Sage was now moving as slowly and as little as possible to
conserve the air that he had left when he picked up a stray
thought from Rowen. ~The winds are not easily fooled but can it
be the the very air is but an illusion??~
The voice that was behind the thought was feminine and it made
Sage think about the situation that he was in. There was an
energy barrier of some sort up. That much Sage could sense for
certain. However he started remembering that Ninja tended to use
illusions or mind tricks to defeat their opponents and it made
him wonder just how much of this whole situation he was in was an
illusion. You could not stop the Plants and Trees from making
oxygen unless they were dead. Yet as he breathed shallowly he
found that the trees were still very green and looked very
healthy. Granted there was not a breeze to stir them but that was
easily rectified.
The problem still remained that the challenge had something to do
with the shadows in his mind. Combating them and bringing his
mind into the light. Maybe this was what Mia/Silver Raven meant.
See through what is there and not there and do not let suggestion
cloud the thought. As he focused his Face Plate snapped away from
his face and he took a deep breath and was only mildly surprised
that there was plenty of air to breath. As he looked up he saw
the shadow of the ninja and he wondered abotu a ninja's power
comming from the shadow. From what he observed and felt through
hs armor the Armor was not unlinke their own only part of the
armor's base was an actual spirit. It was more like the shadows
helped the ninja's fight because they were trained to use Light
to play tricks, and part of the light was the darkness or the
shadows. As he started remembering all of the information that he
had learned over the years of battling Talpa and his goons and
especially Cale, the More he found himself freely moving about.
As he looked up he saluted the ninja and smiled. ~I salute you
Silver Raven. Only one of the shadows could teach so much abou
the light.~ The ninja nodded and dissappeared, fading out of
existance making Sage wonder if she had been there at all.
-----
As he wandered back to the house he contacted a very troubled
Rowen through his armor and gave him a little reminder of some of
th ninja way based off of the teachings of the Martial arts.
~Forget the books Ro. You need to use your heart more than your
brains at times. Let it see for you.~ The suggestion was met with
a greatful smile, even though Rowen did not really know how to
not think in a battle. He was used to tactics and stratagies.
Maybe that was why it was so hard for him to see what move Mia
would do next. She often changed her ways and tactics in sparrign
and it very effectively kept him on his guard adn slightly off
balance. The ninja seemed to be the same way inthat respect. As
he started letting go of the total control that he usually had in
a battle he found that his armor again did not fail him. As he
let go the Armor started taking the control in a shared fashion.
This was mildly unnerving to the warrior of Strata at first but
as he warmed into the new ways and techniques that were
developing he found himself not checking all of the dummy setups
and only checking the ones that would and could possibly be Mia.
The Armor knew more than he did in certain areas and having been
a part of Talpa's evil armor at one point Rowen was starting to
learn the the Armor retained some of the knowledge of the battle
tactics and ways of the soul just like an armor spirit. Starting
to understand this he at one point left complete control to the
armor and found that the armor teleported him to another place
inthe woods entirely. As he looked around he found a Ninja
standing in a clearing and finally understood what sage meant by
letting his heart do the seeing.
The armor had responded to his heart and understood that it was
Mia/Silver Raven that needed to be found. Taking him to her he
also realized that Space or Air, can be an illusion if one knew
how to fold it right. Rowen remembered that if he had fallen from
a height in battle his armor protected him by placing a
protective bubble around him adn letting him float to the ground.
Usually if he had fallen he had been knocked out or control had
been taken away from him. It was at those points that the armor
saved him time and time again. So there was definately something
to this letting go at times.
As he walked back to the mansion he silently thanked Mia for the
lesson and knew that inthe future he hoped to be able to teach
her something in return about herself.
-----
As Sage walked into the Mansion he noted the Cye had already been
there as well as Anubis and that the Medi-Kit had been set out
for the guys that returned with injuries. Rowen and Sage were
both greatful for the thoughtfulness and dove right in to take on
an patch up some of the minor cuts and bruises that they had both
recieved. Sage had a bit of a headstart but there were some sore
spots that neither could reach on themselves taht the other had
to take care of. Once this was done, they moved out to the living
room to see if anyone else had come back yet. Cye and Anubis were
seated there and talking about certain circumstances and both
looked up to see Sage and Rowen walk through the door.
"So now we are waiting on Ryo and Kento eh??" Cye spoke
with a knowing grin as he waved the two that just came in over to
the tray of goodies that he prepared for everyone. "I kinda
thought that Kento would be first done as he usually heads strait
for the Kitchen after practice. I wonder what is keeping him and
Ryo out so long??"
"I would not worry about Ryo in practice or battle Cye,"
Anubis interjected. "However I am curious about how Kento is
fairing in his trial." As he looked over the Sage and Rowen
he nodded. "I assume you both found out the same thing I did
when you finished your battles??" As the two nodded Kento
walked into the room with out a scratch on him and Ryo was not to
far behind him patched up and soaking wet from head to toe.
-----
Ryo had thought about the Armors' ways and remembered that his
and the other armors were linked telepathically and wondered if
that would extend to the new armor that Mia now used. She was
definately a good fighter under water and Ryo could not help but
wonder how well she would fair against Cye in an underwater
battle.
The lapse in concentration gave the Ninja Mia a chance to attack
and send the warrior of fire head over heels in the water
eventually endign up face up in the sand at the bottom of the
lake. He saw Mia stand over him and chose that moment to try and
reach out with the limited telepathic facilities that his armor
gave him. As he touched the mind behind the cowl he noted that it
was not Mia, But it was familiar. ~Silver Raven. Very nice, you
managed to fool me and teach me another lesson about my armor. I
conceed the match BUT, you and Mia will not be so lucky the next
time.~
The ninja looked at him as he spoke to her and nodded her head.
As she dissappeared into nothingness Ryo swam to the surface and
brought Yulie to the edge og the lake and tied up the boat.
Armoring down to his civilian clothes he noted that they were
soaking wet as well. ~Ah well, they will dry out eventually.~
"Hey Yulie. Race you to the house."
"Your on Ryo."
The two raced to the house to find that Kento had even beaten
them there, but not by much. As he came up he took one look at
Ryo and burst out laughing. "So the wildfire got doused??"
Ryo glared at his friend but could not help but start smiling as
Yulie started giggling as well. It was not everyday that he had
to fight underwater and he probably did look pretty silly
standing outside in soaking wet clothes. "Comon ya big lug.
Just for the crack you get to help patch me up." and the
three of them started inside.
-----
Kento was almost sweating out this chess game untill he noticed
that the Ninja across from him was not all there. It was as if
she were only half there and her edges were blurred. He could see
this with out his armor and wondered about the rest of her.
Looking down at the Chess board he noted that this was not Mia's
usual configuration for play. Usually Mia played to win but also
tried to draw the game out as long as possible when she played
with Rowen and the others. This was more of a Hunt to kill set up
and not like Mia at all. "Who are you that you think that
you will nto eventually be found out in the end Silver Raven??"
Kento was Surprise when he saw that the board was wide open for
him and that his next move set her into Check mate. "That
was not your best game. Now I will know if I am right or not."
Kento stood and the board vanished The ninja mearly nodded in
aquisance. ~You have found me out and have proven to yourself
that you are also a thinker and observant. You defeated me in
Chess and saw though my masquerade. My salute to you as a Warrior
and friend.~ She then dissappeared adn left Kento to walk back to
the mansion.
As he walked back he found that he had a lot to think about and
knew that he had to talk to Cye about most of it.
I do not own the rights to Ronin Warriors. This is a Fan fic and Iam quite enjoying writing it. I do not own the Ronin Warriors Characters...HOWEVER...I do own the Silver Raven Character and the Armor idea. Steal at the peril of having the Masho and Youja sent after you. ;) This page is Copyrighted: Dragon Dagger 6/16/2000