head.