Ronin Warriors: Next Generation: Forever You Will Know Me

Ronin Warriors: Next Generation: Forever You Will Know Me

By: Shadow Chaser

Chapter 3

Ryo glanced at his digital clock on his nightstand. It read 12:34 AM. Sighing, Ryo rolled on to his side and gazed out of the window into the night sky. Thankfully, there were no more attacks by the dark-warlords through the rest of the day. 'So why can't I sleep?' Ryo questioned to himself. He flopped back on the bed, staring at his ceiling. After a few minutes, Ryo heaved a sigh and got up from his bed, being careful not to wake the two other occupants in his room, White Blaze and Hiro. Ryo had volunteered to watch over Hiro, just in case anything happened to his injury. Stepping over White Blaze, he crept softly outside into the balcony that was joined to his room. A slight warm breezed greeted his face, and whipped his shoulder length hair around. It felt peaceful, as if none of the recent battles had anything to do with Mother Nature.

"Hey, anything wrong?" Mia's voice said from beside him, startling him a bit.

"No, not really," Ryo said, not looking at Mia, just out into the dark blue, almost black oblivion.

"Come on Ryo, tell me. What's bothering you?" Mia persisted, looking at Ryo with concern.

Ryo sighed in defeat, "Alright. It's how this plans of the dark-warlords that's bothering me. I mean, Blackhawk was really after Kento and Cye, and not us. He just sent us a distraction, so that he could score his brownie points. If we hadn't killed off those Shadow soldiers, then Cye and Hiro would be dead by now."

Mia nodded grimly, "The warlords and Kayura told me more about Shadow Lord's history. They say that he can only be defeated by a heart that is pure."

"Oh," Ryo said, "um, Mia? Why did you stay away from me when we had the meeting?"

Mia looked at Ryo in shock, and under the hint of moonlight, she saw him blush a bit.

"I guess…well…I don't know," Mia finally said and returned her gaze to the stars.

Ryo faced her, one of his eyebrows arched in surprise at her answer. 'Damn you Ryo! Why don't you just 'fess it up and tell her you love her!' he thought to himself.

"Goodnight Ryo," Mia said and moved away from Ryo.

'Come on! Go after her!' his inner conscience told him. 'Will you shut up! I'm going, I'm going!' he mentally told his conscience.

"Mia?" Ryo called out, stopping Mia in her tracks.

"Yes, Ryo?" Mia said, her back facing Ryo.

Ryo walked over to her and put his arms around her waist. He turned her around and kissed her full on the lips. Mia at first panicked, but then relaxed. After a few moments, Ryo parted and looked into her jade green eyes.

"Goodnight Mia," Ryo said, letting her go and walking back to his room.

Mia just stared in surprise.

* * *

The first thing Sayli saw when she woke up was a big tuff of black and white hair, in front of her.

"My God, White Blaze, don't scare me like that again," Sayli said, regaining her composure and scratching White Blaze behind the ears.

White Blaze purred contently, and Sayli looked over to see Kaira still asleep, one of her arms draped over a chair, the other on her stomach. Sayli looked over at the digital cow clock; Kareyn had in her room, and noticed it was 9:32 AM. White Blaze nudged her and Sayli shooed him off.

"Alright, I'm coming White Blaze. What do you want to do about Kaira?" Sayli asked, looking at her best friend with weariness.

Kaira unfortunately, had inherited Rowen's sleeping habits of sleeping late. White Blaze gave Sayli the tiger's equivalent of a shrug and padded out the door. Sayli left Kareyn's room, and went to the bathroom to wash and change up.

* * *

'Hey, what's cooking?' Ryo thought, as he came down stairs to the dining room. He went into the kitchen, narrowly missing Kento as he was thrown out of the door.

"Cye?" Ryo said surprised at his friend, leaning over the stove, cooking breakfast.

"Oh, hi Ryo. What do you want for breakfast? Bacon and eggs with either toast or cereal," Cye asked, his face crinkling into a smile.

Ryo noticed Cye still looked pale and exhausted, but otherwise just fine.

"Um, bacon and eggs with toast," Ryo said, "hey Cye, you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, just a wee bit headache once in a while. Man, I didn't know Sage could heal me that good," Cye replied, flipping some bacon over the pan.

"It wasn't Sage who healed you, it was Kareyn," Ryo replied, wandering over to the toaster to see if the bread was ready, "can you tell me about the battle yesterday?"

"Yeah, sure. Blackhawk just appeared in the middle of the lake and summoned a bloody large Leviathan. The Leviathan attacked and Hiro was caught in the after wash that's how he got the nasty gash. Anyway, after defeating it, Nether soldiers attacked, and Shino said that he could handle them and told me to go after Blackhawk. That Blackhawk is quick with his weapon, a spear-scythe. He's even faster than Lady Kayura or the warlords. Sayli wasn't kidding when she said that he could become psychotic when battling. I saw in his eyes, Ryo, they were maniacal," Cye said shuddering a bit.

"Who's cooking breakfast!" Hiro's voice said then he and Shino entered.

"Cye!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Dad?" Shino gaped.

"Alright! Food!" Hiro yelled and dove after the toast that Ryo was taking out of the toaster.

"Hiro! Out! NOW!" Cye yelled, then suddenly grabbed his head, as pain shot through it.

"Cye!" Ryo said rushing over to his friend and supported him.

"Hiro, look at what you've done. Now, let's go," Shino said pushing a stricken Hiro out the door and casting a glance at Cye who recovered.

"Go ahead Ryo, I'll be fine," Cye reassured Ryo who looked doubtful.

"You sure, you'll be alright?" Ryo asked, uncertain.

"Yes, now go on and get sleepy head Rowen up," Cye laughed.

* * *

"Your job was not complete," Shadow Lord said to Blackhawk, his face a disapproving look.

"But, Master, I did injure Torrent, I think fatally," Blackhawk explained, looking anywhere but at Shadow.

Shadow held up his hand to forestall any argument and waved his hand around. A portal appeared with the picture of Cye cooking and looking healthy.

"He obviously did not die," Shadow said flatly.

"I will do better next time Master! I promise," Blackhawk said desperately.

"You will be confined to solitude for a day. Think about your mistakes and do not repeat them again or I shall have to eliminate you permanently," Shadow said and teleported Blackhawk away.

"Blackfire-Ryo," Shadow said returning his attention to the matter at hand.

"Master," Blackfire said stepping up.

"Do not make the mistake Blackhawk made. Destroy the Ronin and C-Ronin leader," Shadow warned, "you are their greatest enemy because of your knowledge."

"Yes sir," Blackfire said and teleported out.

"You think he will fail?" Kamagati asked.

"For his own sake, he better not," Shadow replied, his red eyes flaring a bit.

* * *

"Whose turn is it to wake Rowen?" Ryo asked the Ronin Warriors sitting around the dining table.

"Whose turn is it to wake Kaira?" Sayli asked her C-Ronins, also sitting around the dining table.

All of the Ronin Warriors' fingers pointed to Kento, wolfing down bacon and toast. Kento looked up in surprise, then nodded. The C-Ronins pointed to Sama, who looked like he was either going to enjoy it or run like hell. The two got up and went upstairs. Everyone at the table quieted, waiting to hear what kind of method Kento and Sama was going to use. A few minutes later there was a crash, thumping and silence. Kento came down with a big smile on his face. Rowen followed, holding his left shoulder.

"Where's Kaira?" Rowen asked.

He was rewarded with a battle cry then Sama came dashing down stairs, running like hell was after him.

"SAMA DATE, YOU ARE THE WORLD'S BIGGEST BAKA!" Kaira yelled from the top of the stairs; she noticed all the Ronins gathered at the table, "go ahead and eat. I'll be along shortly. By the way, where's Kayura and the warlords?"

"They went to Jewel Lake to find some information," Mia spoke up.

"Oh thanks. And Sama? You're one dead C-Ronin," Kaira said sweetly before heading back up stairs.

Sage laughed out loud as he saw Sama grow red in the face. His laughter stopped a few minutes later as he saw Kaira come down the stairs, dressed in a karate outfit with her black belt tied tight.

"Don't mind me, eat," Kaira said, grinning mischievously.

She walked into the dining room and deliberately grabbed Sama by the scruff of his shirt.

"Hey! Kaira! I was just only assigned to get you up! No fair! Let me go!" Sama said, looking at her with seriousness.

Kaira made no answer just dragged him outside the door. When the door slammed shut, Cye looked at the C-Ronins with surprise. They just continued on eating, not even curious about the situation.

"Um, guys? Aren't you going to stop Kaira?" Ryo asked a little miffed.

"Nah, we learned that if we interfered with Kaira in her anger, then we would be mashed into tiny bits by now," Hiro answered, stuffing another egg in his already full mouth.

The Ronins and Mia winced as a punch could be heard followed by a cry of pain. Another followed with Sama crying out. A few minutes after crying of pain, Kaira came back into dusting her hands.

"Job done," she declared and plopped herself in an empty seat.

The Ronins looked at her as if she had turned into a vampire and said 'I will kill you now.'

* * *

The morning was quiet, but by afternoon, tension had begun to build. Mia had taken the girls (Kareyn, Kaira, and Sayli) food shopping, the guys were alone in the house. Kayura and the warlords did not return yet.

"You know what? One of the worst things about an enemy attacking is the waiting part," Kento complained, kicking Ryo's soccer ball to Sama, who trapped it.

"Yeah, it kinda sucks," Sama said, passing it to Rowen.

"What's going on between you and Kaira?" Ryo asked, receiving the soccer ball Rowen kicked to him.

"Well, um, ah…" Sama started, unsure of what to say.

"Sama likes Kaira! Sama likes Kaira," Hiro shouted out, throwing a football at Shino.

"Hiro! Traitor!" Sama said, glaring at the now hysterical C-Ronin of Hardrock who was laughing all over the place.

"It's true?" Rowen asked, not believing what he heard.

"Um, yeah. It's true, I have a crush on her," Sama admitted, glancing at the ground.

"One question, why do you then tease and annoy her?" Kento asked.

"Dunno, just don't want to show my feeling I guess. Can we get back to the game? Or is this 'Ask Sama Date All the Questions You Want Game'?" Sama said irritably.

Ryo shrugged and kicked the ball to him.

* * *

Time: Night-around 7:30 PM

Ryo was getting suspicious, a whole day has passed, and no attacks by the dark-warlords. He had an inkling that they were going to attack in the night, but wasn't too sure about it. Cye had retired to bed early, since he was still recovering from the wound Blackhawk gave him.

"Kento you animal, eat normally," Kareyn jeered at her cousin, watching Kento wolf down a mouthful of mashed potatoes, followed by some pieces of chicken.

"Kento, eat normally or else I'll have to tell Cye not to cook for you," Ryo warned, a little sick and embarrassed at the way Kento was eating in front of guests.

"There's always Shino to cook," Kento replied.

"Ah, no thanks. I've decided to follow Cye's example and not cook for you or Hiro," Shino said, putting a polite mouthful of string bean in his mouth and chewing it.

"Anyone seen the warlords?" Mia asked.

"Now that you mention it, no," Sage said, looking around as if the warlords and Kayura would appear in a flash.

White Blaze suddenly stood on all four paws by the table, his mouth curled back and growled at the back door.

"What's the matter White Blaze?" Ryo asked, looking at the pitch-blackness outside from the door window.

Suddenly there was a light blue light followed by a crash coming from upstairs.

"Dad!" Shino cried abandoning his dinner and dashing up stairs. Kento was hot on his tail.

Suddenly the back door White Blaze was glaring at came down with a crash and nether soldiers mixed with shadow soldiers came pouring in. Ryo quickly summoned up his sub-armor and immediately kicked one where the sun doesn't shine. 'Ow, now that's gotta hurt,' he thought as behind him, White Blaze pounced on one.

"Take this outside!" Sayli yelled, running though the door.

She stopped dead in her tracks. There were hundreds of soldiers waiting outside. 'Shit! It's an ambush!' she thought.

"Wildfire! Conjunction!" she cried out, and felt the familiar armor-up process.

Putting her hands at horizontal position, she felt flames lick and dance around her. They touched her skin and hardened into the arms part of her armor. She spun around quickly, and created a tornado of flames. Stopping quickly, the flames extinguished and she was in her complete armor, her twin katanas sheathed in a "x" on her back. Pulling them out she slashed four shadow soldiers at once, decapitating their heads.

"Who want's some more? Huh? I'm ready!" she yelled out as she saw the others form their armor and prepared to do battle.

* * *

Cye could hear the conversations of his fellow Ronins as he laid in bed, thinking. His abdomen area still hurt, but Kareyn's healing powers did a good job. He was thankful for that. Suddenly he heard something. 'Danger,' his conscious told him. He sat up on bed, and saw that his room's window was open and a slight breeze was stirring the fish print curtains. 'Wait, the window wasn't open before,' he thought, grabbing his kanji ball and summoning his sub-armor. The cool metal replaced his pajamas and he stood beside his bed, ready.

"So, Torrent, are you ready to die?" a sinister voice said from the shadows, making Cye turn around in surprise.

He saw two glowing red-pink eyes.

"Blackhawk," Cye sneered, "you bloody bastard. It is you who will die."

"Ohh, scary words coming from the pacifist," Blackhawk said coming out of the shadows.

Cye could see that Blackhawk received a new armor with more weapons on it.

"Armor of Torrent! Dao Shin!" Cye yelled, forming the watery armor.

The usual shock of the armor forming from him was too much, since he had the pain of the wound. He fell to his knees, unable to continue though the process.

"Weak, pathetic fool! You know that you are too hurt to continue," Blackhawk said grinning evilly as he kicked Cye in the stomach, making him cry out in pain as he was kicked into a wall.

Cye curled up into a ball, the pain unbearable. He cried out again as Blackhawk kicked him in the back, and head.

"Why don't I just end it for you," Blackhawk said and unsheathed his new weapon, a giant saber, and pointed it at Cye's exposed throat.

"You know, you can hurt someone with that," a voice said from the doorway.

Cye focused his bleary-sweat stained eyes on the voice and saw Shino and Kento, standing at the doorway; both dressed in their sub-armors.

"One, more step and he goes," Blackhawk said, digging the sharp tip of the saber into Cye's throat, drawing a little blood.

Cye's hand groped for the yari that had formed first when he was in the middle of completing the armoring-up process. He found it and held it behind him, where Blackhawk could not see it, ready.

"Yo, ugly! Down here," Cye said, and grinned as Blackhawk looked at him.

He thrusted the yari straight at his neck and the two ends caught on and clamped on to Blackhawk, choking him. Blackhawk dropped the saber and clutched his neck, trying to pry off the weapon that was killing him slowly.

"Now!" Cye yelled, his strength leaving him.

Shino's arms glowed a light blue color and he faced them towards Blackhawk. A horizontal column of water and ice headed straight towards Blackhawk, hitting him dead on and sending him through the wall of the room and back outside to where the others battled soldiers. Blackhawk landed on the soft grass.

"Hah! Hah! You haven't won yet!" Blackhawk yelled back up to the three Ronins.

He noticed a shiny object coming straight towards him. 'Oh, just my saber. Goodbye world,' Blackhawk thought, as the saber plunged into his heart. He saw nothing and felt nothing.

* * *

Shino turned away at the bloody sight of the now dead warlord Blackhawk. The saber had followed Blackhawk on the way down. 'Thank you to whoever did that,' he silently prayed to the gods.

"Cye you alright?" Kento asked, looking over the bruised, bloodied, but otherwise awake Cye.

"Yeah, just fine Kento," Cye replied, grabbing on to Kento's strong arms for support as he stood up.

"How did you get your yari out, but not your full armor?" Shino asked.

"The pain interrupted the transformation. Let me see if I can do it now," Cye said, letting go of Kento and held out his orb.

"Armor of Torrent! Dao Shin!" Cye yelled, gritting his teeth.

The pain was more intense, but he tried to put it in the back of his mind. 'My friends need help! I need to transform!' Cye told himself as the shock intensified. Suddenly it was all over. Cye opened his eyes and saw that he was in the Torrent armor.

"Man, you sure you're okay? I mean, you looked like hell during the transformation," Kento said worriedly.

"I'm okay, let's go," Cye said, and jumped out of the hole Blackhawk made, and on to the backyard grass, his yari ready.

He looked up and saw Shino summoning his armor in mid air. Kento had already donned his armor and was wading into battle.

"Cye! You shouldn't be out here!" Kareyn called out.

Cye looked around and saw Kareyn next to a big tree, slashing away at three shadow soldiers.

"I'm fine, just get rid of these guys," Cye said, and ducked as a sword sliced through the air.

He slashed at a shadow soldier, and used the clamping mechanism on his yari to grab one by the neck. Picking the helpless soldier up, he spun around in a circle, knocking down both shadow and nether soldiers. Releasing the grip he had on the soldier, he jumped clear of the circle.

"Super Wave Smasher!" Cye yelled and a jet of water-energy burst from the end of his yari and on to the remaining nether/shadow soldiers.

The shadows screamed a high pitch scream as the energy-water burst through them, obliterating them. Cye winced as the scream reached his ears, then they suddenly stopped. Cye let the water-energy disperse, and looked around to see what was going on. He didn't like the sight that greeted him. More nether and shadow soldiers were appearing though different portals.

* * *

"Ryo! We can't hold out much longer! There's too many of them!" Rowen shouted, floating in the air and picking off soldiers with his golden energy arrows.

"I know! FLARE UP NOW!" Ryo yelled, putting his twin katanas together and sending a wave of fire-energy at some soldiers.

'Can't use Inferno, because then it would leave my friends helpless, plus Cye is still recovering,' Ryo thought. There was a crash and Ryo saw a dark figure burst from the wall of Cye's room and fly through the air, an ice-water column pushing it out. 'Gotta be Blackhawk,' Ryo thought as he continued to watch the scene, rolling over to his right, just in time from being sliced in half.

"Wildfire, I have been waiting a long time," a voice said from behind him.

Ryo turned around and saw a person dressed in an armor that was an exact duplicate of his, but black and red, instead of white and red.

"Blackfire, so glad to see you," Ryo said sarcastically, holding his katanas ready.

He noticed that the shadow and nether soldiers formed a circle around them. Blackfire removed his faceplate and Ryo stared into a face that was his own, but tainted with scars and glowing light blue eyes.

"Ryo? Need some help?" Rowen called from above him.

"No, this is a battle between me and him," Ryo called back not moving his gaze away from his evil clone.

"Prepare…to…DIE!" Blackfire screamed and slashed his evil version of the Wildfire katanas at Ryo.

Ryo blocked his face only centimeters away from his clone's, the swords crossed in an "x".

"This will be the battle, in which, Wildfire, you will meet your end!" Blackfire said, grinning evilly at his counterpart.

Both stared at each other with hatred and malice.

To be continued next time…

* * *

Comments? Questions? Send them to me! Shadow Chaser! Don't flame me, but the next chapter will take a while, because I have midterms coming up soon and I don't want to fail them. So keep on sending those comments! I really appreciate it.

Shadow Chaser J

PS- my sister Chibi Shadow Chaser says hi!