Disclaimer: See previous chapters

Chap. 19

Earth

Quatre and Dorothy materialized on the rooftop of one of the buildings in the city. Looming just a couple of blocks away was Preventor Headquarters, their destination.

"Back to the warrior's paradise…" Dorothy whispered to herself.

Quatre however managed to hear her. "What do you mean by that, Miss Dorothy?"

Dorothy sighed. "I may have changed my ways, Mr. Winner. But that doesn't change one simple fact about the human race."

"And what's that?"

"As long as humans exist, there will always be battles."

"Miss Dorothy…" Now it was Quatre's turn to sigh. "I would rather think about the part of human that strives for a way to avoid conflict."

Dorothy turned away and smiled. This was beginning to sound like their last conversation. Of course, they were both changed from that and Dorothy knew that Quatre wasn't naïve. At least not that much…

"You know, you don't always have to act so kind, Quatre." She then giggled. "Oh, wait. I suppose you can't help that." Turning to him… "At the very least, there's no need to be formal."

"Dorothy. I…"

Quatre cut short however and his eyes wavered off to the side. Dorothy did as well, seeing the mist that seemed to appear out of nowhere. And she had already been through this once enough to know what this meant.

"Let me guess. We have company."

True enough, Dynasty soldiers all materialized around them, also blocking off the stairway. Quatre calculated the odds and they were bad. Really bad.

"We can't stay here." Quatre said, backing up a bit.

Dorothy backed up into him. "I'm open to options."

She was suddenly surprised when Quatre whirled around, picked her up, jumped high up into the air and over the side of the building. Dorothy was too stunned by Quatre's actions to even be scared and Quatre landed softly on the grounds below. Quatre sighed in relief, glad that his armor protected both of them, but that was soon gone when Dynasty soldiers poured out of the building. Quatre placed Dorothy down and stood ready to fight. They weren't out of danger, but at least they weren't surrounded.

"I guess you guys leave me with no choice. Armor of Dune! Tao Kitai!"

Warrior's paradise…

Dojo Dwelling

Mia and Sally were both doing a diligent search on their laptops, with a connection cord between them in order to double the search. Mia sighed a bit and looked over to the side to see Ryo walking out of the next room and heading outside.

"Ryo, where are you going?" she called out to him.

"I'm going out to train with the others."

"No Ryo." Mia stood up from her seat. "You really should get some more rest."

"Mia, I can't." Ryo protested. "Any longer and I won't be strong enough to help the others."

"But Ryo…"

Kayura suddenly intervened. "Wildfire is right, Mia. He needs to be stronger if he is to defeat Nanashi."

"Are you sure?"

Ryo grinned lightly. "Yeah. I've recovered from worse. Remember that battle with Talpa?"

"Nanashi stronger than Talpa." the woman retorted. She then added softly. "I just don't want you to push yourself too hard."

At that point, Whiteblaze let out a low growl and strode up beside him. Ryo smiled and reach down to pet the tiger.

"See? Whiteblaze will be with me, so you don't have to worry, okay?"

"I guess you're right." Mia smiled in quiet resignation. "Take care of him, Whiteblaze."

"Come on boy. Let's go."

The pair soon dashed out the dwelling and disappeared in a flash of light. Mia watched as they disappeared and sighed. Kayura strode up beside her, facing the same direction.

"You're quite concerned over Wildfire."

"I just don't want him to get hurt. He's done so much for us already."

Sally, who had been watching the scene from the sidelines, smiled faintly as she got back to work.

"Quite concerned… She sounds like Relena."

Forest, Earth

Within the thicket of forestry and in the center of a clearing, Trowa was kneeling on the ground. Since he knew no where else to really go to train, he chose the same place as before. He felt different here, in these woods. He wasn't sure if it was because of the armor or not, but something inside made him feel more alive, more purposeful than he had in recent times. That wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy the time he spent with his sister in the circus, but this just felt so new and yet familiar. 'I hope everyone is okay' he thought, remembering the fire that had come up due to Noin's presence. Shaking the thought aside, he stood up, but kept his eyes closed in order to allow the armor's power to slowly flood through him. As he did, the symbol of Kaichou –Harmony- shimmered lightly on his forehead. The peace of the woods seemed to amplify his strength through this trait. But a flutter of wings from some birds nearby disturbed him out of his trance and caused him to open his eyes. But it wasn't the birds that disturbed him. Rather, it was what disturbed the birds.

"Celestial of Harmony, prepare to die."

Trowa quickly jumped high into the air as a crack echoed out from behind and a whip snapped out and shattered the grassy floor where he once was. Trowa continued upward until he settled himself on the branch of one of the trees. Looking forward, Trowa was face to face with his assailant. It was an armored creature, the same as the Dynasty warriors that attacked him before except that this one was shape like a female. A barbed whip hung loosely at her side.

"You're quite nimble, aren't you? Or is that just being jittery?"

Trowa simply narrowed his eyes and the creature continued speaking. "Ah, the silent one. Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Nitari, the shadow assassin of Nanshi." The whip twitched lightly and Trowa jumped out of the way as he suddenly flung her arm, lashing it out at him and shattering the branch. Trowa literally shot above the treetops and crossed his arms.

"Armor of Tempest. Tao Kaichou!"

The armor cloth unfurled around him and shattered above, raining down on him and forming the complete armor of Tempest. Trowa of Tempest landed on the tree branch and set his quarterstaff in attack position. Nitari dashed across from where she was, screaming aloud and lashing her whip out again. Trowa lifted his staff in defense and the whip cracked against it. With the whip retracting, Trowa now made is move to attack, leaping of the branches and directly at her. Nitari leaped up as the staff hit the tree hard, causing it to shake from the impact. Above, Nitari lashed her whip again and now it was Trowa's turned to jump out of the way again. Trowa landed on a nearby tree and rebounded off, heading into the air again. On seeing his approach, Nitari whirled around, letting her whip follow. Trowa lifted his staff to it and the whip wrapped around it, linking the two warriors together. Landing on the treetops, the two dashed around, trying to pull the other into the tree in an effort to regain their weaponry. When they finally reached the ground, Nitari snapped her arm, causing the whip to loosen and retract to her side.

"Impressive, for a Celestial." Nitari laughed. "But now fun and games are over."

Nitari lifted her whip and Trowa made ready for another attack, but Nitari didn't attack. Rather, she waved the whip around her body, letting it encircle her. The whip barbs began to glow and then separated from the whip itself. The barbs floated around and slowly began to form into new shapes. Trowa was now faced with seven images of Nitari, all armed with whips of their own.

"I would say beg for mercy, but I wouldn't accept it anyway. Hahaha!"

Smack!

A Dynasty soldier was knocked away after being hit in the face by one of Quatre's nunchuku. The soldier continued the press and Quatre lunged into the battle. Leaping up into the air, Quatre lashed out again, kicking another in the chest and then followed up by waving both arm out to the side, causing both nunchucku to fly outward and floor several other minions. As they fought, Dorothy watch transfixed on the side. She had just realized that she had never seen Quatre fight like this. But despite that, his were the same as when they had fought on Libra. That distant expression that showed his sadness and regret over fighting, yet also showed his determination to end it as quickly as possible.

"Dorothy, get as far away from here as you can."

Dorothy complied and began to move away, but a score of soldiers leapt off the rooftop and crashed right before her, blocking her path.

"Dorothy!"

Breaking away from his current combat, Quatre dashed over to where Dorothy had been cornered. Again, Dorothy searched for an escape route and began to dash inside a nearby building. But one of the soldiers hurled a hooked chain at her, blocking the entrance and her escape. Dorothy stopped short and another whirled its chain around to capture her. Only this one was knocked aside by the incoming Quatre, who wailed in on them and broke a path through.

"Come on!"

Dorothy had already seen the path though and was well through it as Quatre held them off. But one of the soldiers emerged from around the side and hurled a spear at her. Quatre didn't see if the spear hit her directly. But the accompanied scream and fall was more than enough. Breaking away again, he moved over to Dorothy's fallen body.

"Dorothy…Dorothy…" He moved his hands away from her, showing the blood that now stained his armored hands. Memories of his father's death flashed over in his mind. Trembling with rage, Quatre returned his attention to the soldiers who were all charging at him. Wisps of hot air swirled around him as he connected the two nunchuku together. A wide black circle formed underneath the soldier, causing them to stop in their charge. Lifting the nunckuku high, Quatre cried aloud. "Armor of Dune! Gaia's Wrath!"

Slamming the nunchuku down on the imprisoning circle, a blast of white energy shot up like a volcano eruption and crumbled everything around them. The surrounding buildings shattered completely under the might and the Dynasty warriors were all vaporized in the heated blast. Quatre stood in the debris in silence for a long while, looking at what used to be a city block but now nothing but debris and shattered ruins.

"Wha…What have I done?"

"Ah, finally."

"What is it?"

"Data on the Starlight Swords." Mia told Sally. "Grandfather must have had a hard time with this one."

Sally got up from her station and moved over beside Mia. "What does it say?"

"Not much. Just some scattered histories on it. Stories of how the sword was once one and then became two. For it to be one, a soul of purity is needed. And the swords will continue to search for a way to become one again."

"Does that mean that this sword chose you?" asked Kayura after hearing Mia exclamation from the other room.

"It would appear so. You were right when you said that it is attracted to the purity of people." She then pondered aloud. "But that doesn't explain why I only received only one of the blades."

"Perhaps the second one has found someone else." Sally suggested.

Kayura mused to herself. 'All we have to do now is find out who.'

Trowa grit his teeth as he stood facing the now eight warriors, all the same creature. Their whips twitched around lightly as the dark warrior chuckled at the lone Celestial.

"Eight against one. Kind of makes you wish your friends were here, doesn't it? Well, that not going to happen. And by the time they figure out there's something wrong, it will be far too late. So let this end now!"

In a flash, all eight Nitari's jumped all over the place and lashed out at him. Trowa skipped back repeatedly to avoid the whiplashes they were all lashing out at him. 'If I am to survive this, I must go on the offensive.' That was easier said than done, as they all were lashing out at him in sequence, keeping him on the defensive and in retreat. The Nitaris continued to press their attacks, lashing out with their whips and tearing up the forestry. Trowa reared his arm back, readying his attack, but paused. The Nitaris were all over the place. It would by pointless to unleash his full power if he didn't get the right one. He had to narrow it down to the right one and fast.

"Come back, Tempest." Nitari taunted. "We're not done playing."

Two of them shot up into the trees and rushed over him while two other dashed over the side. The four remaining ones charged at him head on and Trowa steadied himself for the attack.

'When attacking a small amount of enemies, surround the target and destroy the enemy.'

Remembering this and the swarming Nitaris, Trowa changed tactics, rushing toward them instead. Spinning his staff, Trowa jumped as the first one cracked her whip. While airborne, Trowa waved his staff to deflect the remaining whiplashes. Now diving in, Trowa smashed his staff down, causing them to retreat except for one, who was caught by the smashing attack. But the creature simply faded away and what hit the ground was a metal barb, one of the barbs that were attached to the original Nitari's whip. Before he could ponder this, his back was struck with several lashes, causing him to be knocked to the floor. The Nitari's all assembled behind him, all laughing at him.

"Aw, Tempest fall down and hurt himself? Khehehe!"

Trowa slowly rose up, fighting the stinging pain he felt on his back. It hurt badly, but he knew this was probably the best-case scenario. If he had allowed them to surround him as before, he wouldn't be getting up at all. And now he had reduced the numbers to seven. But he couldn't fight all of them this way. He had to find the real one.

The real one…

Looking on the ground back at the barb, it had suddenly occurred to him. If all except one were made of these barbs, then only one would be different from the rest. Standing up again, Trowa closed his eyes and used his armor's power and element.

Spirit…

The Nitaris looked at him with confusion at first and then spread out to attack again. Trowa remained still, using his armor still to sense out the real Nitari. As they closed in, Trowa began to struggle. They all felt dark to him so he couldn't pick it out. Then he realized again. 'I have to search for the darkest one…' With this in mind, Trowa continued his search. Meanwhile, the Nitaris closed in and attacked. Trowa's eyes flashed open and spinning his staff, he deflected the lashes at him. All except for one, that caught his leg. Trowa bent down again and two Nitaris flew at him. What they didn't know was that Trowa was still using his senses and had detected to true Nitari.

'Right.'

The two Nitaris lashed their whips out at him. Trowa sidestepped the first lash and jumped up into the air, flying past the true Nitari.

"Deception is a powerful weapon, but it's not infallible."

Nitari's crimson eyes widened as Trowa whirled around in the air and summoned his full power, his quarterstaff spinning and gathering energy. Lots of it.

Whirling staff; gather lightining, wave it down

"Armor of Tempest! Thunder Storm!"

Waving the staff, Trowa targeted the Nitari on the left and unleashed his power. Nitrai was shocked that Trowa was able to discern which one was her and as the thunder wave crashed down on her, she admitted defeat.

"You win, this time! Guaahhhhh!"

The light blast erupted through the forest and into the skies. But as the energy flew up, a figure watched on from the skies above. It was Nitari. The real Nitari…

"Most impressive, Celestial. It's fortunate. Sarenbo's trick was quite useful in getting your powers out. That's two down and four to go. Hehehe…"