Ryo soon picked up his swords and smiled as he felt the
ninja's very low power and found that he was now drawn to it like
a moth to a flame. ~hmm this should be easy but if that spirit is
as good as Anubis implied then I am going to have trouble with
her even if she is not as strong as the rest of us.~
Suddenly he found himself out by the lake near Mia's mansion.
Looking around he did not see any one but he knew from his prior
training and learning about the marital arts that the Ninja were
far better at the hide and defeat game than the samuri were. The
training that they went through was what made them such efficiant
killers.
~I wonder what she had in mind for training when she brought me
here. I mean this is Cye's turf not mine.~
As he looked out on to the water he heard Yulie hollering from
out in the middle of the lake in a boat.
"Ryo Help!" Yulie looked scared and rather nervous
about his perdicament out in the middle of the lake. When Ryo hit
the shores of the lake he noticed that Yulie had been put out
there without the aide of oars or motor. His senses alerted he
looked around carefully to see if there was anything else that
was out of place there other than Yulie in a boat in the middle
of the lake with no oars or motor.
Ryo looked around for another way to get out to the boat in the
middle of the lake knowing that he could probably swim pretty
well with his armor on, he would also stand the chance of getting
attacked in the water and that would reduce his abilities
considerably. Still Yulie needed to be brought to shore and he
needed to get to Mia and finish his training. Changing into his
sub armor for better movement he stepped into the water.
About half way out to the boat the Boat dissappeared and Yulie
with it. Ryo was not overly surprised as he had origionally
thought that this might be a part of his training with Mia. ~Ryo
of the Wildfire. Even under the oceans flames can still sprout.
Yours is to question how.~
As the voice left his mind he found that he was sitting at the
bottom of the lake in his full armor with his Twin Datchi's in
his hands. ~I should be at the least having trouble breathing
down here but I am not having any trouble at all. My Armor must
be protecting me. Now what.~
Suddenly he noticed a now familiar looking hooded head staring at
him. Smiling to himself he noticed that she was not wearing her
full armor. He was soon not smiling as he found out that she was
almost a better fighter than he was under the water. It was not
good especially since the light that filtered down to the bottom
of the lake provided many shadows for the ninja to hide in.
~ok, so what are you up to now Mia. I know that you are up to
something but I would love to know what shadow you crawled out of.~
Grinning to himself he flet her beind him and let her think that
he did not notice her. After going up for more Air he sank
himself back to the bottom of the lake. He tried to ignite his
flame and discovered that under the water his armor allowed him
to flame and warm and light the area around him. The shadows in
his immediate area shrunk away and he found that this helped him
to have time to react to what ever attack would come at him. soon
after the fight had started up again he found that he could feel
the currents of lava underneith the lake floor.. ~So that is
where my armor is getting it's power. the Lava underneith the
lake is the fire under the water.~ Grinning to himself he threw
himself into the battle with a renewed sense of purpose.
-----
Mia was having fun with all of the battles she was in. The guys
still have not tapped the one singular ability that made them
exceptional fighters and this made her grin. The one thing that
made them all exceptional fighters usually came out when they
were in the most trouble.
As she watched each of the battles she knew that sooner or later
one of them was going to figure out that most of the trouble that
was known as Ninja was in the mind. Ninja were people just that
they were trained in extrodinary ways. It was this psychological
advantage that made people wary of the shadows and the Ronin's
look to them as her and the Ninja's source of power.
-----
Rowen was sitting up in a Tree watching and feeling the winds
before he hopped to the next branch. He knew that Ninja and
Shadow Walkers had weaknesses it was just a matter of time to
find them. As they both used darkness to shelter their wearabouts
he also knew that some of the Ninja practiced some of the higher
arts of illusion. A Grandmaster of a Clan was said to be almost
equal to Dais and his abilities to manipulate what his enemy saw.
It was these abilities that he watched for and hoped that he
would be facing Mia on his own ground.
Five minutes later a suriken glanced off his helmet and imbedded
itself in the tree behind him. Looking around he closed his eyes
and remembered some of what he read about ninja and the clans.
However he was not able to find much on the Silver Raven clan as
her's had been the most secretive over the years almost to the
point where it was not close to non existant except for in the
ancient legends. As he searched with all of his senses he heard a
soft muffled noise behind him and as he turned he saw Mia/Silver
Raven hanging by her knees on a brance just above and behind him.
Her eyes twinkled in challange and as he grabbed for her she
vanished leaving him with a handful of old cloth and sticks.
"Very clever Mia. I was fooled once, Can you fool me again
after the fact??" Mia, havign hidden amongst the trees no
far away heard the challenge and decided to agree to face the
Ronin of Strata on his own challenge.
~Strata, The winds are not easily fooled but can it be the the
very air is but an illusion??~ Mia answered in his mind she knew
she had his attention and had planted the very seed that would
ultimately test him by the end of the day. Silver Raven sent Mia
a warning to not push the Ronin's to far and Mia answered the
Spirit of the armor with the fact that she had known what the
Ronin's had gone through thus far and now it was time for them to
grow in another direction. They needed to learn about themselves
and the shadows of their own minds so that the Ninja that would
attack their realm would not overwelm them in the future.
Mia hopped about the trees setting up her gambit and then dropped
for the ground and setup there for a gambit that would hopefully
push his own limits and his trust in his armor to the very limits.
Rowen was not an easy person to beat on the mental games but if
one planned carefully it is possible.
I do not own any rights to The Ronin Warriors or their characters. However. The Silver Raven Spirit Armor IS my idea and I will send the Masho and Youja after you if you steal it. This page is copyrighted: Dragon Dagger 6/15/2000.