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, Shiro and Rin and Sorshania these characters belong to my friends Annette, Linda Marie and Chantal.

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. ^-^

The Rebellion of the Northern Tribes

Chapter 1: A new mission

"Kayura?" Touma couldn't help but exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" His eyes noticed, despite her wearing her armor, that she aged quite well and beautifully.

"I just told you. I need your help," she replied a bit codly, her right hand on her hip. Then she blinked at them. "Where are your armors?"

"Can't you tell?" Shin replied with a small grin. "We're wearing them."

"But...they are-"

"Different. Yes but why should that be a problem?" Seiji demanded.

"I suppose it won't be if you can fight and call Kikoutei."

"We can fight," was all the answer Touma gave her. He didn't need to look at the others to know that neither of them wanted to use the white armor again. Besides, the summoning failed so it meant that Kikoutei was history...or was it?

"Why do you need our help for?" Ryo asked.

"I'll tell you on the way. Please, follow me."

"Wait a minute!" Shuu intervened. "We can't leave like this!"

"Why not?" She sounded surprised and shocked at the same time.

"There are people here we need to see first. We can't leave without telling them we're alright," the Kongo warrior replied. The other Troopers nodded. With them disappearing because of Suzunagi, if they leave with Kayura without telling the girls, they knew they were risking their necks.

"We don't have time for this! We're being invaded!"

"Trust me, this won't be a waste of time," Touma promised her as he started to fly away. "You might have more help than you thought." He offered his hand. Puzzled, she slowly grabbed his hand and flew away with him.

"Oh man... Azhure is NOT going to like this," Shuu commented.

"Neither will Aikyo," Shin replied, shaking his head. He looked at Ryo and Seiji who just left for Nasuti's house and he followed them with Shuu.

The moment she stepped in the room, Azhure didn't like her. Actually, when she saw her walking in with Touma, something inside of her awoke: jealousy. This feeling wouldn't be there if the archer wasn't looking at the young blue haired woman the way he was now: like a stupid teenager who has a crush on the most popular girl in town. Aikyo, Rin and Nasuti noticed her change of stance and look immediately but said nothing to not alert Kayura or the guys. Nasuti thanked the gods for giving Azhure the strength to stay in control despite the cold smile she gave to Kayura.

"Shin! You're alive! And well!" The water girl just went to hug her lover, ignoring the new armor he had on him. The latter hugged her back with a big sigh of relief. Nasuti smiled at them all while Rin was giving a hard time to Shuu for vanishing without a word. Shiro looked away as if he was uninterested but deep down, he was happy the Troopers were back. However, he knew the girl was bad news and he gave her a cold glance.

"I'm sorry to cut this short but are we done?" Kayura asked, ignoring Shiro. "I wouldn't be here if the matter wasn't urgent."

"Ok what is going on exactly?" Ryo asked her.

"Like I said, we're being invaded. Ever since Arago died, we had to deal with traitors, rebellions, conflicts among clans and other problems and just when everything was settling down, the northern tribes regrouped together to expand their territory and attack us."

"How bad is it?" Orion said, appearing out of nowhere. Kayura blinked. Touma did warn her about him but it was still surprising to see a ghost that wasn't a spirit from the Youjakai. Time was precious so she didn't waste it with questions that could be answered later, mainly who were these persons and why did Touma thought they could help with her situation.

"They couldn't break through the Fort of the Abyss in the northern border so they traveled to the east and managed to defeat our forces there before going through. If we don't boost our numbers and find good military strategies, they will conquer the City of desire within the next two weeks."

"And I thought you had security problems back when Touma and I went there to free the guys," Ryo said, joking. Kayura didn't grin at the joke.

"No worries, you have me now," Orion told her, not paying attention to Ryo's remark.

"Is that so?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My brother is a brilliant tactician despite his flaws," Azhure said, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey!" Orion protested but his sister didn't hear him. Her glance was defying Kayura's and for a moment, the room felt cold. Then the princess broke the silence.

"Well, I suppose we shouldn't waste any more time. Let's go," she said, making her magic book appeared in her hand.

"Alright! Shiro, we're going to the Youjakai!" Rin exclaimed with a triumphant pose. "We might find a few clues about our ancestors or our powers!"

"Wait a minute..." Kayura started to say. Shiro sighed loudly and stood up.

"I don't have a choice. Besides, someone has to keep an eye on you and I doubt Shuu will do a good job at this."

"What was that?" the orange warrior replied, a bit pissed at the comment.

"I suppose I don't have time to get some clothes," Aikyo said with a long sigh. "Maybe I should start to have a suitcase prepared for such situations."

"You can't be serious!" Kayura yelled at them. "You are humans! Normal people! You can't follow us! This is no game!"

"Normal people?" Rin replied with a grin. "I don't think so. Shiro, follow my lead." She popped out her claw. Shiro did so too, revealing he had a claw just like hers but on his left hand. The young man was annoyed by the display but between that and hearing Rin complain about why they weren't taken along, he would rather show up his youja heritage. Kayura couldn't hide her surprise.

"Look, you take us with you and stop wasting time or we can all show you what we can do. For my part, I can, among other things, fill your lungs with water and watch you drown. Azhure is a powerful magician and Rin and Shiro got something from the youja who stayed behind during the first invasion of Arago a thousand years ago. I think we are useful material enough. Now, we can do this the hard way if you refuse taking us with you. We'll ask Azhure to open a portal, we'll follow you there and help you without your approval." Anyone could be fooled by Aikyo's innocent looks, but she was far from being docile and inactive. This is what Shin liked about her: her not-so-secret-but-secret attitude. The Oni bearer was, for a couple of seconds, speechless, a feeling that was soon replaced by discouragement.

"You better tell them that we're taking them along," Shuu said, his back leaning against the wall and a big grin on his face. "Otherwise, they might complicate things more than needed."

"Fine!" the girl exclaimed, irritated. "But YOU five are responsible for their safety. Me or the Mashos will NOT waste time or resources on them. And they better be useful if they want to stay with us because if they are just a distraction to you, I'm sending them back here!"

"Good enough for me," Azhure said. She walked over to Touma and dragged him outside, ignoring his protestations. Kayura frowned but followed them.

This can't be good., Aikyo thought. She must really feel threaten by Kayura if she does that.

During the summoning of the portal to the Youjakai, Shuu noticed Shiro was at the door with Nasuti. He was talking to her and, to Shuu's astonishment, he noticed that he was embarrassed! What were they talking about, he didn't know. However, he saw him take her hand and squeezed it gently as he kissed her left cheek. Nasuti blushed and touched her cheek where he kissed her. The young man muttered something to her before joining the group. Unfortunately for him, he chose a spot next to Shuu.

"So...you and Nasuti huh?" Shuu whispered to him with an innocent face.

"I rather not discuss this with you," Shiro replied coldly, whispering as well.

"She's like a big sister to me. You can't escape this conversation." He was giving himself a threatening face but in reality, he was thrilled to see Shiro with Nasuti. He thought that meant he still had a chance with Rin.

"We're not together."

"You act very friendly with someone you're not going out with. If you are abusing of her trust..."

"I asked her to go out with me when all this will be over. I told her to think over it and give me an answer once I return."

"Are you serious? You're leaving without having an answer and without knowing if you will come back alive?"

"I don't mind the wait and if you do your job correctly, I'll be well enough to hear her answer."

"Great. Now you're telling me I have to watch your ass?"

"This is the deal we struck with that girl over there, isn't it?"

Shuu made a pouting face. Once again, Shiro was acting like a jerk and a know-it-all smartass with him. Sometimes, he wished he could just hit his pretty boy face to feel better...but that would ruin his chance with Rin. He muttered a couple of insults that Shiro couldn't understand (not that he would have cared anyway) and imagined many situations where he could leave Shiro by himself before saving him at the last minute as punishment. That made him smile.

Weirdo, Shiro thought as he watched the many changes of expression on Shuu's face.

"She surely takes her sweet time," Naaza muttered while he was pacing in the conference room of the castle.

"It's been more than three years. They must not be easy to find," Anubis told his comrade in hope it will calm him down.

"He's right. It's taking her too long," Rajura replied with a hint of worry in his voice.

"She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. Hell, she can take the three of us head on and still win without breaking a sweat," the Yami Masho continued.

"The sooner she gets here, the sooner I'm back on the battlefield."

"You're enjoying the fight a bit too much, Naaza," Rajura said.

"I'm not falling back into our old habits. I just like to fight and use my strength for something. Times of peace are such a waste for a warrior."

"Still, don't be so eager to kill people," Anubis added.

"Pff. They are the ones who are attacking us. If they are too stupid to know when an enemy is too big for them, it's their mistake."

"Yes, well, for now, we don't exactly look all tall and mighty," commented Rajura. The Mashos never planned on asking for help with their problem and the fact that Kayura left to get the Samurai Troopers made them all in a bad mood and more susceptible than usual. Though they were glad that even Kayura had her share of failures with the current situation, they all felt weak and beyond all, unreliable. It was not surprising that when the door opened to let Kayura walked in with their former enemies, they did not rejoice or give them a police welcoming smile.

"Is this a joke?" Naaza growled at the sight of the companions of the Troopers. "You had two useless humans with you all the time before and now you bring more with you?"

"I forbid you to say that Nasuti was useless!" replied quickly Seiji.

"Or Jun!" added Shuu with his usual temper.

"Guys, can we focus please?" Orion said, floating between the two groups. "Forget the past and focus on the present. You can kill each other after we won the war."

"You seem pretty confident for a dead person," Rajura commented with a hint of sarcasm, his arms folded on his chest.

"And what's with the new armors?" Anubis asked with a frown. "Their energy is different from before."

"We will explain later. It's not important," Orion answered. However, Anubis wasn't satisfied with the answer.

"I think it's very important, ghost boy. Besides, who put YOU in charge?"

"He's our strategist," Kayura stepped forward and looked straight into the eyes of Anubis. "If he says we will get an explanation later, you will have to wait."

"Thank you," the ghostly prince said, bowing lightly to Kayura.

"Don't thank me yet," the young monk replied. "I only do this because Touma supported the claim of your sister. If you are a fraud or if we lose because of you, you will regret it, dead or not."

"I would feel much better if Tenku was in charge of the strategies," Naaza confessed.

"Don't worry about it," Touma told him with a grin. "We will be working together on the strategies. He's not doing this alone."

"Hn. I totally could," Orion whispered to himself.

"So...who are they?" Rajura asked, pointing to Azhure and the others.

"This is Aikyo, Rin and Shiro," Ryo explained, putting his hand on the right shoulder of everyone he named. "And this is Azhure. The ghost is her brother, Orion. Each of them possesses special abilities. They will not be dead weight."

"Uh. That remains to be seen," Naaza commented.

"Ok, so now that the introductions are out of the way, I need Kayura to come with me and Touma to analyze the situation," Orion said.

"WHAT?" Azhure and Anubis exclaimed in unison.

"Well, is there someone else among you three who can inform me about the enemy's movements and strategies since the beginning of the invasion?" the ghost asked with a shrug.

"I can provide assistance in that matter," Rajura answered, raising his right hand casually.

"Alright, so you come along too, Mister...?"

"I'm Rajura."

"Well, Rajura, you come along with us to wherever you do your strategic meetings. The rest of you, go have fun talking about the past." Orion made a dismissive hand gesture to the rest of the group before leaving with Touma, Kayura and Rajura. Both Azhure and Anubis glared toward the direction they disappeared. Naaza rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

"I suppose we should give you a...proper tour of the castle," he glanced over to Seiji, Shin and Shuu.

"You know, that could be nice," Shuu said. "Without being tied down or tortured."

"Actually, I believe we were only able to visit the dungeon last time we came here," Shin grinned. "I'm curious to see the rest of the castle."

"Surely we still need to check out the dungeon to see if they did any renovation there since last time," Seiji added. The three Troopers looked at each other and burst out laughing. The girls just stared at them, shocked, while Shiro just rolled his eyes. Ryo laughed a bit but unlike his companions, he didn't think it was that funny. There are things he would rather forget and his friends being captured here and tortured was one of them.

"You're a lousy tour guide, Naaza. I'll take care of it," Anubis said harsly, taking the lead. "Follow me. I'll show you around and where your rooms are."

As they walked around the castle, the Troopers had the occasion to talk about their new armors to the two Mashos. Once the pleasantries about how they look were done, everyone focused on knowing their new environment. Except for Azhure who seemed to be angry about something, the newcomers made sure they knew their way around or as much as they could. The palace was gigantic and it was easy to get lost. The Troopers found hard to decline the help of the Ankoku priests, as proposed by Naaza and Anubis, if they needed assistance to get somewhere. Even though the war between them was long gone, they couldn't help it but be a bit suspicious of those spirits.

"Wow! I can't believe we all have individual bedrooms," exclaimed Shuu once their quarters were shown.

"If you wish to share your room, that can be arranged," Naaza commented with a wicked smile. Shuu was very quick to decline the offer. In such times, the Troopers were used to sharing a room, so this was refreshing for them. On the other hand, like Shiro commented, why would have they share a room in a castle of this size?

"It would have been surprising for you to share a room in such a place," the stoic teenager added. "Unless they are cheap."

"Shiro," Rin warned him. He just shrugged. Suddenly, an Ankoku priest appeared in front of the Mashos.

"My lords, please do forgive my intrusion but Lady Kayura and Lord Rajura are done with the strategic meeting with our guests," the ghost said with a bow. "They are waiting for you in the throne room."

"Already?" Shin inquired.

"You DID want the whole tour of the castle," Naaza explained. "It takes more than five minutes. We were gone for three hours."

"Wow," Ryo said. "That went fast. I suppose we should go see them to hear their conclusions."

"Hopefully, we won't have to evacuate," replied Anubis. "This way." The Yami Masho lead the group to the throne room. Since Arago's defeat, not much has changed in the throne room. With their approval, Kayura changed the draperies and the sinister atmosphere that once reigned in that particular room was lifted. Now reunited, Orion floated toward the map that was hung on the wall.

"Alright," he started to say. "From the looks of it, they are going directly to the capital which is where we are: the City of desire." He pointed it on the map. "Their pace is fast which could suggest they wish to end this quickly. This war may be the result of an internal quarrel or an attempt to unite permanently the tribes into one single nation."

"So? Just tell us what we need to know!" Impatience could be heard in Naaza's tone but that didn't impress the ghostly prince.

"This piece of information is important," Touma explained. "If they want to end this quickly, it means their alliance is not strong enough to resist a long term war or their new leader did the invasion to solidify his grip on the many clans regrouped together." He smiled. "Which means we can win this if we can make this last long enough or until we defeat the one controlling this."

"We also think the clans are not working that well together. It would explain their lack of strategy in some points that were taken," continued Orion, pointing out to three locations on the map that were under enemy occupation. "They can be unpredictable to some degree on their next target but it can be their weak spot as well if we manage to exploit it."

"So what do you suggest us to do? Strike at the heart of the rebellion itself as soon as possible?" Seiji suggested.

"That would be too risky. We're still unsure of our hypothesis and their numbers are yet to be confirmed," Orion told them. "For now, we must stop their progression. That's our first main objective. If we manage to stop them from conquering some key points on our territory, it will shake them because they have known only victory so far. If we are correct about their leader or leaders, it may weaken them enough for us to start taking back what they took from us!"

"Alright! Let's do this!" Shuu said, all psyched up. "Where do we start?" He watched Orion pointing to a lonely stronghold on the map.

"We must stop them at Fort Kinnum." He looked at them. "If we fail there, we might not get another chance to stop the invasion. The landscape surrounding this place will give you the opportunity to use your abilities to the maximum, gentlemen." He pointed the Mashos and the Troopers. "Feel free to use your armors to their full strength. You can't hurt anyone there except the enemy."

"Really?" Ryo expressed his surprise. "That's a great chance for us to fully test our new armors, guys."

"And we won't need to hide or reduce our strength," Touma smiled.

"Knowing what we can do won't hurt, that's for sure," Shin nodded.

"Still, I suggest restrain to some extent," Seiji commented with crossed arms on his chest. "It would be bad if we hurt each other by acting too zealously."

"Agreed," Shuu gently pat the shoulder of his friend. "I would hate to kick your ass by accident." He grinned at Seiji. "Again."

"Been there, done that," the blond responded with a laugh. "As long as you remember the lesson, I won't have to worry about myself."

"Yeah. Now we just need to worry about him kicking our butts by accident," Shin told the orange Trooper with wrapping his arm around his friend's neck.

While everyone laughed at the show Shin and Shuu were putting, Azhure put on a fake smile as she looked at Touma. He wasn't paying attention to her at all. As much as sometimes, she felt his gaze on her, he was now putting his eyes on the Oni Masho who gladly returned his attention with a small smile. She felt her heart squeezed when he smiled at her and went back to her side to talk.

She now deeply regretted to have not voice her feelings to Touma when she had the chance.