A Tale of Two Torrents

By Dixxy

Chapter Four: A Strange Place

(Sara)

I was still screaming when Cye finally shook my shoulders and Sue Lee told me everything was all right. I stopped screaming long enough to see that the butt monster was going through Cye's backpack. "What's it doing?" I asked, clinging to Cye by pure instinct.
"I have no idea," said Cye. We watched in interest as the wolf-like creature dragged a bag of potato chips out of Cye's backpack. It sniffed the bag, picked it up, and shook the salty junk food out of the bag. Carefully, the creature lowered its nose, sniffed the chips, and began to lick them.

"I get it!" said Sue Lee, smiling as she started to carefully make her way to the butt monster. It looked up at her, snorted, and went back to eating. "The doggy wanted Cye's backpack because he must have smelled the potato chips! He doesn't want to eat us! He doesn't eat people! He's a nice butt monster!"

"Unless he likes a side of chips with his main course," I said miserably.

"I think we have bigger problems than that monster, now," said Cye. "Take a look around you." I looked around, my eyes widening. Wherever we were, we weren't in Boston, maybe not even the Mortal World anymore. The ground was growing sickly, brown grass. A tall, dead-looking tree stood next to us, Cye leaning against it. The sky was a deep purple hue, giving me the idea that wherever we were, it was late.

"Where are we?"

"The Nether Realm." My partner in arm said it slowly and darkly, his eyes narrowed.

I glared at Cye. "How the hell would you know where we are?" I snapped.

Cye looked up into the sky, suddenly appearing much older than he really was. His voice only grew darker and quieter. "In case you've forgotten, I was held prisoner here for almost a year. I fought Talpa here just over a year ago with the other four Ronin Warriors. Trust me, we're in the Nether Realm."
I made an "o" with my mouth. I had hit a sensitive spot with Cye. No matter how angry I was at him, or how bad our fight was, it was sort of an unspoken agreement between the Senshi that we should try to avoid conversation about what had happened to Sage, Kento, and Cye while they were in the Nether Realm. Because of Trulpa, there was a chance they would never see their parents, the other Ronin Warriors, or any friends they might've had in Japan ever again. They'd never see their homes again. Yes, Cye was living with his father, but after sixteen years of not knowing ones father must have been awkward, especially when you're suddenly living with him and he hardly looks five years older than you.

Of course, having a mystical armor never meant being normal. . .

I sighed heavily, looking around. There was only one thing I could do in my current place, and I really didn't want to do it. I walked up to Cye and extended my hand. "Truce," I said, "but only until we all get out of this crap hole. Once we get ourselves out of here. . . nothing changes."

Cye looked at me suspiciously, then extended his own hand. We shook firmly, our eyes never leaving the cold stare we shared. "All right. We'll call it a temporary truce. But I'm warning you, Sara. The only reason I'm doing this is for Sue Lee's sake. Got it? This is for HER sake."

"WHY are you calling a truce! WHY were you fighting!" Sue Lee demanded. The two of us looked at her, surprised by her outburst. Her hands were clenched by her sides and her eyes were wide, looking angry. "You two shouldn't be fighting! You're friends! You shouldn't have to call a truce to work together!"

"She hit me!"

"He's a perverted jack-"

"WHY?" she screamed. "Why are you fighting? You're acting like two year olds! Even I can see that and I'M only nine years old! You two are fifteen and sixteen years old! And you're friends! Partners in arms! If anything you guys should be going out like Keisha and Kento or best friends like Sam, Sage, and Rona!"

"We were playing tag as a drill for a battle and he decided to pull off my top," I said.

"It was an accident! I was trying to tag you!" Cye retorted.

"Of course it would be an accident!" I said. "YOU were an accident:"

"What?" he asked, suddenly looking more confused than anything.

"You know damn well you were an accident!" I said. "The only reason you're here is because Anubis and your mother both got drunk the same time at the same place and you know it! You mother had just lost her husband! She didn't need YOU around to complicate the matter! For crying out loud, Cye, you're a bastard and you know it! You're an illegitimate child! You were some unpleasant surprise your mother got one morning after pickle cravings and morning sickness! Don't you see it, Cye? You were a mistake!"

Cye looked at me in disbelief. Then, his eyes beginning to tear, he started to get angry right back at me. "Well, you shouldn't have ever gotten the Torrent of the Senshi! You don't even trust your own friend when he says that something was an accident and when he apologizes for a harsh word or two!" he said. "Our armors are based around three things- killing Nether Spirits, water, and trust. You've got the first two down to a key, but you're a little lacking in the last part." With that, Cye turned on his heels and ran away.

"Hey! I can trust just as good as you can!" I yelled, running away in the other direction.

I ran for a while. I just wanted to get away from Cye as fast as I could. That bastard. That jerk. That cold hearted son of a bitch! I was just as capable of being trustworthy as he was! Where did he get off calling me untrustworthy? I had the trust of the other Senshi, Mike, and Sue Lee-

Sue Lee! Dear God, we'd left her all alone with the butt monster!

"I'm such an idiot!" I said aloud, smacking my forehead. I grabbed my armor orbe out of my pocket and threw it into the air. "I have to get back to her before something bad happens. And there's only one way I can get there fast enough. Torrent of the Senshi, Tai SHIN!"

I watched as my armor orbe reached its maximum height, then begin to fall. The armor orbe fell into my hand, lifeless. I stared at it in shock. Nothing had happened! Why hadn't I transformed? "What gives?" I said. I shook my head. No time for that. I had to get back to Sue Lee. Even if I WAS just using my own power.

Trouble was, I had no idea where I was. And no idea where Sue Lee or even Cye was. I swore and picked a random direction, then started to walk. I was (hopefully) going to run into one or the other. Even running into Cye would be a whole lot better than being alone. He knew more about this place than I did, anyways.

Cye. I thought about what had happened at Mike's house. Ria had just tagged him when Kento transformed into Keisha. I was too busy laughing to try and get away. I was naturally going to be a target. So he chased after me, and then grabbed my bra string. Then he'd make that comment about me running around topless.

I bit my bottom lip. Cye isn't normally some sort of a pervert, I thought to myself. Was he really just trying to turn a lemon into lemonade? Suddenly me hitting him didn't seen like such a hot idea. Maybe I shouldn't have said all that stuff about the. . . unusual circumstances surrounding his birth.

I had been a real jerk. I shouldn't have reacted the way I had. Sue Lee and the others were right- I was acting like a two year old. I was a Ronin Senshi, for crying out loud! I'm seen things that most thirty year olds couldn't fathom. I should have been a little more on the mature side than that. Yes, I had a right to be embarrassed, and yes, Cye probably could've picked some less-harsh words, but. . . I didn't handle it correctly. I fell to my hands and knees and began to sob. "I am fortune's fool!" I cried out. I looked up the sky through tear soaked eyes. "What have I done? Ancient One, what made me betray my own partner arms? Why was I such an idiot!"

After several minutes of blubber, I wiped away my tears. I had to do something- anything was better than just sitting around feeling sorry for myself. I was lost in the Nether Realm, as were Cye and Sue Lee. I started to call out for them. "Cye! Sue Lee! CYE! SUE LEE!"
In the distance, I heard the faint sound of Cye calling my name and Sue Lee's name. Cye's alive! Thank GOD! I called in that direction. "CYE! I'M OVER HERE! CYE!" I started to run in that direction. What if he's hurt or something? I shouldn't have said any of that stuff to him! "CYE! IT'S ME, SARA!"

Cye must've heard me, since I heard a very faint response. We kept calling out, following each other's voices until I could see a faint spec on the horizon that I hoped was Cye. Sure enough, the rusty haired Child of Destiny was running towards me. Good, he's all right. I stopped in just enough time to keep us from crashing into each other. "Hello," he said, hunched over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

"Did. . . you. . . find . . . Sue. . . Lee?" I asked, panting as well. Cye shook his head, his eyes narrowing. I coughed a few times and cleared me throat. "Cye, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have hit you. I should've just told you not to make that kind of a comment again. I, I should've never said what I said back there about your parents!"

Cye looked at me with wide eyes. "What?"

"I. . . I should've listened to you. What happened-"

Squeak! Squeak! Squish! "RARGHHHH!"

"Uh oh," said Cye. The two of us turned to see about ten creatures all staring us down. Big gray creatures that looked like wolves. All of them had long, bladed tails. None of them had any hind legs. Butt monsters. All of them snarling and foaming at the mouth. "More of them."

"What do we do?" I asked. "I, I can't armor up!"

"What? You too!"

"That was so not what I wanted to hear," I said. I watched the creatures eyeing us hungrily. "How-"

"I know," said Cye, looking to me with concern in his eyes. He took me by the wrist. "RUN!" He took off like a rocket, dragging me behind him. The butt monsters were not happy and began to take chase. Cye ran full force, pulling the both of us along just ahead of the pack.

"Cye, we can't run forever! We're going to tire out sooner than they are!" I said.

Cye didn't respond. He had to save his breath and his energy on the dead sprint he was in. My feet barely touched the ground as he dragged me along, my body hanging on like a child running with a rag doll. My wrist hurt from his grip, but I realized that loosing the circulation in my hand for a few minutes was probably less painful then what the butt monsters were planning.

I want out of this place! I thought to myself, closing my eyes in fear.

SWISH! THWACK! SWISH! THWACK!

Cye stopped as we turned around to see a bunch of men were fighting off the butt monsters with arrows. We watched in awe, me clutching my wrist to try and get the blood flowing again. Cye put his hand on my shoulder almost protectively, unsure of what to think of these men. Eventually, the monsters that hadn't been killed (four of them) ran away, their butts bouncing on the sandy ground.

One of the men turned to us. He was somewhat large and was dressed in renaissance styled clothing as he rode on a somewhat regal looking purple horse. He was with several smaller men in similar, but not nearly as fancy regalia, all on purple horses. "Are you young ones all right?" he asked. He eyed us up and down, then raised an eyebrow. "More Mortal Realm kids?"

Neither of us responded. Trusting someone from the Nether Realm was risky business. How did we know they weren't an ally of Trulpa or a former ally of Talpa who wanted to take revenge on one of Talpa's former enemies? I stared at the man, nervous about what was to happen next. "Well?"

"My name is. . . Calvin, and this is. . . Serena," said Cye quickly. "We aren't sure where we are. Uh. . . where are we?" I tried to hide a smile. Nice going, Cye! The names "Cye" and "Sara" might make someone think "Torrents". Considering that most of the people in the Dynasty didn't like Ronins. . . that was probably a smart move.

"We'll talk at my humble abode. We found a smaller one of your type. Purple hair," said the leader. That had to have been Sue Lee. The man looked us over, scratching his bearded chin. "You have red and blue hair. Since blue and red, when mixed together, create purple. . . is she yours?"

Cye and I exchanged shocked looks. He thought that Cye and I. . .? Very, strange images ran through my head. "No!" I said quickly. "Cy- Calvin and I aren't parents," I said. Cye had turned an interesting shade of red by that point. "But the small one is a friend of ours. Is she all right?"

"Knocked unconscious by a bird that tried to take off with her. We brought her and a satchel of some sort she had with her back home. Come," he said. He snapped his fingers and one solider dismounted his horse, doubling up with another. "Take that horse right there."

Not having much of a choice, Cye and I complied, my partner in arms helping me into the saddle before he saddled up and took the reigns. "Have you ever ridden a horse before?" I asked. Cye nodded, giving me a reassuring smile. He snapped the reigns and we followed the man to his home.