Ronin Warriors: Next Generation
Part Four
I do not own Ronin Warriors in any way, shape or form. So there!!
Mia gasped, "Yuli, I can't believe you said that! I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap, young man!"
Gail slapped her brother over the head, "Yuli, that was very stupid of you! Man, I never been so humiliated to be your sister!"
"Hey, the jewel of life is very important!" Yuli cried in defense, "Sorry, I didn't men to say that, really!"
"No excuse!" Gail snapped, folding her arms.
Ryo smiled and came to Yuli's defense, "it's official, he's acting like a real Ronin Warrior now!" he stepped behind him and put his hands on his shoulders. "Trust me, Yuli, I've muttered some cuss words under my breath a lot of times."
"Thanks, Ryo," Yuli groaned.
"I can't believe you lost the jewel of life, Yuli!" Mia went on, "you're supposed to protect it with your life! How could you lose it?"
"It must have fallen off. I don't know how I didn't notice it." Yuli explained, "I feel so stupid!!" He looked down, closed his eyes and clenched his fists, "Aw, SSSSSHHHIIII" he opened his eyes and raised his head to see Mia and Gail raise their eyebrows, "IIIOOOOOT!"
Gail had to laugh, "now that's much better!"
"Don't worry, Yuli," Kento said, "we'll get the jewel of life back."
"Yeah, cuz," Akira added. "It's not like you meant for this to happen."
"Thanks, guys," Yuli mumbled and started walking to the door. "I need to go for a ride and clear my head."
Whiteblaze tilted his head and ran to Yuli. The tiger loved taking Yuli around just as much as Yuli liked riding him. But this time, Yuli wasn't taking Whiteblaze with him.
"Sorry, Whiteblaze," Yuli apologized, "I'm not going to ride you. I meant my motorcycle."
Whiteblaze groaned and looked at the floor. He went to his corner and laid down.
"You have a motorcycle?" Gail gasped, "my brother has a motorcycle?!!"
"My cousin has a motorcycle!!?" Akira added.
"I didn't know he had a motorcycle," Gail went on, "Akira, did you know?"
"No," Akira replied. "Yuli, can I ride it??"
"No, cuz, get your own motorcycle!" Yuli laughed.
"You have to let your sister come with you," Gail pleaded, "oh please, Yuli? PLLLLEEEEAAAZZZZZEEEE? Do it for mom and dad!"
"Alright, come on," Yuli groaned.
"Great!" Gail cried. "Thanks, Yuli!! You're the best brother anyone could ask for!" she gave him quite a painful tight hug.
Yuli gasped, "Gail, I can't breathe!"
She let go, "oh, sorry…"
"Yuli, how could you, I'm your cousin!" Akira grunted.
"You can use my skateboard if you want," Yuli said, "I haven't used it a while."
"Your skateboard?!" Akira gasped and then Gail and Yuli left.
Rose smiled and went to stroke Whiteblaze, "poor thing, you wanted to go out, didn't you? Yes…" she continued talking in sweet-sugar-coated animal talk. (Oh, come on, don't tell me you don't talk to your pets that way! Sometimes I wish Ryo would talk to Whiteblaze like that.) She massaged the thick fur around his head and began to rub his stomach, "you're such a beautiful big white kitty, aren't you?"
"What is she doing to my tiger?" Ryo asked the other guys.
"Something that you should have done," Kento said.
"What?!"
"Yeah, animals like that." Mia added.
"I think that's just a thing girls do to animals," Ryo grunted.
"Oh, I can't stand it, I have to pet the big white kitty cat!" Akira said and he joined Rose in petting and loving on the big white tiger. "You're soooo cute!!"
All the Ronin Warriors except for Ryo burst out in laughter. Mia smiled and crossed her arms, "you were saying, Ryo?"
"You want to take us for a ride, Whiteblaze?" Akira asked and looked at Rose, "that is, if you wanna come."
"Love too." Rose said.
********************************
"Yuli, slow down!" Gail shouted, tightening her arms around his waist. "You're going too fast and we're not wearing helmets!!"
"You said you wanted to come, didn't you?" he shouted back with a wide grin.
"We're going to get in trouble, I just know it!"
"Don't worry," Yuli said, "I've outrun the cops before!"
"You've what?!!" Gail gasped, "Yuli!?!!!"
Yuli started laughing, "uh-oh, I hear sirens, I better speed up!"
"Yuli, no! Aaaaaaggggghhhhhhh!"
"Oh come on, Gail," Yuli cried, "you stood out in the middle of a hurricane, you can handle a motorcycle ride, can't you?" He laughed, "those girls on the news said you were crazy!"
"Not this crazy!" she snapped.
"Oh, sure you are. I'm crazy, you're crazy, we're both crazy! We are twins, you know and twins are very much a like. We're not ordinary twins either. We're the storm twins!"
"I know that!"
Yuli sped up and went off the road to the woods.
"Where are you going?" Gail demanded.
"I wanna show you something," he replied.
"We're gonna die," Gail groaned, closing her eyes.
"Hold on tight, Gail."
She opened her eyes, "Yuli, no!"
"Ohh, yess!"
They were heading for a cliff. There was a pretty big distance between the two cliffs. The next cliff was a little lower than the one they were already on. "You'll never make it!" Gail cried.
"Sure I can," Yuli said, "I've done it before!"
"Oh, shit!" she swore.
"I can't believe you said that, Gail!" Yuli said, imitating her.
Gail's arms tightened around Yuli and she pressed her head on his back. I can't believe it, my brother's crazier than I am! Yuli went faster and faster and faster and then it seemed they were flying once they were off the cliff.
"I can't look!" Gail closed her eyes.
They landed on the next cliff with a loud thump. The tires screeched as Yuli swerved around. "Look, Gail, we made it!"
Gail opened her eyes and started laughing, "we did it!" she hugged his neck and jumped off. "How often do you do this anyway?"
"All the time."
"Who taught you how to do that?" she asked.
"Kento." (Who else?!)
"Ohhh, I see." She smiled. "Well, what did you wanna show me?"
"Come with me," he got off the bike and walked to the river and pointed to a waterfall, "see? I come here a lot to think. That waterfall is very special. It flows into Jewel Lake," (Or is it Hope or Life Lake? You know, that lake where the underwater temple that has the jewel of life.) "that's where I got the jewel of life. See these flowers?" he bent down and picked a couple of flowers, "I take them to our parent's grave. They were our mother's favorite."
Gail walked to him and took the flowers to smell them. She sniffed and wiped a tear. "I miss them and I never knew them."
"I miss them too." Yuli said.
"It's not fair, Yuli."
"Yeah, I know. You want to come with me to see their graves?"
"Sure." The turned to the bike just as they heard crazy laughter.
"What's that?!" Yuli shouted.
"I don't know." Gail said.
"Jaws of Damnation!"
"It's Sebek!" Yuli snarled.
His spiked chains wrapped around Gail and threw her in the river.
"Gail!" Yuli shouted after her.
"Armor of Typhoon, Tao Coni!" she quickly armored up and fought with Sebek under water.
"Gail!" Yuli ran to the edge of the cliff and began yelling her name.
"She can't hear you, Yuli of Hurricane!" Selket, warlorddess of pain.(I don't care if it's not a real word or not, Selket's a warlordess! Not a warlord!)
A small translucent piece from Gail's helmet came over her mouth and nose to serve as a oxygen mask and help her breath under water. "Sebek, Warlord of Carnage, you won't get away with this!"
"On the contrary, young one, Sebek said, "I think I will. Jaws of Damnation!" his chains headed straight for her and she cut them with her sword. Gail jumped back and tightened her hands around her sword, raised it up over her head, pulled it down to three o'clock and pulled it inward, next to her side.
"Hard Rain Stream!" Clouds formed over the river and it began to rain very hard. The rain felt like stabbing needles to the flesh, but it really didn't do much to Sebek.
Sebek stood there unimpressed. "Is that all? I adsorbed all that!"
"Absorb this!" Gail shouted, jumping to slash him with her sword.
"Armor of Hurricane, Tao Fin!" Yuli took his swords from the sheaths from his back, "Storm Up Now!"
"Scorpion Acid Sting!" Selket shouted.
While Rose and Akira were riding Whiteblaze, Whiteblaze suddenly stopped. "What's the matter, Whiteblaze?" Akira asked, leaning forward.
"At times like this," Rose said, "I wish animals could talk."
Whiteblaze quickly changed direction to where Yui and Gail were. "I think he's found something!"
Screams of pain and torment were heard.
"Hey, you hear that?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, sounds like, man, it's Yuli! He's in trouble!"
"And Gail!" Rose added.
"Hurry, Whiteblaze! Faster!"
Gail began to swim to the surface and quickly got out before anything else happened. "Sebek, I'm gonna gut ya like a damn fish outta water!"
"Get on with it, I'm not getting any younger."
She raised her sword up at twelve, then three and then at six, brought it inward and out. (There's a reason why I'm doing her attacks like this, I'll tell you why later) "Hailstorm Thrasher!" thousands of magical hailstones the size of basketballs came pounding down on top of Sebek.
Sebek gasped, unable to say anything. The rain didn't have any effect on him, but the hailstones were more than he expected from Gail. But she didn't know that Selket was there, fighting with Yuli.
"Yuli!" she cried, "let my brother go, you, you dynasty witch!"
"Scorpion Acid Sting!" her staff scratched Yuli's and Gail's armor as they jumped back.
Sebek dug himself out of the hailstone pit. "You're doomed, young one."
"Armor of Volcano, Tao Noichi!"
"Armor of Earthquake, Tao Vaichi!"
Rose and Akira showed up just in time, because more dynasty soldiers appeared out of no where.
"Dynasty soldiers!" Yuli grunted.
"At least they're not a bunch of warlords," Akira said, "I can take care of these guys in no time!"
"River of Fire!" Rose reached in her quiver to pull out three roses. When she shot them, they blended together to turn in a long flowing lava river, heading to the dynasty soldiers.
"Splitting Earth!"
Whiteblaze jumped in front of Yuli and growled, keeping him covered like he always did when Yuli was younger. He showed his fangs at the soldiers and Selket and Sebek.
"Scorpion Acid Sting!"
Whiteblaze jumped to claw her down, but was cut with her staff.
"Whiteblaze!!" Yuli screamed.
Whiteblazed whimpered as he fell down to the ground. Yuli bent down to him, "come on, Whiteblaze, hang on, for me, okay?" he stroke the animals fur and his hand nearly touched the long wound on his body.
"Don't touch it!" Gail ordered, slapping his hand, "you'll absorb the poison on Whiteblaze!"
"But what do we do?" he asked, "Whiteblaze is dying!"
Gail bit her lip, "Yuli--I--we…"
"Nothing, fool!" Selket shouted, "don't you see, that you are no match for us!? Look around you!"
They heard groans and grunts coming from the fight with Rose and Akira fighting the dynasty soldiers. "We gotta do something," Yuli muttered.
"I bet you could do anything with this, boy," Selket raised the jewel of life. "Did you forget something?"
"The Jewel of Life!" Yuli shouted, "give it to me!" he ran forward to reach it and Selket tightened her long fingers around it.
"Not unless you hand over your armors."
"What?" Yuli grunted, "why you---"
"We'll never give up our armors!" Gail shouted. "Never!"
Selket began laughing and put the jewel of life around her neck. It began glowing with a dark power.
"Selket, what are you doing?" Sebek demanded, "you cannot control its power! You don't know what it can do!"
Selket did not listen to Sebek's warning. Her armor became stronger and tougher. She grew to be about twenty feet. Selket laughed as her red eyes glowed with the jewel. "What power--now--I will destroy you all!"
"We have to get that jewel of life back," Yuli muttered. "Storm up now!"
Selket laughed again, "your pathetic little blows can't defeat me!" the scythes around her back shout out to stab Yuli and the others.
"Get back!" Yuli warned.
They all jumped back in time. Whiteblaze growled while he tried to get back up.
Selket went on laughing hysterically, "the jewel of life---it's nothing like any power I've felt before--I---" then she screamed as the power began to take her over. "What's happening!?" she shrank down to her normal size and began shaking. "What happened?"
"I warned you, Selket," Sebek said as he put his arm around her waist and her arm around his neck, "you know nothing about the jewel of life other than it holds great power. We haven't had it long enough to see what it could do!"
"Forgive me, Sebek," Selket apologized, taking the jewel off life off her neck and holding it tight in her hand. (AN: Sebek and Selket, are well involved. Incase you haven't seen that already. Trust me, I'm as surprised as you are, I'm not sure where that came from! But, I thought it would be a nice touch if the Neo Warlords got along, at least some of them.) She winced as she gained her bearings, "you fools--you planned that, didn't you?" her hand clenched into a fist and she pushed Sebek away from her and grabbed her staff, "Scorpion Acid Sting!"
A female white tiger from no where jumped onto Selket and clawed at her. The jewel of life fell from her hand as the large white animal attacked her.
"Another tiger!" Yuli gasped.
"Foolish animal," Sebek grunted as he raised his weapon.
"Lava Rose Scorch!" Rose shot an arrow at Sebek's arm.
The white female clawed Selket enough to the point where she was motion less and growled as she moved away from Selket's bleeding body.. Sebek picked her up in his arms and checked to see if she was alive. She was badly hurt but she would survive. Amarantha had healing powers. The dynasty soldiers were about to attack again but Sebek told him to hold back.
"This isn't over boy," Sebek threatened, "it's far from over!" then Sebek, Selket and the dynasty soldiers disappeared back to their frozen Netherworld.
"Whiteblaze!" Yuli bent over to the very injured tiger. "I wish there was something--"
The female tiger walked to Whiteblaze and she purred as she rubbed her head on his.
"Awww," Rose moaned, "soo sweeet."
The white tiger licked Whitelbaze's wound and it glowed for a few seconds and the scar healed up in seconds. "Wow," Yuli mumbled, "cool tiger."
"She must have healing powers of some kind," Gail commented. "I think we could probably use her."
"Yeah, Whiteblaze too," Yuli said, "poor thing isn't as strong as he used to be. He's probably like 50 years old in cat years!"
"Let's go back home," Rose suggested.
"No point in staying here," Akira agreed.
******************************
"I'm very disapointed in you both," Snow Tulpa growled. "How dare you take the jewel of life without my permission! You do not understand its potential!"
"Forgive her, Master," Sebek shouted, his arm around Selket, "she is ill!" they were both in their sub armors.
"It is her own fault," he said and dismissed them.
Selket moaned as Sebek took her away, "What's happening to you, my love?" he whispered.
"I-I don't know," she whispered back. "But I feel like, I'm losing my powers." She collasped in his arms and Sebek shouted for Amarantha. Amarantha quickly came to their aid and she laid her down on a slab of ice in another part of the cave. Selket was sweating even though she was laying on a slab of ice in a very cold cave. She shook her head side to side.
"How could scratches from a tiger do such harm to her?" Sebek asked, biwildered, "the animal's claws scratched through even her armor."
"These aren't scratches from just any tiger, Sebek," Amarantha noted, examining the scratches.
"I do not follow."
Amarantha touched one of the scars and lifted her finger to show sparkling gold dust, "this animal is magical. These scratches are coverd with this dust."
"What is it? Poison?" he guessed.
Amarantha smiled at his foolish, almost innocent guess, "no, you imbeicile," she said jokingly, "healing dust. This animal has the power to heal."
"But--how can that harm Selket?" Sebek demanded.
"You don't understand Selket's body, Sebek," Amaratha told him, "what flows through her veins is not blood, but poison. She is the war-goddess of Pain. It is the poison within her that gives herself the powers. This dust is reacting with the poison and turning it to blood. She could die."
"Die?!" Sebek cried.
"And if not," Amarantha went on, "she'll lose her powers and become nothing but a mere human. Master Snow Tulpa will cast her out or kill her once he sees that she's no use to getting the amours back. Selket has already angered him enough. He'll take her armor away until someone is worthy to wear the armor of the scorpion."
"No, I don't believe it!" Sebek shouted, "the armor belongs to her! It wasn't her fault that the jewel of life is so powerful! How were we to know about what it could do?"
"Settle down, Sebek," Amarantha chided, "I understand you have a deep bond with Selket. If we can find a way to stop it, we can save her. I don't blame her for taking the jewel of life. I would have done it myself."
"Please, child," Sebek begged, walking to the other side of the ice slab to grasp Amaratnha's shoulders, "what can you do?" he came to his knees until his hands slid to her arms. "There must be something you could do!"
"I don't know," Amarantha told him. "I'm sorry."
A tear strayed from Sebek's eye, "if you're afraid you can't do it, I have complete faith in you. I trust you, child."
Amarantha almost cried looking at his serious, sad face. Amarantha bit her lip and looked at Selket lying on the slab. She'd hate to see her die or banished from the netherworld to be alone. Amarantha looked up to Selket. She was the only other woman of this clan and Amarantha would hate to be alone. Amarantha thought of her as an older sister or even a mother. She racked her brain for a theory, "poison," she blurted, nothing but a whisper.
"What, child?" Sebek asked, leaning closer to catch what she said.
"Poison. She needs poison."
"Good child," Sebek said with a smile, "good."
"But the Netherworld is frozen," Amarantha explained, "it will be hard to find a poisoned plant or animal."
"You may be right," Sebek said, standing up. "The netherworld used to flourish with animals and plants one time. Even before Tulpa reined with the first four warlords. Some plants were beautiful, but venomous. Just touching it would make your skin seem like it was burning." He sighed, "thank you child." Then turned away to leave.
"Wait--" Amarantha called after him, "I've got an idea!"
He turned around, "yes, child?"
"There was a warlord who fought for Tulpa years ago," Amarnatha said, "Calisto told me about him. His name was Sekhmet, Warlord of Venom. He has six swords filled with venom. Find him, take one of his swords and smite Selket with it."
"What?" he gasped, "you want me to smite her with a sword!?"
"You don't need to cut her deep, Sebek," Amarantha told him. "Just a scratch is all she needs."
He nodded in agreement. "Where would I find Sehkmet?" he asked.
"That's the bad thing--no one--not even Calisto knows."
"You've done enough," Sebek said, "just watch over her and do what you can do."
"I'll try." Amarantha said.
In a secret part of the cave, not far from where the suffereing Selket lay, the three remaining warlords, Sekmet, Dais and Kale, still stood as frozen statues. Sekmet heard every word what Amarantha and Sebek said to each other. Although he did not know either of them, the name, Selket sounded so familiar to him. As if he used to know her.
*********************************
While watching his parents dance, young Yuli wore a snappy little outfit while he was sipping a soda near at a table. Just a few children were there, sipping sodas with him as they watched their parents dance with each other.
"Dancing's so boring," muttered a boy to Yuli. "Don't you?"
Yuli chuckled, "I think wearing two different colored socks is stupid."
The boy gasped and looked down at his feet. He wore one blue sock and one black one, "Ahh! I thought the blue was a black one!"
The girls sitting at the same table laughed to when their sodas almost came spraying out their noses. Then the laughing stopped as they heard a window break, followed by a scream. The warlords are back! Was the first thing that came to Yuli's mind as he jumped underneath the table. He saw someone wearing black, dark blue and white armor, wielding a fierce staff with chains and razor sharp hooks that cut through a person's flesh. Yuli could do nothing but watch. Yuli screamed as the warlord inched closer to his parents.
"Mom! Dad!" Yuli shouted, crawling from underneath the table.
"Yuli, run!" his father ordered.
Yuli was just a few feet away from them when the warlord cut off his parent's arms and sliced off pieces of their flesh. Their blood splattered on Yuli. Their warm blood. They fell down. Yuli fell to his knees and looked up at the warlord. He couldn't say anything. He was so scared, even more so when he first met the warlords. The silent, mysterious warlord came closer to Yuli. Ready for his death, Yuli covered his face. Nothing happened and he brought his hands down. He looked up at the warlord and he swung his weapon around him. It scratched his arms and chest and back. Yuli screamed but there was nothing he could do. He thought the spikes would pierce through his skin and into his heart or lungs, but it scratched his skin and never went through his flesh.
He could have killed me, Yuli thought.
The mysterious warlord stood looking at him for a while. Yuli saw something in one of his eye, it was…a tear? Then he was gone, leaving Yuli with the mutilated bodies.
"Aaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuugggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Yuli sat upright in bed, shaking and gasping for air in a cold sweat. "Same dream, I keep dreaming it, over and over." He came to the bathroom to splash his face with cool water and as he reached for a towel, someone held it to him. "Gail?"
"I heard you scream," she said.
"Oh, sorry. I hope I didn't wake everyone up." He dried his face with the towel.
"So, what's the matter?"
"Had a nightmare. Been having the same nightmare for years."
"What was it about?" she asked.
"Our parent's death….I can't seem to get it out of my head."
"Yeah," she agreed, "couldn't sleep much either. I thought I had Sebek back there. I just want to get rid of him and the other warlords before they hurt anybody else."
"I saw something new in this dream though." Yuli groaned.
"What?"
"I never noticed it before," Yuli said, "but I could have sworn, it my dream, just now--I saw--I saw--" Yuli couldn't finish.
"What, Yuli?" Gail asked, grasping his arm, "what did you see?"
"I saw a tear fall from Sebek's eye."
To Be Continued….
Sorry that this came out so late. Had a bit of trouble of making it run together. Tell me what you think and what you would want to see in the next part. What do you want the original warlords to do? Think Sebek will find the hidden passage in the cave and find Sekhmet? Will Selket survive? Leave your ideas please!! Part 5 might come faster!