Disclaimer: see previous chapters

Chapter 8

The new Ronin Warriors and their friends gazed at the castle that had abruptly grew out of the ground. They watched the drawbridge slowly come down in front of them.

"Looks like they're inviting us in," said Bastion.

"Well then, let's not keep them waiting," Chazz grinned.

Rowan came up beside them.

"I guess there's no stopping you guys, huh?"

The boys just shook their heads.

"I thought so but, before you head off, I've got a word of advice for you. The armors may have great power individually, but they have an even greater secret power when they work as one."

Jaden acknowledged the older man's words with a nod. He then walked over to White Blaze and knelt down in front of him.

"Okay, White Blaze, we're heading off to a big battle and I've got a job for you. I need you to watch over Alexis and everybody while we're gone, make sure they stay safe. Can you do that for me?"

The tiger gave a soft purr and nuzzled his master's cheek.

"Good boy, and listen, if I ever need your help I'll call for you, okay?"

A small roar was his answer as Jaden got up.

"Jaden wait," said Alexis.

"What's up, Lex?"

"Just be careful out there, okay?"

He nodded and joined his fellow warriors. They stood still for a moment then walked off to battle.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

The boys entered the courtyard and a voice called out.

"Ronin Warriors, you have but two choices: surrender and hand over Alexis Rhodes or face the consequences. Which will it be?"

"Is that a trick question?" Jaden quipped.

Sagramore Caradoc Dagonet and Percival then appeared on the balcony overlooking the courtyard.

"We underestimated your strength the last time, so to gauge it we've prepared a little test. We know you can handle twenty, thirty or maybe even forty of our knights, however, can you take one thousand knights?"

The boys tensed up at the sheer amount of enemies before them. Percival then spoke up.

"Do you still intend to resist us?"

Jaden stepped forward.

"Of course we intend to resist, just give us a minute alright?"

The boys then huddled together.

"Five of us a thousand of them, hardly seems fair," Jaden said.

"Odds aren't in their favor. Maybe we should give them a chance to surrender," Bastion joked.

"Nah, they're too stubborn for that," Atticus said.

"Guess we're gonna have to teach 'em a lesson," Chazz added.

"I'd say the best tactic is to take an even share of two hundred each of these bucket heads," said Hassleberry.

"Well Hassleberry, since you brought it up, why don't you take the two hundred on the far right? Atticus, the two hundred on the inner right."

Both nodded and readied their weapons. Jaden turned to the other two.

"Bastion, you handle the two hundred on the far left. Chazz, inner left."

"What will you do, Jaden?" Bastion asked, drawing an arrow.

"Well, someone's gotta take the middle, might as well be me."

Jaden then drew his swords and the boys turned to face the enemy.

"Now we're ready to resist you."

"Charge!" one of the knights, shouted.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

Hassleberry spun his naginata around in front of him. He began to bat and cut the horde of knights coming from all direction. One came in from his right and he swung the bladed end at it but the knight caught it. To his surprise, the blade folded into the staff as pulled hard on his naginata only to have it separate into three pieces connected to each other via chains. The Ra student looked at his weapon and smirk grew on his lips

"I didn't know it could do that."

Quickly grasping the two inner parts of the now separated staff, Hassleberry began to swing the outer parts and mercilessly club several knights in the head, chest and even struck one right where the sun don't shine. Now the fifty remaining knights stood before him. Hassleberry reconnected the pieces back into a staff again. His eyes became reptilian slits as he glared.

"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!"

He spun his naginata around over his head. Then, with a battle roar, brought it down in front of him. The ground began to violently shake. Large chunks of earth and stone began to rise up and pelted the empty husks. After it had subsided, Hassleberry examined his handiwork. He turned and walked away after not seeing a single knight still standing in the gaping hole in the ground. He stopped when he heard some rocks shifting. He turned around to see one knight still left. Hassleberry readied his weapon but looked into the blade and then smirked at the now charging knight. When the knight was a few feet away, he held up his hand like a cop stopping traffic.

"Hold it!"

The knight stopped two feet in front of the Ronin. Hassleberry, still smirking, simply pointed upward. The knight looked up only to be crushed by a large chunk of earth.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

Atticus gracefully stabbed and slashed numerous knights with great precision. One came up from behind, Atticus twirled his spear around and moved to stab his foe. The middle blade of the spear retracted and the two curved blades shifted forward and hooked around the advancing knight. Sensing another one coming up, Atticus tightly gripped his spear and, with surprisingly great strength, heaved the caught knight over his head and onto the other. Seeing another one, Atticus released the caught knight, spun his weapon around and slashed up, cutting the husk cleanly in half. He turned to see a horde of knights charging from his left. Atticus then brought his spear up and pointed it at the oncoming husks.

"SUPER WAVE SMASHER!"

Rather then firing a mass of bubbles, a single, powerful stream shot out and crashed into the oncoming knights. The attack then curved upward, taking some of the knights with it while the rest were dispatched. Atticus then reached down and picked up one of the defeated knights' shield. He ran forward, threw the shield onto the water attack, hopped on it, and rode up the stream, using the shield as a surfboard.

"Surf's up!"

As he rid the makeshift board, Atticus slashed down at the fifteen knights caught in the attack, one by one. When the stream had subsided, only one of the empty husks remained. Atticus positioned himself at just the right spot. The last knight hit the ground hard followed by Atticus, slamming the shield/ surfboard onto the husk's head.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

Jaden cut down two knights in a flash. He felt it was too easy fighting these knights. A group of knights stood ready to attack the young Ronin. Jaden surprised them by stabbing his swords in to the ground and then took a fighting stance.

"I don't need my swords to kick your cans."

The hollow armors took this as just the red armored boy being arrogant and charged forward. One came in brandishing a sword; Jaden blocked the strike and landed a fierce punch to the chest, denting its armor. As it stumbled back, another came in with an axe. This one was met with a kick that relieved it of its axe followed by a roundhouse kick that knocked it to the ground. Another came in with a mace. Jaden got this one by flipping it over his shoulder behind him then kicked its helmet in. another came running forward. This time, Jaden moved to get behind it and landed a roundhouse kick to its back, sending crashing into the others. They all got up and charged again. Jaden flipped over the advancing husk, reached down and gracefully landed on his swords by gripping the hilts. He pushed off the ground, swords still in hand and landed on another knight's shoulders. He connected the hilts together and jumped into the air.

"FLARE UP, NOW!"

He slashed down, vaporizing all that remained of his enemies.

"You'd think they'd learn by now," Jaden said to himself.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

Chazz' strategy could be chalked up as hack n' slash. Because of his large sword, every time he slashed, he took out two and sometimes three knights at once. When he struck down a few in front, he instinctually knew there was some behind and struck them down. All the kendo training he had done with Jaden had made all of this second nature to him. He felt invincible. Chazz made a wide sword stroke that took out twelve knights at once, a personal record for him. Chazz then twirled his sword around and stabbed at the knight behind him. He then raised his sword over his head and the clouds churned and lightning enveloped his sword. Chazz then sprinted forward at the gathered knights.

"THUNDER BOLT CUT!"

Chazz gave his sword one powerful swing as he dashed past the knights. For a moment, no one moved. Suddenly, the upper half of the remaining knights slid to the side until they fell off while the lower half collapsed to the ground.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

Bastion's battle could be best described as a shooting gallery. One by one, the hollow knights were dropping left and right. He would have been worried about running out of ammo if Rowan hadn't told him the day after he got his armor that the quiver on his back can hold an endless supply of arrows. Bastion was brought out of his thoughts when he caught a glimmer out of the corner of his eye and dodged an arrow aimed at his shoulder. He traced its origin to an archer knight, readying another arrow with many other knights in front to guard it. Bastion drew another arrow and did some quick calculating in his head. He released the arrow and in strange fashion, it ricocheted off several of the knights' helmets until it struck its target. The knights were surprised he managed to strike down their archer. While they were occupied Bastion drew another arrow and readied to fire. Golden streams of energy began to gather at the tip.

"ARROW SHOCKWAVE!"

Bastion released his arrow and the shot tore through the remaining knights.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

With the last of the hollow armors defeated, the Neo-Ronin Warriors regrouped, ready for more. The four round table knights stepped forward with their weapons drawn as well as another dozen of empty knights.

"How many of those knights do you have?" Jaden said.

"As many as we need," Sagramore said.

"Hey Jaden, you take care of those small fries, we'll handle these jokers," Chazz pointed at the four knights.

Before he could argue, the other four Ronins charged forward, leaving Jaden alone with the empty knights.

Bastion jumped into the air, ready to fire an arrow but Caradoc moved in close and swung his axe, causing Bastion to drop the arrow. Using his bow as some form of shield, Bastion blocked another swing and then an over head strike from Caradoc. The Ronin pushed the knight back a bit but Caradoc came back with another strike. Dodging the axe, Bastion backed away while firing off multiple arrows at his enemy.

Hassleberry wrestled with Dagonet then pushed him away. He then took a swing at the knight but the Round Table Knight easily avoided and charged at the Ronin with his mace. Thinking quickly, Hassleberry raised his naginata and blocked the attack.

Atticus jabbed at Sagramore with his spear, however the knight stepped to the side. He tried again but it was batted away. Sagramore raised drew his sword and brought it down, intending to cut Atticus in half. The Torrent Ronin raised his spear and managed to block the strike.

Chazz swung at Percival but the knight jumped over the attack. Percival then swung his sword down but Chazz raised his and parried. The knight attempted to strike again and Chazz parried again. Percival backed off then charged forward. Chazz shifted to the side to avoid the knight's attack. Percival backed away again and charged again, getting the same result.

Jaden had just dispatched the last empty knight. Wasting no time, he quickly ran over to his fellow warriors. The four round table knights backed away from their respective opponents, having difficulty believing how quickly these boys grew in strength. Just as the red Ronin joined the others, they heard a voice in their heads.

'That's enough, the attack has been compromised. Fall back for now.'

"Merlin?"

"I shall be the one to finish this."

"To ensure you succeed, we shall offer up our strength to you," said Percival in his mind.

"Very well"

An elderly looking man holding a large staff with a crystal orb on top of it emerged from the doorway onto the balcony.

"Who are you?"

"I am Merlin and your chances of victory are now non-existent."

The four knights began glow and then turn into orbs of energy. The four orbs rocketed up and crash into Merlin. The old wizard grew to be about fifty feet tall and became clad in black armor. He then pointed his staff at the wall of the center tower. A large mirror then faded into existence. The Ronins all wondered what could he need a mirror for.

"Be on guard, chaps. Merlin was known as very powerful sorcerer," said Bastion.

Merlin's staff then shifted into a simple double-edged sword. Atticus and Bastion broke off from the others. The old wizard moved to bring his sword down onto them but the two blue warriors evaded it and jumped onto his arm. They ran up the giant's arm, Bastion rapidly releasing arrows while Atticus slashed at Merlin's large arm. Merlin brought around his other hand to swat away the two small warriors but said boys managed to jump away before the large hand came down on the wizard large arm. Merlin then stabbed the sword into the ground reached out and grabbed Bastion and Atticus. The wizard then forcefully clapped his hands together, causing the Ronins to crash into each other's back. He pulled his hands away and did it again and again and again. At this point, Bastion and Atticus were out cold. Merlin then turned to face the center tower in the courtyard. The two began to glow with their respective colors and were zapped into the mirror. The old wizard returned his attention back to the three remaining warriors.

"What did you do to them?!" Jaden demanded.

"I have sent them inside my mirror. They are now my prisoners as you will be soon enough," Merlin replied.

"Fat chance of that, old man! THUNDER BOLT CUT!"

"IRON ROCK CRUSHER!"

Merlin grabbed his sword and it quickly shifted back to a staff. The orb began to glow and launched a small energy ball that grew and split open. The now open orb caught the attacks as it enveloped the two and reflected their own attacks back at them. The energy ball completely surrounded the green and orange Ronins and, like Bastion and Atticus before them, zapped into the mirror. After witnessing Bastion Atticus, and just recently, Hassleberry and Chazz being absorbed into the mirror above, Jaden glared at the old magician, silently promising endless amounts of pain.

"You're gonna pay for that!"

Jaden connected his swords together and jumped into the air and radiated with power.

"FLARE UP, NOW!"

He slashed down at the Merlin. The area surrounding the wizard was decimated as he was enveloped by the attack. When it had faded the ground and nearby walls appeared to be scorched and melted but Merlin was unharmed.

"He didn't even flinch!" said Jaden as he landed.

"Your resistance is useless. You're tired and weak from fighting so many adversaries. Surrender and I will be merciful."

Merlin raised his sword and slashed down, firing an energy blade at the young warrior. Thinking quickly, Jaden brought two fingers to his mouth and whistled loudly. Just before the energy blade struck, a blur zipped by and grabbed Jaden. Merlin followed the blur's path to find the red Ronin riding a white tiger.

"Thanks a lot, White Blaze," the boy said.

Jaden was now worried. with his friends locked away in the magic mirror and his sure-kill attack proven useless against the wizard, what can he do to win? Things where looking very grim.

Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x Yoroi x

A/N: Part two is now complete. What do you think so far?