Chapter 4: Lord of the Flames
Takeru, his "mother" and their vassals ran towards the location that the Sukima sensor indicated; Takuto and his teammates after a moment decided to follow them and try to help their ancestors.
They were about to reach the others when Mimi stopped on her tracks and said "Wait!"
"What?" Takuto asked to his friend.
"Are you sure that we have to "help" them?" Mimi asked with a frown "It`s not like they need any help"
"Yeah" Ryuuzo said after a moment "They defeated Doukoku, that surely means that they can cope up with some Ayakashi"
"Also they are the ones who were defeated by…" Kasumi started to say but Takuto put a hand on her mouth and said "We are going to help"
"You can`t decide for us" Mitsuki complained.
"Actually…" Takuto smirked "I can, I`m your Lord and I say that we are going to help them and also show them how things are done in the future" Then he retook his path
The others groaned and followed him to battle.
The Ayakashi they encountered was similar to Marigomori, the one they beaten with a combination of heat and water, but this time his shell seemed to be stronger and thicker. Also he was accompanied with twenty or so Nannashi.
The 18th generation was already in their hakama and the banners were behind them and they were about to transform.
"What are you doing here?" Takeru asked to Takuto after seeing them, the 19th generation had arrived just seconds after the kurokos set the Shiba banners.
"We are trying to help" The other responded shrugging and pointed at their enemies.
"Actually we are trying to pass our time" Kasumi said sarcastically and summoned her Shinkenmaru.
Ryuunosuke walked towards her and said admonishingly while sticking out his index finger to her "Samurai don't try to pass their time; they fight evil and protect the innocents"
Mitsuki rolled her eyes and said tiredly "Could we have this discussion after we fight them? I'm getting tired"
"I agree; the sun is damaging my skin…I need to be presentable when we return to our time" Ryuuzo said looking at his teammate.
Takeru blinked not accustomed to their…apathetic? snarky? Attitude. Then he composed himself and said "Yeah…Shodophone!"
"Sushi Changer"
"Ippitsou Soujou"
"Ikkan Kenjou"
" Shinken Red, Shiba Takeru"
"The same Red, Shiba Kaoru"
"The same Blue, Ikenami Ryuunosuke"
"The same Pink, Shiraishi Mako"
"The same Green, Tani Chiaki"
"The same Yellow, Hanaori Kotoha"
"The same Gold, Umemori Genta"
The New Samurai decided just to summon their Shinkenmaru for the time being, they didn`t want to transform just yet.
Each one was giving all of their energies to defeat the Nannashi while Takeru and Kaoru fought the Ayakashi. For a moment Takuto was considering to join them but decided against it, unless they seemed to be in problem.
"They are weaker than the ones we encounter in our daily lifes" Ryuuzo commented while slashing some of the Nannashi.
"It may be because there is no enough misery in this times" Mimi commented dodging an attack.
"Could be" Mitsuki said grabbing two Nannashi and hitting them against each other.
Ryuunosuke and Chiaki stopped fighting just to look at the "younger" samurai. The Blue Samurai just said: "What are they talking about?"
"They may just be showing off" Chiaki said.
"Is the pot calling the kettle black?" Mako teased a little, she remembered how Chiaki had tried to show off in their battles against the Gedousshu the first months following their summoning.
Takuto ignored them and kept fighting the Nannashi, he just concentrated on his swordplay and landed his blows on his enemies, he became one with the sword and lost himself on it.
He remembered his mother`s words:
Takuto had been four-years-old when his mother finally gave in and allowed him to start training with his father. Of course his younger sister would begin training with them in no time since she was two and a half.
If the truth be told, he was awful with the wooden sword his father used for training. He couldn`t even lift it properly, it wasn´t because he didn´t put effort on it, it was just that he had no talent for swordmanship.
He just felt his father`s disappointed gaze over him every time they finished their training and how his father wished that he was not his son.
One day his father finally snapped and said "Just forget this"
"Dad"
"You`ll never be skilled enough to be a samurai…your sister will take your place when the time comes" His father said without any emotion and left him crying in the training yard.
He sat on the floor hiding his face on his legs. He didn´t know how much time he was there crying and didn´t notice when his mother wrapped her arms around him.
"You´ll make your father proud, you only need more work" She said.
"He told me to forget about it"
"Your father is a hard man now, he wants to make you strong and wants to prepare you for the future"
"I´m a waste"
"Everyone can better themselves, you only have to put all your heart and soul on it to succeed in everything you do"
Then Takuto decided to put all his hearth on his training and grabbed his mother´s silver sleeves, he said "Will you help me?"
"Of course" His mother said.
He of course had improved over the years while he trained with his mother and his father focused on training his little sister Naruko. Then when the time came and his father had…vanquished, he was the one who became Shinken Red instead of Naruko.
He looked at this father, Shiba Takeru, he was about to be slashed by a Nannashi.
"How ironic" Takuto thought but decided to help him, if his father died he would not exist after all.
But before he could go and help him, Mitsuki had blocked the slash and had defeated the Nannashi.
"I could have done that" He told the girl.
"But you didn´t" She replied sharply.
"We should henshin" Ryuuzo said slashing some Nannashi that appeared through the cracks "And we let the other finish the Ayakasi"
Takuto wasn´t so sure about that but looked at Kasumi and Mimi who were struggling to keep up with the new Nannashi that kept appearing, then he looked to Atsushi who was being held down.
"Let´s finish this" He said and then yelled out "Shodophone"
"Sushi Changer"
"Ippitsou Soujou"
"Ikkan Kenjou"
" Shinken Red, Shiba Takuto"
"The same Blue, Ikenami Ryuuzo"
"The same Pink, Shiraishi Mimi"
"The same Green, Tani Kasumi"
"The same Yellow, Hanaori Mitsuki"
"The same Gold, Umemori Atsushi"
Then the Shinkengers of the future summoned their special weapons and the ones from the present decided to focus on the Ayakashi.
After the battle they all un-henshin and Takeru walked towards his son.