Tomoe had faced multiple foes at once before, but never an entire army. Still, she plunged into the fray. These were humans, she had to remind herself. She knocked as many as she could back, but no matter how hard she hit them, they would always stagger to their feet and keep coming.
"I don't understand!" Miroku threw a man to the side. "What is going on here?"
"I think that armor suit is controlling them!" Kagome called. "If we can get to it and destroy it, maybe the villagers will return to normal!"
"But how are we supposed to do that?!" InuYasha snarled as he punched another man in the face and dodged someone's thrown pitchfork. "He's all the way over there and we have all these people to deal with!"
"Tomoe, you need to get airborne and take out the armor suit." Sango called over the sound of battle.
"Me? Why me?" Tomoe blocked a man's hoe that he was swinging in wide arcs.
"Shut up and do it!" InuYasha yelled. Tomoe nodded, then jumped in the air, using an unfortunate farmer or two as stepping stones. She slid her reflector beneath her feet and kept it airborne. Soon she was several feet above their heads.
"I'll do what I can!" She called. She looked discouraged as she saw her friends surrounded by hostile villagers. Still, she had to try. She couldn't afford to fail.
She could see the demon, its armor glinting fiery red in the torchlight. The emblem on its shoulders, four flowers in a diamond shape, seemed to glow.
"Over here!" She called as she flew closer. The suit of armor hefted its sword and turned to face her. It was massive, and the blade crackled with electricity.
"Tomoe…" It echoed.
"Yeah, it's me." Tomoe growled. "Enough with the stupid vagueness, call off your minions and fight me!" She lowered her reflector to take it into a landing. She landed with a running start toward the armor and brought the reflector up in full.
I have to take him out in one shot. She thought to herself. The others are counting on me. She felt her demonic energy flood into the reflector. It began to glow a vibrant red. She moved it so that it faced the armor suit, throwing more of her energy into it and causing it to glow even brighter.
"Solar flare!" Tomoe yelled. A blast of energy shot out from the reflector and hit the suit of armor at nearly point-blank range. It sent it hurtling back several dozen yards, leaving a deep track in the ground in its wake.
"Come on…" Tomoe watched the cloud of smoke, waiting for it to clear. "Stay down, just stay the fuck down…" She tensed, looking back at the mass of possessed villagers. They were still coming. Her face fell. Suddenly, she heard the sound of thunderous footsteps, and the suit of armor burst forth from the cloud, sword held high to swing. Tomoe was able to hold her reflector up to block the sword just in time. It was an immense force, so much so that Tomoe was also sent back quite a distance.
Damn he's strong… She thought to herself. This isn't good.
She looked back at Kagome and her friends. The priestess herself was on top of a large pink bubble Tomoe assumed to be Shippo. It kept her out of the fray. InuYasha, Sango and Miroku were being overwhelmed. They were doing their best, but more people kept coming.
I'm not gonna give up. Tomoe thought to herself. These armored things are here for me, not them! She held up her reflector and ran at the armored suit again. She didn't know how she was going to defeat it, but she was going to try. She let out a cry and struck at the armor, jumping to the side to dodge the glowing sword. It hit the ground and left a dark scorch mark. The reflector collided with a gauntlet, and Tomoe let out a harsh laugh when she saw the hand come clean off.
"So you ARE vulnerable…" She grinned. "Next I'll take the other arm." She steadied herself and readied for another charge. The Solar Flare had taken a good deal of her energy. She knew she wasn't as strong as before, but it had to be enough to take out this armor. It had to.
The second swipe from the sword narrowly missed Tomoe. Despite this, she felt an electric shock run through her entire body. She let out a howl of pain and sank to her knees. She was paralyzed. Even the slightest movement of her body caused shock waves to shoot up and down her frame, from her head to her toes. She fought hard to get to her feet, her reflector spinning like a sawblade.
This thing's gonna kill me… She thought to herself. I'm dead… She looked up at the blade swinging down toward her, unable to even lift her arms to defend herself.
Suddenly, the suit of armor stopped. Tomoe watched as a bubbling motion began in its chestplate. The metal seemed to boil before it split open, revealing a gout of black flame. It spread and spiderwebbed outwards, cris-crossing the suit of armor dozens of times. The armor let out a guttural roar, and before Tomoe's eyes it fell apart like a jigsaw puzzle. The sword, still clutched in a gauntleted hand, came to rest on the ground at Tomoe's feet.
As soon as the suit of armor died, the villagers stopped attacking. They slumped to their knees and fell at the feet of InuYasha, Miroku and Sango. Shippo let Kagome down to the ground. The five of them looked to Tomoe. Tomoe looked, confused, to the suit of armor and whoever had destroyed it. A lithe figure stepped up to walk over the wreckage toward her.
"You honestly let this overgrown tin can get the better of you?" Hiei asked as he sheathed his sword, which still crackled with demonic flame. "I'm surprised at you, Tomoe. These years since the battle with Sensui have made you soft."
Tomoe gaped at him.
"H-hiei?" She stammered.
"What, have you forgotten me already?" He rose an eyebrow, still frowning. "You have the worst memory of anyone I've ever seen—" He grunted in shock as Tomoe ran toward him and threw her arms around his neck.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Tomoe asked. "How did you get here? How did you know where I was? Are the others with you?"
Decidedly unused to such displays of affection, Hiei shoved her away from him.
"You know I hate it when you do that." He said shortly. "I don't know where the others are. All I know is that one of Mukuro's sources told me what happened to you. So I found my way here. End of story." He looked uneasy as he saw her slumped on her knees. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's nothing." Tomoe let out a hollow laugh. "I'm just really glad you're here." Hiei was able to find her. If he could, then so could Kurama, Kazuma and Yusuke. She knew she could hold her own, but knowing that the three of them could possibly be coming to help made her feel so much better.
"You're still staring." Hiei said. "You may have a concussion."
"It's called being happy to see you, you ass." Tomoe got to her feet. "You're going to stay with me until I can go home, right?"
"I suppose." Hiei shrugged. "All Mukuro told me was that I was going back to the Feudal Era." He looked over at her. "What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?"
"Not sure." Tomoe smiled tiredly. "Youko Kurama is involved, I know that much. He's an ass and I kind of hate him."
"Really?" Hiei smirked. "Sounds like you have an interesting story to tell."
"Damn straight I do." Tomoe nodded. "Come on. Let's go check to make sure my friends aren't dead."
Hiei nodded. "Lead the way."