Armor of Hope
Armor of Hope
by Lira
Part Two:Teenage
Troubles
Darkness. Everywhere
there was darkness. No light whatsoever. Total nothingness. And yet, there
was
something. There had to be some sort of ground for the black-haired boy
to stand on as he tried to discern where he was. He heard a voice whispering
something in the distance, but he couldn't make out what the voice was
saying. Slowly the voice became clearer.
"I can't tell yet
what the danger is, but it's very near...Very soon the Ronin Warriors are
going to face their worst enemy yet...Much worse than even Talpa and the
Dynasty...But how can one fight an enemy that comes from within?"
He recognized it
as Amalthea's voice. He remembered hearing her say the first part, but
not the rest of it. An enemy that comes from within? What did that mean?
An enemy stronger than Talpa?! How could that-
Soft, cruel laughter
echoed through the darkness and he spun around, automatically dropping
into a fighting stance. "Who's there?" he demanded, his voice echoing unnaturally.
"Show yourself!"
The laughter came
again.
"Dammit! I don't
have time for these games!"
The laughter stopped
abruptly. "Ryo, I'm surprised! Such language from the leader of the Ronins!"
Ryo felt a brief
stab of fear. That voice. It-It sounded like his own! But...That was impossible!
"No, Ryo. It's not
impossible." A light appeared suddenly, a cold, dark light illuminating
a familiar figure.
Ryo took a step
back in horror with a soft gasp. It was...himself! And yet, not himself.
The other's Wildfire armor was red and black, rather than red and white,
and his eyes glowed with a cold light.
The other smiled
cruelly. "Yes, Ryo. I am you, and yet I am not you."
"Who-who are you?"
Ryo asked. "WHAT
are you?"
"I am Aku, the dark
side of you that you see every morning in the mirror," the other smirked.
"No. That's-that's
impossible! I'm not evil!"
"Is it? Everyone
has their dark side. Including you, virtuous Ryo of Wildfire." Aku
sneered as he said the word "virtuous". Then he laughed that frightening
laugh again and he crossed his arms. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you,
Ryo of Wildfire. Keep in mind what I've said. Bye."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryo sat up with a
gasp, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath and calm his racing
heart. That had been the most terrifying nightmare he'd ever had. Even
more so than the ones he'd had after the battle with Talpa. But what did
it mean? He glanced at the mirror over his dresser and shuddered involuntarily.
He quickly got up and walked over to the mirror, half-afraid of what he'd
see. Nothing. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Ryo..."
He let out a frightened
yelp as the reflection grinned evilly at him and he grabbed the nearest
thing he could find, smashing it into the glass, shattering it. He stared
at the broken glass, breathing heavily. He heard his grandmother coming
down the hall-at least he hoped it was his grandmother.
"Ryo? Are you all right,
grandson?" called his grandmother's voice.
"Y-yeah, Gramma," he
said shakily. "I had a nightmare that was a little too vivid." He blinked
in the sudden bright light when she turned on his bedroom light. "I kinda
broke my mirror, though."
His grandmother, a
kindly woman with warm and laughing eyes, looked at the shards of glass
all over the floor. "What was it this time? Another floating mask?"
"Uh-uh, Gramma. It
had to do with a mirror."
"Oh? Well, we can get
you a new mirror in the morning-"
"NO! I mean, no, Gramma.
I-I think I want to go for a while without one, please."
"If you say so, Ryo.
Go ahead and sleep with that over-grown house cat of yours outside, if
you want."
"Thanks, Gramma." He
looked again at the broken mirror and shuddered at the memory of what he'd
seen. He had to talk to Amalthea and the other guys as soon as possible.
But for now, he needed sleep. He grabbed a blanket and a flashlight, then
stumbled downstairs, trailing the blanket behind him as he yawned widely.
Whiteblaze looked up
as he approached, rumbling softly. The white tiger watched as Ryo lay down
beside him, covering himself with the blanket. Whiteblaze let out a rumbling
purr and licked Ryo's face, then curled around the boy, both falling into
a blissfully dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The combination of
bright sunlight and Whiteblaze' rumble of greeting awoke Ryo the next morning
and he looked around groggily. "Hn? What is it, Whiteblaze?" He looked
up to see a familiar black-haired woman smirking down at him. "Ack! Lady
Kayura!" He sat up quickly, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders.
Kayura laughed lightly.
"And a good morning to you, too, Ryo of Wildfire! 'Thea has asked me to
tell you and the other Ronins to come to her apartment. She has some more
information about the enemy."
Ryo nodded. "And I
think I might have some information about the enemy, too. I'll tell the
others."
Kayura handed him a
piece of paper. "Here's the address to 'Thea's place. Good luck." She smirked
mischievously. "You'll need it when you see what she's been up to. Bye!"
She vanished with a laugh, leaving Ryo looking confused.
"What did she mean
by that?" he wondered, then looked at the paper. "Hey, this is right next
door to Rowen's! I'll call Cye and Kento and tell them to meet me there
after I call to see if Sage's already there. You wanna come, Whiteblaze?"
The white tiger rumbled
agreement and followed him into the house.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ryo, what do you
think Lady Kayura meant?" Cye asked as he and Kento followed Ryo and Whiteblaze.
"About what?" Ryo replied
with a yawn.
"About what 'Thea's
been up to."
"Hey, dude, you look
bushed," Kento remarked. "Didn't you get any sleep last night?"
"Not much. That's why
I need to talk to Amalthea. I think I may have gotten a clue to our enemy."
"Really?" Cye looked
at Ryo as they came to Rowen's apartment. "What is it?"
"Let's just say I now
have a thing against mirrors," Ryo said vaguely as he knocked on the door.
There was a loud thump
from inside, then they heard Rowen yelling at Sage.
"Sounds like Sage dumped
Rowen on his head again," Cye grinned and the other two chuckled.
A moment later, Sage
opened the door with a faint smile. "Good morning, guys. Come on in. Rowen
will be ready to go to Amalthea's soon."
"Where's Mrs. Hashiba?
Still at work?" Cye asked.
Sage shrugged. "Ro
said she was working overtime at the hospital."
"Bummer," Kento said.
"Hey, is there anything to eat? I'm starving!"
"You're always starving!"
Sage snorted with a smile.
"What's wrong? Mama
Faun locked the fridge on you again?" Cye teased.
"Naw. Pop locked the
kitchen door," Kento grumbled.
The others laughed.
At that moment, Rowen
charged into the living room, tripped on a lamp cord, and fell flat on
his face.
"What was that? A new
attack to use on your enemies?" Kento hooted. "What're you gonna call it?
Strata's Klutz Attack?"
"Shove it, Kento!"
Rowen snapped as he stood up. "I'm not in the mood for jokes." He hissed
in pain as he cradled his right fist, which was wrapped in bandages.
"Hey, Ro, what happened
to your hand?" Ryo asked.
"Hurt it last night.
I broke my mirror," Rowen mumbled.
"You, too?" Ryo asked
in surprise. "You had a dream about a mirror image?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"I had a similar dream.
Only I used a baseball bat on my mirror."
"What's all this about
breaking mirrors?" Kento demanded. "Don't you guys know it's seven years
bad luck to break a mirror?"
"Which would you rather
have? Bad luck or a slit throat?" Rowen snapped. "I-"
"Let's save it to tell
Amalthea," Ryo interrupted. "Let's go."
The five boys and Whiteblaze
trooped out of Rowen's apartment and to Amalthea's. Kento knocked on the
door while the others waited.
A moment later, the
door opened and the five Ronins gaped at who was standing there.
"Dais?!" they
yelped.
The white-haired Warlord
of Illusion grinned. "The one and only! Come on in. 'Thea's got breakfast
for everyone."
"Alright! Breakfast!"
Kento rushed past Dais and into the apartment. "I'm hungry!"
"Um... Dais? Do you
know there's a very large black spider on your head?" Cye asked, eyeing
the giant tarantula he'd just noticed.
"Eh?" Dais reached
up and grabbed the huge arachnid calmly. "I was wondering where he'd gotten
to!"
Rowen muffled a laugh
as they entered the apartment.
"Is it just me, or
does he look different from the last time we saw him?" Sage said quietly.
"YAAAH!" Kento's startled
yell interrupted them. "SEKHMET, GET THAT SNAKE AWAY FROM ME!"
"What's wrong? Never
saw a python before, Hardrock?" Sekhmet's voice taunted.
"GET THAT THING OUTTA
MY FACE! HELP!" Kento bolted back into the living room and took shelter
behind Ryo and Sage.
A moment later, a smirking
Sekhmet followed, draped with several enormous pythons.
"SEKHMET!" Amalthea
yelled from the kitchen. "Quit scaring Kento and put those blasted snakes
back in their cage! It's bad enough Dais' spider's always running around
loose!"
The green-haired Warlord
scowled, but obeyed.
Dais snickered and
left the room. "Go ahead and sit down somewhere, guys!"
The five Ronins looked
at each other.
"Those two...look different,"
Ryo said, blinking.
"No kidding, Ryo,"
Kento replied. "You won't believe who I saw sitting at the kitchen table
drinking tea!"
"Who? Saber Stryke?"
Rowen smirked.
"No! Anubis!"
"What?!"
"Hey, everyone! Come
and get it!" Amalthea yelled.
"Food!" Kento bolted
for the kitchen, the others following more slowly.
The first thing they
noticed was that Anubis was indeed at the table, as was Kale. Amalthea
was by the stove, cooking something that smelled delicious.
The red-haired girl
turned around when she heard them enter and grinned. "Hey, guys! Glad you
could make it! I-Kento! Get away from there!" She brandished a wooden spoon
and chased Kento away from the food that was on the counter. "Sekhmet!
Dais! Get in here! Have a seat, guys. Soon's everyone's at the table, we
can eat."
The five Ronins sat
down and watched her as she began flipping pancakes in a haphazard way.
"I got a question,
'Thea," Kento suddenly said. "How come the Warlords look different and
why are they here?"
Amalthea turned around
and grinned sheepishly, placing a hand behind her head. "Well...It's my
fault and..." She trailed off.
"Are you going to tell
them, or should I?" Kale chuckled.
She made a face at
him and continued. "I did a spell to resurrect Anubis and I goofed it up.
I turned all four of them into teenagers no older than you guys. Kayura
refused to let them stay at the palace with her so I got stuck with them."
"Why'd you do it?"
Sage asked.
Amalthea was immediately
serious. "The enemy. Very soon the Ronin Warriors are going to face their
worst enemy yet. Much worse than-"
"Than even Talpa and
the Dynasty," Ryo and Rowen finished.
Amalthea blinked at
them. "How'd you know what I was going to say?"
"It's a crazy story,"
Ryo said wearily. "You wanna tell them, Ro?"
Rowen shook his head
and laid it on the table. "It was scary enough the first time."
Ryo nodded and continued.
"Well, last night, I had this nightmare. I was in this dark place and I
heard Amalthea's voice talking about the enemy being worse than Talpa and
all that, then she said, 'But how can one fight an enemy that comes from
within?' Then I heard cruel laughter, but I couldn't see anything. Then
the owner started talking and I recognized it as my own voice, but it wasn't
me talking. Then this guy appeared in front of me who looked exactly like
me, but he called himself Aku. He had on Wildfire armor, only it was red
and black. He said he was the dark side of myself that I see in the mirror.
I panicked, then I woke up." He rubbed tiredly at his eyes and sighed.
"But that's not the worst part. I was still freaked out from my dream and
I looked at my mirror. At first everything seemed normal, then right in
front of me, my reflection whispered my name and smiled evilly at me. I
was so scared I grabbed a baseball bat and broke my mirror."
"What's a 'baze boll
bat'?" Dais whispered to Sekhmet, who shrugged.
"My dream was almost
exactly the same," Rowen added. "Only my reflection called himself Jaaku
and I broke my mirror with my fist."
Amalthea frowned thoughtfully
and sat down between Kento and Kale. "An enemy worse than Talpa that comes
from within..." she mused. "It makes sense. I mean, the only warriors stronger
than Talpa are yourselves. It would be very hard to win a battle against
yourself, because you have the same strength, you think the same, you fight
the same, and you can anticipate your moves. How can you fight an enemy
that knows your every move and thought?"
"We assume the reflections
cannot work together as a group until we learn otherwise," Anubis said
softly. "Ryo and Rowen, did either of you get any clue as to how many reflections
there are?"
The two boys shook
their heads.
"The reflections might
be able to pass through mirrors," Dais commented.
"That's the first intelligent
thing you've said, Dais," Amalthea said drily. "He has a point. Ryo, you're
the leader. What do you think we should do?"
Ryo groaned and copied
Rowen. "I can't think straight. I'm too tired."
"Me, too," Rowen agreed.
"Can we take a nap first?"
"I don't see why not,"
Amalthea replied. "Kale, why don't you show them where the spare rooms
are, please."
"Sure."
"Well, 'Thea," Cye
said as Kale left with Ryo and Rowen following. "What do you plan to do
about the Warlords?"
Amalthea smirked. "I've
already enrolled them in school. They start Monday."
"No way." Kento stared
at her. "Are you nuts?! They'll create total havoc! They'll-"
"They'll be company
for you in detention," Sage snorted.
Kento scowled. "Watch
it, Halo. I know where you live."
"Your point being...?"
"Geez, Kayura was right.
You guys sound exactly like the Warlords." Amalthea grinned at their shocked
looks.
"Scary thought," Anubis
chuckled.
"I was wondering, if
there are reflections of the four of us, what will they be?" Dais asked
abruptly. "Or maybe there aren't any reflections of us because we've been
to both extremes."
Everyone stared at
him.
"Uh...Sage is usually
the one to think of stuff like that," Kento said at length.
Amalthea shrugged helplessly.
"Dais isn't normally this sane and philosophical. Normally he's driving
Sekhmet batty. So, who's hungry?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kayura hummed happily
to herself as she polished her Ancient's staff in the common room of the
palace. It was shockingly peaceful without Dais, Sekhmet, and Kale hanging
around and making a hell of a mess. Add Anubis, Amalthea, and the other
Ronins and it was total chaos. She laughed softly. It was good to see Dais,
Kale, and Sekhmet in such good spirits again. They hadn't quite been the
same after Anubis had sacrificed himself to save them all-
The soft sound of glass
breaking caught her attention.
"Who's there?" she
called warily, standing up and gripping the staff tightly. She looked at
it as the rings began chiming wildly. Danger? Here? NOW?
The soft clank of several
armored figures approaching drew her attention to the one entrance into
or out of the common room and she stood ready for an attack.
She blinked in mild
surprise as Ryo and Rowen entered in full armor, the other three armored
Ronins behind them. "Ryo? Rowen? Is something wrong? Have you met the enemy?"
The two Ronins looked
at each other and smiled cruelly. "She thinks we're the Ronins, Touma,"
said the one who looked like Ryo.
"I wonder why that
is, Ryou," said the one he'd called Touma. "Why, yes, Lady Kayura, we did
meet the enemy."
Kayura looked at them
in confusion, then it dawned on her when the staff kept chiming. "You!
You're the enemy! But why do you look like the Ronins?"
"Because they are
the Ronins in a way, Lady Kayura," laughed a familiar harsh voice
from behind her.
She spun around and
came face to face with...
Herself!
Her eyes widened in
fear. "The kagami," she whispered.
"No shit, Lady," laughed
the one who looked like Sage.
Kayura looked at the
mirror images surrounding her. She had to escape to warn the-
The Ryo look-alike
grabbed her by the arm roughly, still smiling cruelly, his eyes glowing
with a cold light. "You're not going anywhere, babe," he hissed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amalthea looked up
from her pancakes the same time the four Warlords did. "Something's happening
to Kayura!" she shouted.
"Are you sure?" Sage
asked.
"Of course, I'm sure!
Don't you think I would know when one of my closest friends is in trouble?!
It's got to be the enemy! Let's-"
"Let's not rush into
this blindly, 'Thea," Anubis said calmly. "We don't know whether or not
our actions could put her in danger. We must wait until the enemy contacts
us."
Amalthea rounded on
him angrily. "What if they kill her, Toshitada?! Then we'll have lost the
Ancient's staff to the enemy!"
"That's not true and
you know it," Anubis replied smoothly. "If worst comes to worst, we have
the Link. After all, it's not Lady Kayura they're after. It's the Link."
Amalthea scowled, but
calmed down considerably. "I hate your reasoning because it's true. Dais,
would you-"
The sound of shattering
glass came from one of the guest rooms, namely the one Ryo had been sleeping
in.
"And it sounds like
the enemy has just decided to contact us." Anubis smiled mirthlessly.
Ryo staggered into
the kitchen, wide-eyed and bleeding profusely from several large gashes
on his fist. "They've got Kayura! They took over the palace! There were
six of them, the five Ronin mirrors and a Kayura mirror. She called herself
Kaiyra and said they were the kagami..." He trailed off as he swayed
unsteadily on his feet. Then his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed.
"Ryo!" The shocked
warriors rushed to the unconscious boy's side.
"Get outta the way!"
Amalthea commanded and shoved her way to Ryo's side. "I'm betting it was
Kaiyra who told him. She's enough to make anyone freak out." She took the
boy's bleeding hand and a pale white glow surrounded their hands. Moments
later, Ryo's wounds had completely vanished, along with the blood.
"Who's Kaiyra?" Kento
asked as Amalthea ordered Kale and Sage to carry Ryo to the couch.
"Kayura's kagami,
her reflection, Kento," Amalthea replied, massaging the bridge of her nose
with a sigh. "Guys, I guess it's time I tell you what I learned
of the enemy. Have a seat wherever you can find one."
The seven teens sat
on whatever chairs were available, Kento, Sekhmet, and Dais ending up on
the floor in front of the couch. A moment later, a sleepy Rowen joined
them, summoned by some sort of silent call.
Amalthea sighed heavily
and gestured at the air, sitting down in the "hammock" of spiderwebbing
that formed behind her. "Okay. First off, the Ronins' kagami..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The "kagami"?
Who are they? What are they after? What is the Link that Anubis mentioned?
Will Ryo and Rowen ever trust mirrors again? Just how many evil reflections
are
there? And most of all, HOW WILL THE WARLORDS SURVIVE GOING TO SCHOOL?!
Find out in the next episode: Mirror, Mirror...!