Ronin Warriors: Next Generation: Forever You Will Know Me
By: Shadow Chaser
Chapter 9
Shino shuddered a bit as the connection between him and his father was severed by Shadow Lord. He glanced at his fellow teammates and nodded his head. The sounds of chains rattling and falling to the ground echoed throughout the cell. Shino was grateful that the genius of the bunch was still conscious and not fading like Sama and Sayli. Kaira had thought up a way to free themselves from the chains. She had noticed that the chains had fit to accommodate the original Ronin sub-armors, and therefore, since the C-Ronins had sleeker and almost skin-tight sub-armors, they could fit though the wide chains.
"How are they?" he asked, putting himself in leader mode, since he was second in command to the group.
"Not too good. It looks like they've stopped fading, but for how long, I don't know," Kaira said holding Sama's head, cradled in her lap.
"Shino…" Sayli whispered, "I want you to leave Sama and I here and get yourselves out. Free Halo and Wildfire, so we could return to normal."
"But…" Shino hesitated, "who knows what Kamagati might do to you guys when we're gone."
"Listen ass-hole. I am the leader here and I gave a command. Follow it and beat those little dark-warlords to hell. You hear me clear C-Torrent?" Sayli said, her light blue-green eyes flashing with anger.
"Yes ma'am," Shino replied, suddenly afraid at what Sayli would do to him when she was back to her normal self. He turned to Hiro, "Hiro, you stay and watch over them. Me and Kaira will get help."
Hiro nodded and ran over to Sayli's side to help her lean against the muck-filled wall. Shino glanced at Kaira and saw that she was on the verge of breaking out the waterworks.
"Come on, I think I have enough power to blast though the ceiling and get us out of here," Shino said and light blue energy condensed on his fists.
He stretched his hands upwards and the energy formed into a column, blowing up the roof of the prison. Shards of rocks and dust fell around him and he coughed. Suddenly a whirlwind formed and carried the rocks and dust high above the prison area. Shino looked over to Kaira and saw that her armor's powers of wind created the mini tornado. He saw her look over to him and nod. Shino walked over the gap and crouched down. He sprang up and back-flipped to land on the outside of the prison ceiling. Moments later Kaira joined him, a tad bit exhausted.
"So where to now Sherlock?" Kaira asked, trying to instill some humor as she saw him frown.
Shino was silent for a few moments as he looked around, gauging the surrounding area. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at a falling blue streak in the sky, followed by a black streak.
"I don't know, Kaira turn on your far sight, see if you can see if any of the Ronins escaped," Shino replied his eyes still focused on the falling blue and black streaks.
Kaira closed her eyes for a few moments, then opened them again-her eyes were all blue including the whites. She saw green-blue as her armor's power of far sight was activated.
"Searching…I found your dad and Uncle Kento! Kento's battling Dais while, oh-my-gosh…is that who I think it is?" Kaira gasped, bringing Shino's head around to face her.
"Who? Come on, tell me!" Shino said, worried for his father.
"I think it's Quasa, but didn't your dad tell us that she was dead?" Kaira said, and Shino noticed that she was beginning to turn pale.
"Kaira, you all right?" Shino asked worried for his blood-sister.
"Yeah…just fine," Kaira gasped in between breaths, "I think something's wrong with my parents."
"Can you escape?" Shino asked, glancing in the direction of where Cye and Kento were battling.
"Yeah, I can, just can't battle that much for now," Kaira said, as some color returned to her cheeks.
"Okay, we're going by air, mind much?" Shino decided, hoping that none of the dark-warlords would see them, or Nether and Shadow Soldiers would also.
"Nope…Strata! Conjunction!" Kaira cried.
"Torrent! Conjunction!" Shino yelled.
Shino felt the armor-up process take over as he held his arms above his head. Millions of gallons of water poured over him, and swirled in a whirlpool. He stuck his arms to the side of the whirlpool and felt the tugging force hit his arms and formed the arm part of his armor. He opened his eyes and walked through the swirling mass of water. As he entered the friction part, he felt his helmet form and the rest of his armor. He stepped out of the swirling vortex and droplets of water dripped down his armor. In his right arm he held his trident, it's three blades sparkling. He saw a flash and found himself back on the top of the prison roof.
Kaira felt thousands mile per hour winds slam into her from different directions. She was in a mini tornado, created by her armor. Her hands were outstretched and she felt herself lift off the ground by the tornado. She flew higher and higher; each time, a piece of her armor would flash onto her. Finally she reached the peak of the twister and she jumped out, her bow ready in front of her and her endless arrow pack strapped behind her.
"You know, your hair looks funny, all standing up in that twister," Shino commented as Kaira appeared beside him.
"Shut up moron. You're lucky I'm giving you a lift," Kaira said, as she touched hands with Shino to form her bubble.
* * *
Sage felt as if he was slammed down from a hundred-foot tall building to the ground then ran over with a monster truck. His head pounded as he realized that the Nether Spirits got through his mental barriers and attacked the central core of his thoughts viciously.
"Are you ready Halo, to face your fate?" the humming voice of a Nether Spirits said, as he saw one of them float in front of his face.
"…I'll stick…your fate…up your ass," Sage croaked, his mouth dry as the Sahara Desert from the poison Kamagati instilled into him.
"Quite the humor don't you think Halo," the Nether Spirit replied.
"Wow, you've actually got intelligence and you can talk," Sage said, and realized that some of Rowen's sarcastic humor was rubbing on to him, "and I thought that you guys didn't even possess brains."
The Nether Spirit didn't reply and Sage turned his head slightly, wincing as pain shot all over his body. I must be really banged up, my sub-armor isn't even reacting against the Nether Spirits when it should, he thought darkly as he saw them circle around him, chanting.
"That's enough, remember Shadow Lord demands that they be tortured before giving them their fate," Kamagati's voice echoed and Sage saw her materialize in front of him.
"Come to pay me a visit?" Sage growled as he tried to get his mouth working again.
"Halo, why do you have to be so cold with me?" Kamagati said, pouting like a child, "you don't have to be, we are old friends." She floated up in front of him, and traced a finger around his jaw, smiling seductively.
"Get away from me," Sage whispered in a deadly voice, flinching as Kamagati raked a nail down the right side of his face, making a cut that oozed with blood.
"My dear Sage, why? If you just let yourself go everything will be all right. I can guarantee that," Kamagati whispered into his ear.
Sage didn't answer as Kamagati stood floated behind him, and placed a hand on his upper back.
"You are so stubborn, maybe a little convincing will help you," Kamagati said and her hand crackled with black lightning.
Sage cried out in pain as her hand, placed on his back, pulsated the black lightning into him, making every nerve and fiber of his body cramp up. He tried to will himself to fall into the black oblivion of unconsciousness but something was holding him back. She has control over a part of me, he realized with dread as he tried to reach behind him to stop Kamagati.
"Oh, you're trying so hard Halo, maybe I'll stop…then again, maybe I won't," Kamagati said laughing sadistically.
Sage could only watch through pain filled eyes as he felt his life slowly slipping away.
* * *
Hiro glanced sadly at his teammate Sama, who was curled up in a fetal position, occasionally crying out in pain. Damn, that stupid dark-warlord who is hurting Uncle Sage! He thought angrily then glanced over to the leader of the C-Ronins.
"Sayli, you all right?" Hiro whispered.
"They stopped the torture for now. How's Sama?" Sayli whispered her voice a bit hoarse.
"He's not doing too well, my guess is that someone is having their own sick fun of slowly killing Uncle Sage," Hiro snarled, then looked up as the door to his cell banged open.
A couple of Nether and Shadow Soldiers filed through followed by a tall menacing figure, Hiro recognized as Cale.
"What do you want traitor to the future," Sayli demanded then stopped as she coughed.
Cale stared coldly at them for a moment then moved his gaze around the cell. His eyes narrowed to silts as he saw a gaping hole with light streaming in.
"Where are the other two," he growled. When he replied no answer he grabbed Hiro by the neck of his sub-armor and slammed him up the side of the cell.
Hiro saw stars and felt pain enter his back area. He struggled to remain silent not giving an inch to Cale's pleasure in torturing.
"Where are they!" Cale roared, and tossed Hiro down to the ground.
"That's for your stupid overgrown head to find out!" Hiro countered, picking himself up from the ground wincing a bit. He took a protective stance in front of Sama and Sayli.
Cale snapped his fingers at the soldiers, "Get Halo and Wildfire, they need a lesson they will not forget."
"I don't think so," Hiro said as the first soldier came towards him and his friends.
He kicked the Nether soldier in the face, sending him to la-la-land. Out of the corner of his left eye he saw a Shadow Soldier try to use the slightly dark prison cell to his advantage. Oh, no you don't. You're not going to get away that easily, he thought as he brought his right leg up and kicked that soldier in a place where the sun don't shine.
"You fools! Get rid of Hardrock, he isn't that hard," Cale yelled at the two remaining soldiers who were cautious in approaching Hiro.
"Remember Cale, I'm not my father. You think you can get me, well try," Hiro taunted, and waggled his finger at the two soldiers inviting them to battle.
He kept a wary eye on the two soldiers as they circled him. They charged at the same time and Hiro ducked down, as both soldiers ran into each other, effectively conking themselves out.
"You will die for this C-Hardrock," Cale said in a low deadly voice.
"No, you will die first," Sama said, rising painfully to his feet, one hand holding his rib area.
"Cale, you will cease to exist from where you stand," Sayli interjected, rising up behind Hiro.
"You, Wildfire and Halo think you're strong enough to fight me?" Cale laughed, and unsheathed his long sword, "You can't even summon you're armor in this prison."
"You forget, Future Warlord of Darkness, we don't need our armors in order to generate powers," Hiro said as an orange glow formed on his fists. I just hope that Sama and Sayli are strong enough to battle, he thought as he took a glance behind him, worried for his teammates.
* * *
Kaira shook her head in amazement as she saw many husks of Nether Soldiers strewn throughout a circle of a battlefield. She noticed a glimmer of orange and light blue.
"I've spotted dad and Uncle Kento!" Shino said using his head to point out where the two warriors were, since his hands were pressing against Kaira's to form the bubble that carried the two of them through the air.
"Let's go," Kaira said and willed the bubble to float down to where Kento was leaning heavily on his staff-nunchucks and Cye who was collapsed on the ground.
* * *
Kento looked up to see a floating bluish bubbled occupied by two people float down towards them. As it got closer he recognized the occupants in the bubble.
"Cye? Buddy?" Kento said, shaking Cye on the shoulder.
"Leave me alone, unless there are hoards of Shadow Soldiers coming our way, or if Quasa is back so I can kick her ass," Cye mumbled, a bit sleep induced.
"Cye, Shino's here," Kento said, shaking him again.
"He's not in my head," Cye mumbled again, making Kento look at him with confusion.
"I mean he is here, along with Kaira," Kento said this time more forcefully.
"Hey, dad, you okay?" the voice of Shino said, and Cye cracked one sea blue eye open to see his future son looking at him with worry written all over his features.
"How…" Cye started, pulling himself into a sitting position, ignoring the protests of pain shooting up his back.
"The chains they were holding us in were designed to accommodate your sub-armors, not our skin-tight sub-armors. So we escaped. Sama and Sayli are slowly fading and Hiro's watching over them, just in case some hippie warlord likes to torture them for fun," Shino said angrily.
"You guys okay, I mean, you didn't look too good from up there," Kaira said pointing to the sky.
"Well, just battling a reincarnation of Blackhawk is just dandy," Cye said sarcastically.
"You mean Quasa is Blackhawk?" Kaira questioned blinking her blue eyes a few times.
"Yeah," Cye grunted then tried to stand up, using his yari as a supporter.
Suddenly there was a piercing wailing of a horn.
"Damn, they found out that we're gone," Shino cursed, "my guess is that they will head in you're direction, since they know that you have escaped also."
"Can't we go by air?" Kento asked.
"No, too risky, they have archers and it was tough getting to you guys in the first place without triggering any alarms. Okay, lets move out," Kaira said.
"Can't move…too exhausted," Cye said, standing a bit wobbly.
"Here, let me help you," Kaira said, and placed her index fingers on either side of Cye's temples, "Life."
Cye immediately felt some of his strength return to him, "How did you do that?"
"When they conjunctioned my armor, a bit of the Elements was included," Kaira explained, then drew out one of her arrows from her endless supply, "here, stick this some place. You won't be exhausted for around twenty-four hours."
"Hey, can I borrow one of that too? Battling Dais is hard, and he ran away too," Kento said.
"Here dear Uncle Kento," Kaira said handing him one of her arrows.
"Move out!" Shino said and led the way.
* * *
Author's Notes:
Okay, this is the shortest chapter I've ever written in this fiction. It's just because I've got so much on my mind. Anyway, tell me how I can improve this or just if you want to comment on it. I'll take any! BTW, for those who have Cable and get cartoon network, I suggest you go check out the Toonami TV program Gundam Wing, it's da bomb! Basically it is one of the greatest anime ever created. I'm currently starting a Gundam fiction, so watch for it on www.fanfiction.net. Oh, this is dedicated to Onyx, Bunny (Moon Guardian), Chibi Shadow Chaser, and those who have mailed me on comments. I thrive on your input and they help an author write better.
Next Chapter:
Things start to heat up as half of the Ronins and C-Ronins are converging on Shadow Lord's throne room, intent on freeing their friends and to settle matters once and for all with Shadow Lord and his warlords. Also, some interesting revelations from the future-warlords as they realize that something big is going to happen (I'm not just talking about the battle).
Email me at: shadow_chaser41@hotmail.com
