As the Ronins
and Warlords finished cleaning up the remaining ninja, they noticed that now that the
Obajan was not in the area, the Ninja did not come back to continue fighting the
determined and tired warriors. With the last
of the Ninja gone and a sweep of the area done the Warlords relaxed a little until Anubis
showed up.
"You can
not relax yet my friends. Mia cannot be found
and she is still in combat with the Obajan as we speak. Everything I have tried to do to locate her indicates that she may be in a
limbo state. Hence giving the Obajan the
advantage since that is the natural grounds for most ninja to hide in." He actually looked a little nervous for once as he
looked around at the battle weary folk.
Kento and Cye
were bandaging everyone and Sage was working quickly to save White Blaze with an anxious
Ryo looking on. The Warlords just sat there
quietly taking in what had happened in the battle as they had after the last battle with
Talpa and the Dynasty. Kayura was completely
armored down and in her old uniform of the Dynasty so as not to be caught off guard while
she sat quietly and looked at the battles in retrospect.
Rowen was
confused and hurting as one of the ninja had gotten a lucky shot in and just about sliced
the tendons in his wrist making him useless with the bow. He was healing, but slowly and so he was working out some theories and
equations that almost none of them could understand.
Kento should
have been resting on the ground in his armor so that the slice across his throat and stab
wound could heal faster, but he was up and about in his sub armor helping Cye by carrying
the med kit and holding unwilling subjects down for Cye's treatment.
Cye was
battered and bruised but he figured that he would be able to take a quick dip in the lake
before they would have to fight again and give his armor a chance to charge up for the
next fight and heal him completely in the process like Sage's armor was doing for him in
the bright sunlight.
They all were
in shock though at what Anubis was able to tell them and they could not help but worry
about the woman they had all protected at one time or another. She was the one protecting them this time around
and even though she had been the key to Talpa's defeat in the past they knew she would
have been safer not fighting then. Now she
knew how to fight and yet again was the key to the new evil's end. This time she had to fight, but they all agreed,
not with out them.
"We have
to find her guys, She wasn't looking to hot the last time we saw her, for all we know, she
could be in real trouble this time around and we will not know where to start
looking." Sage had finished healing
Blaze and as he stood up he armored down to his sub armor and looked at the entire
group.
"Sage's
right, we have to find her and quickly. She
may be the key and all to the destruction of the Obajan, but she cannot do it on her own. She is probably going to need the Inferno Armor
before this is all said and done." Cye
looked about and spotting the glitter of the lake through the trees bolted in that general
direction. As Ryo and Kento looked after his
retreating figure they noticed a heavy limp that hadn't shown when he was moving slower.
"I move
that we move this little strategy meeting to the lake so that Cye there can finish what he
needs to do and stay updated on the current events." Rowen's suggestion was met with groans of stiff muscles and bodies, but it
had to be moved and they all knew it. They
all walked to the lake using the light exercise to keep them all limber for the next fight
and as they moved they talked quietly in groups of walked alone in thought. Anubis was the quietest one of all.
"You
really like her don't you." The quiet
voice next to him startled Anubis out of his reverie and as he looked over saw that Ryo
had paced with him at the back of the pack. Nodding
slightly Anubis wondered why his one time foe took so much interest in this one stray
fact.
"Yes, I
love her a great deal Ryo of the Wildfire. I
will admit that it distresses me that I can not find her." He cut himself off before he could go on. Ryo caught this and only wondered.
"Just be
careful in how you plan us to help her out. She
has always been ready to die to protect the mortal realm in her own way. If that is her destiny now then it will be." Ryo looked at Anubis and noticed that the one time
ancient was preparing to take offence. "Look,
It will not make it any easier for me to accept. In
fact I have not even accepted the fact that she no longer really needs us to protect her
any more. I will always be there to protect
her and help her out, but I also can not put the Mortal realm at risk because of
her."
Ryo's eyes held
Anubis' as he made the older man understand that he more than understood what was at stake
here. Knowing that Anubis knew that he would
have to take the path this time that Ryo followed and not let the Mortal realm become
endangered. Anubis nodded and as they
finished the walk to the lake the others had already been discussing a way for them all to
get to the limbo zone with out further risk to themselves.
"It should
be fairly easy. Trusting in our armors and
the Staff of the Ancients we should be able to have Cale here transport us all to the
limbo with little or no effort. He uses the
shadows and the darkness as a freeway anyways and he should know where it is. That will allow us all a way there with out having
to worry about a spell going wrong." Kayura
had thought it all out based on everybody's strengths and weaknesses. It was a logical plan and everyone agreed that it
had the best chance of working out of everything they had come up with until now. Even Anubis agreed that the logic was sound, but
Cale disagreed.
"Hey, I
only have so much ability and I know that when it comes to lightning boy over there"
pointing to Sage "It is going to take more energy than usual because I will be
dealing with the polar opposite of my own specialty." Ignoring the looks he was getting from the warrior of light he continued to
think out loud.
"No, if
nothing else I would only be able to take 3 of you all at a time. Grouped like this and as worn down as we all are
right now it would be flat out suicide to try a group shot all at once." So as he looked around Cye crawled up onto the
dock out of the water looking much better than the rest of them did and nodded to indicate
that he had heard and understood everything.
"So how
about groups like this?" And as he laid
out group plans he made sure that each group was as balanced as possible to prevent
problems and it ended up like this.
Anubis, Sage,
Rowen
Kento, Sekmet, Ryo
Cye, Kayura, Dais
The groups were
agreed on with some grumbling, but in the end they all agreed that Cye probably had the
best scope of what all their abilities would be in battle and that all the groups were
balanced in some way shape or form. Cale
agreed that with Anubis in the same group with Sage, the effort in getting them all to the
Limbo would be less and less dangerous than it would have been if there had not been some
one with the ability to stabilize the journey magically. So they started on their way and each time Cale came back, he never said
anything about what was on the other side but took on the next group and shadow walked to
Limbo.
Ronins are not mine...this story and SilverRaven are mine though. QC&C are to be sent to Dragon Dagger