CHAPTER 25: Ambushed

"So just who is the master planner in your group anyway?" asked Kento as the five travelers made their way across deserted streets and wrecked city blocks. Tarun was climbing crags of rock and the surviving trees, listening with one ear to the older youths talking. "And does that kid ever run out of energy?"

"No," said Xander with a weary laugh. "Even when he's sleeping he moves around all night and talks in his sleep."

Interested, Tarun jumped down from the lower branch of a strange pink tree and rejoined the group. "I do?" he asked.

"Yeah—it usually sounds like you're threatening someone."

While Tarun giggled and tried to remember what he would have dreamed where he might threaten someone, Amaya said that their best planner was Rashida. "She is the best..." She paused for several moments, thinking of the right word. As Xan and Tarun did not speak Japanese, they were all using English. "Strategist. She is wise and clever. It is why she wears the Halo armor."

"Nohano's pretty good with it too," said Xan, "when he's not rushing in with his katanas—katana--!" he corrected before Amaya could, "—swinging, anyway. Amaya's not bad, either."

"What we could really use is Kikoutei," said Cye, frowning. "I think Kento and I should be able to lend our power to it, and it's so much more powerful; I think that it could destroy a lot of these soldiers. Though I guess it'd also tell them right where we are, too."

"Yeah, let's not do that," said Kento, scowling thunderously. "If we're gonna stay in one piece long enough to take Talpa down, we're gonna have to be careful."

"Hey, so who's boss right now?" Tarun asked, looking at the group. Neither of the group's leaders were there, so it was a question he wanted to know the answer to. "Can I be it?"

The others had looked thoughtful at the first query, but at the second, they were surprised into a laugh, and Amaya looked at the others. Finally she shrugged. "All right," she said when no one protested. "And what would your first act be as leader?"

Tarun stopped walking and blinked, as Xander sighed, rolling his eyes upwards. "Oh Lord, this ought to be interesting."

It was a good question! "I dunno!" he said, beginning to walk again, now in deep thought. "What do leaders do, anyway?"

"Well," said Amaya, no longer smiling. She wasn't angry or unhappy, but she had her "teacher" face on, which was how she usually looked when she was teaching weapons and fighting. "What would Nohano be doing right now, if he was here?"

"Walking and prob'ly insulting Talpa because he took all the good sun," said Tarun immediately, and everyone laughed again, though there was a dark, grim undertone to it, because it was true. Tarun frowned. "And he'd be right, too! This isn't a real sun, and ours is all covered up." He looked upwards to the cloudy sky, scowling first at the clouds, and then to the creepy reddish disk that was the Nether World's sun.

"That's definitely what Nohano would be doing," said Xander. "Though I don't mind the dark much. The midget here runs off sunshine, though."

"I do not," said Tarun, scowling, "and I am not a midget! I run off daytime. It's just better if there's sun. But there doesn't have to be."

"You had a good question though," said Kento. "What do we do?"

Amaya looked to Tarun, and seemed to be waiting for him to answer the question. The problem was, he didn't know the answer! "I wouldn't be a good leader," the boy said finally, feeling suddenly a little foolish. He didn't know what they should do, didn't know how to plan a battle, and had no clue how to lead a group. "I dunno anything!"

Amaya finally chuckled softly and gave Tarun a brief, one-armed hug. "You know plenty, aiji," Tarun didn't know the word's meaning, though he did know it was a pet name she used for him on occasion. "You have never been a leader, one must not expect that you would know about being a leader. But you can learn!"

"Yeah, that's right, kid," said Kento, ruffling Tarun's hair so that it stuck up in all directions. "You can't know something you never did before."

Tarun smiled at the two of them, feeling a lot better at their words, and shrugged a little. "I guess," he said.

"And a leader does not have to know all the answers," said Amaya. "When he does not know an answer, he asks one of his group who does know the answer."

"What if no one does?" asked Tarun.

Xander answered for her. "Then we're screwed."

A snort of laughter was surprised out of Kento, and Tarun clapped a hand over his mouth to stifle a shout of giggling. Cye was giving Xander a rather wry look. "You're not afraid of saying what you think, are you, Xander?" he asked.

"Damn straight," said Xan. "Call me Xan, though, willya? That's what I go by."

"Ya know," Kento said, "We never did answer the question about what we're gonna do. The palace is a week away, if we don't get waylaid, anyways, but we should have a plan as soon as possible."

What did a person do when planning a battle, anyway? Nohano usually got information about the enemy, first, so they knew what they'd have to fight. But they already knew all about the enemy! What came next?

"In the Nether Realm,' said Amaya, "the palace was surrounded by tall mountains. It is so now, also?"

Kento nodded, his lip curling in disgust. "Yeah," he said. "And he's got it all filled with these stupid, pink trees and water everywhere. Cye took all sorts of offense at all the water Talpa's spoiling with his evil energy."

Cye muttered darkly in agreement.

"And there's all these damned soldiers, too," said Xander. "Are there any guarding the palace itself?"

"There weren't many," said Cye. "I suppose they'd mostly been sent out. But there might be now, if Talpa's getting paranoid about us. He can't know we've teamed up, but he still knows there are five Ronin loose in the area. He won't like that at all, especially not after last time, when you guys fought him so well. He'll be wary."

"Okay," Xander said, holding up a hand and tapping each finger against his other hand, making a small "clink" sound each time he did it. "So. Mountains to get past—"

"They won't be a problem unless Talpa has closed the passage," said Amaya. "There is a small maze-tunnel to go through to get in.

"Hmm. Okay. So maze-tunnel—maybe no big deal. Maybe guards. Definitely warlords, if we don't see them even before we get there. I bet they're looking for our asses, too."

"Just our asses?" asked Kento, grinning impishly.

Xander groaned. "I'm not even going there!" he said, and everyone laughed wearily. "Okay. Three of us are armed and armored—we gotta find you guys some kind of weapon. You're Torrent and Hardrock?"

Cye nodded, his brow furrowed in thought. "Yes, and I've seen weapons similar to those we use among the Dynasty soldiers; if we could find a small group of them and defeat them, we'd at least have some weapons. We didn't go armed in the Spirit Realm, but we didn't need to. Here, I feel completely helpless without one. I was so used to always being armed, before..."

"You said it," said Kento. "I'd love to have my naganata about now."

"You'd have to fight Demetrius for it," Xan joked grimly.

"Hey, if he was here, I'd gladly let him wield the thing, just so he got me something else to use!"

Xander nodded. "Right. So...we need to get two weapons, and be ready to fight our way in. I get the idea that the closer we get, the more Talpa will know about what we're doing."

"He usually knows as soon as we step into the Nether Realm," said Cye. "But as the worlds have merged, and are half mortal and half Nether Realm, he will not have nearly so much power. The more he makes the realm his own, the more his power will increase. The sooner we get there the better."

"Sure wish we had a car," said Tarun. "Because walking's boring. Doesn't anything work in this stupid place?"

"Only if Talpa wants it to," said Kento. "Unfortunately. I figure that's how that damned kid with the laser pistol is able to use it; Talpa's done something to it so that it works."

Silence fell among the group as they walked, and Tarun thought the others might be thinking of battle plans. He walked next to Kento, also trying to think of battle plans, but the way he saw it, the only thing they could really do was to fight their way in. Either that, or try to sneak in, and that wasn't going to be easy.

They stopped around noon for some lunch, and Tarun ate his de-hy meal in silence. They'd all grabbed the dehydrated stuff at the supermarket now that they had a way of cleaning dirty water, and the de-hy meals were smaller and easier to travel with than most of the canned and boxed stuff. They tasted better, too!

"I gotta go pee," said Tarun, standing and bouncing on his heels a little. He'd made sure to put a few little packets of de-hy ice cream into his pack, figuring that it was okay to take up a little space, and he'd eaten one after lunch. "I'm gonna go over at the park, okay?" He nodded over at a nearby playground that had a few trees he could use for bathroom cover.

"Just be careful," said Xander. "Yell if you need help."

Tarun nodded; it was pretty normal. Whenever anyone stepped away to take a pee, someone always told that person to be careful. He jogged over to the park and peered into the trees, startling a cat, who hissed at him and sprinted away. Tarun was startled, too, and almost cried out, his heart suddenly racing. Then he laughed a little nervously and ducked into the little copse of trees, banishing his sub-armor and tucking his armor orb into his pocket.

Once he'd finished his business, Tarun ducked back out of the trees, frowning at a sudden anxiety in his chest. Something like a shadow had fallen over the area, even though the light outside had not changed. He glanced nervously over to his friends several yards away, packing up the lunch supplies and closing the backpacks. Just as Tarun took a step towards them, a flash of bright light made him yell in startlement, and he caught just a glimpse of the others lurching to their feet, and gaped at Kale's imposing figure. For just a moment, the two of them locked gazes, Tarun's shocked one, Kale's narrowed-eyed one. A look of sudden, furious triumph flashed across Kale's face, and Tarun bolted, ducking for the cover of the trees, jamming his hands into his pocket for his sphere. Caught without his armor!

There were several more flashes, several cries of alarm and anger from the others, and Tarun could hear Kale right behind him. He grasped his armor sphere tightly, barely pausing as the riot gear coalesced around him, and yelped as a shadow flew at his head. Heart racing, Tarun dropped to the ground, ducking away as Kale's nodachi thunked into a tree right above him, and he sprinted back the opposite way, realizing with sudden panic that he'd done a very stupid thing, running into the shadows to escape a warlord of darkness.

"Armor of--!" Tarun began to cry out, but a sudden, violent strike at his back sent him sprawling, his summons interrupted, and he was dodging Kale's weapon again, working on the most primal of instincts. He could barely think, keeping out of Kale's way, and while Tarun was quick, he wasn't nearly fast enough in only his riot gear! Quick, mental flashes from the others told Tarun that they had their own hands full, and Tarun began to panic again; he was stuck fighting Kale on his own!

"Coward!" Tarun yelled angrily, ducking behind a tree as Kale's wicked claw-hand flashed towards his face. He ducked away, spinning around to face Kale, who was glaring at him. He was utterly terrifying, standing in full armor, his spiked helmet over his head and his blood-red mask obscuring his features. He didn't even look human at the moment, only another demon-soldier, his nodachi in one hand. The sword was taller than Tarun was!

"You call me coward, boy?" Kale growled.

"Yeah!" Tarun said, clenching his fists. "You attacked someone that wasn't armed! And lots littler than you!"

Kale laughed, the sound derisive and insulting. "Such an honor is only bestowed on an equal, boy," he said, making Tarun's face flush with hot anger. "One warrior to another. You, however, are a disobedient brat that must be brought to my master!"

The grave insult lent Tarun enough bravado to declare, "No WAY!", to stick out his tongue, and sprint away again. Kale growled and went after him, but this time Tarun was able to call out his armor, crying its summons into the gloomy air. A great rush of bright speed and sudden glee exploded through him as his armor materialized, and he laughed, ducking Kale's next attack with far more ease than he had the last. He ran, his feet thudding on the ground like a jackhammer, leaving Kale far behind him in seconds. He could feel the warlord's frustration even as he ran.

Behind a power pole, Tarun took a few seconds to recover from the shock of being ambushed. He concentrated on the mind link, but it seemed that the others were doing okay for the time being; even Cye and Kento fought, Kento with his fists and Cye with a slim, steel beam he'd found somewhere. His eyes swept the area and he saw that Kale had joined the fight, possibly realizing he had no chance of catching Tarun. Dais and Kento were fighting, though Kento was mostly dodging Dais's many weapons. Xan's shields flashed constantly; he had no chance to fight, using all of his energy and concentration on shielding the others.

Of course Tarun couldn't stay here; his friends were badly outnumbered, and they all needed to get the heck out of there and get away from the warlords. Even Tarun knew that it was bad they'd been spotted; it was going to be doubly hard to get away from the warlords now that they knew what area they were in.

Tarun sprinted towards the fight once more, dodging a stray crossbow bolt from a younger warlord, and grasping his sling as he ran. He gave a yell, hurling one of his more powerful rounds at Dais's head, catching him off guard and letting Kento get in a good flying kick to the warlord's head. Tarun cheered as Kento lunged forward and grabbed the scythe fan from Dais's back, ducking away as Dais grabbed for him, and swinging the strange weapon around at the furious Dais.

Spinning around, he eyed Kale, whose back was to him. Corruption was advancing on Amaya, who was already fending off one of the lesser warlords, the one who talked with an English accent. An evil grin appearing on his face, and with an almost insatiable urge to really piss Kale off, Tarun sprinted for the three of them, leaping up into the air and landing on Kale's back. Kale yelled in surprised anger and spun, Tarun clutching the scabbard he wore across his back. The boy grabbed Kale's helmet and yanked it off of his head, dropping to the ground as Kale let a roar of fury, spinning around and swinging his nodachi at Tarun's head. Giggling gleefully, Tarun sprinted away, still holding Kale's helmet, and Kale broke from the fight to chase after him.

He didn't go far, not wanting to leave the others alone. Making sure Kale saw him, Tarun hurled the helmet down a half-open manhole, then winced in alarm as Kale brought his sword above his head. Tarun yelled, and with a burst of speed, dodged the lightning attack Kale hurled at him. All that practice with Rashida had paid off!

Giving Kale a wide berth as the warlord came after him, Tarun ran back to the fight, looking for the nearest warlord, the younger one called Cade who had the crossbow. Not slowing down, Tarun tackled him, his great momentum sending them both flying several yards away from the fight and sending the warlord's crossbow skittering across the pavement.

Cade growled in surprise as Tarun rolled energetically off of him, and they both got to their feet, Cade glaring, Tarun smug. "Ronin of Hope, huh?" sneered Cade, and Tarun was surprised to hear he was American! "And I am the Warlord of Despair."

"Oh, yeah?" said Tarun, frowning. He didn't like the sound of that; it was the very opposite of what he was, though he wasn't quite sure what else to say to the warlord's declaration.

"Yes—I'm surprised you still have the nerve to fight us, kid. Even if you get away from us now, you'll never rest. We know where you are, you'll never get away from us." Tarun blinked, cocking his head slightly and backing up. Hadn't he just been thinking that very thing? When this grim, young warlord said it aloud, it seemed to be a lot more dire.

'He's just trying to scare me,' Tarun thought, biting his lip. 'And it's working!'

Tarun was right; Cade was using his great skill in crushing morale, and darkening hopes. But he had been doing something else as well, and Tarun very nearly didn't realize it until too late. While his attention was focused on Cade, someone had crept up behind him. It was only the faint shadow on the ground that made him spin around, his eye meeting a pair of green ones—a gaze that made him feel suddenly cold. It was Jin Tanaka, the only one of the warlords that Tarun was utterly terrified of. He had time to take a horrified step backwards before the female warlord flung out her hands—

Tarun shrieked, a sudden, blinding, ripping pain exploding across his face, the one part of him his armor didn't cover, and he sprinted blindly away from her, his base instinct changing in an instinct from fight to flight.

A sudden, shocking thus against the right side of his body sent him careening painfully to the left, stumbling and sprawling on the ground. Shaking, he squinted his eyes open, seeing he'd run into the corner of a half-destroyed brick building at full speed, and that he'd crumbled most of the corner off with his speed and his metal armor. But the impact had hurt, and he stood shaken, his mind a whirl of shock and fear.

He hadn't faced Jin Tanaka since he'd been captured by the Dynasty. He hadn't realized how deep his terror of her ran until that moment, when he'd suddenly come face to face with her, when she'd been so close he could have touched her. Tarun put his hands to his face, so certain that it would be covered in blood that for a moment he saw blood when he pulled his hands away. As he calmed a little, he realized that there was no blood, and he couldn't understand it, especially as the pain was still there, as if hundreds of red-hot splinters of metal had been shot at his skin. It had even gone through his armor a little bit. He didn't know what she'd done, but he never wanted to feel it again.

He looked back towards the battle, far enough away that had could barely tell what was going on, and he felt cold again with fear. He was scared to go back, he was scared his friends were going to die, or, perhaps worse, be captured. It wasn't easy to be hopeful just then, not when he was scared out of his mind. "I gotta be brave," he whispered. The memories of his imprisonment were strong, and made it hard to be very brave, but the thought of his friends dying was even stronger. Swallowing hard and clenching his fists, Tarun ran back towards the fight. He caught sight of Jin Tanaka, saw her fling her arms out again at Kento, and thought Tarun didn't see anything at all, Kento reeled back with a scream of pain as Tarun had. Jin Tanaka lunged at Kento, tackling him to the ground, and Xan ducked away from his fight to help him. 'We're losing,' Tarun thought frantically as he ran. 'We're losing!'