Ronin Warriors: Forever You Will Know Me

Ronin Warriors: Next Generation: Forever You Will Know Me

By: Shadow Chaser

Chapter 12

"My Lord, what next?" Blackhawk's mellow voice asked as he stepped from the shadows of the center hall of the Shadow Realm.

Shadow Lord watched the warrior display a liquid grace in movement, his final form taken from a fallen warrior from the past. Shadow Lord's eyes glowed with anticipation as he sensed Elements and her little friends making their way towards him. "All is going to go as proceeded. Sekhmet, Kamagati, and Raven have Wildfire, Rekka, Halo, and Strata all distracted. They are the most powerful ones out of the original Ronin Warriors. Torrent, Hardrock, and C-Torrent are all outside the barrier, unable to get in. All that is left is to eliminate Elements and the other C-Ronins," Shadow Lord whispered mostly to himself as he drew out his Soul Strike Katana, a gift he inherited from Sokar who perished at Element's hands about a month ago. "The same sword that killed the Guardian of Elements, Onyx Trent, will kill Elements herself today," Shadow Lord whispered harshly and glanced behind him at Blackhawk.

"Yes, Shadow Lord. Today is the day which everyone of them will die at our hands," Blackhawk replied stepping a bit into the light revealing himself as, Sokar a fallen warrior of the past.

* * *

Kento glanced at Cye and Shino, raising an eyebrow in surprise as he saw both of their faces mirrored each other's; both calm and quiet as they ran towards the stronghold of the Nether Realm where their friends were possibly all ready fighting Shadow Lord and his forces. Things are gonna get tough, but we'll prevail, Kento reminded himself as he leapt up to one of the many lower level roofs of the stronghold. "Hey Cye! Any sign or way to get in this place?" Kento asked as the three of them stood a few feet apart from each other.

"No, doesn't look like it-" Cye replied but was suddenly cut off by Shino.

"Hold it…looks like a barrier…hnn…guys get back I'm gonna try something," Shino ordered and Kento's eyes widened as he saw a blue glow form on Shino's hand, having reverted back to his sub-armor form after their little fiasco with the Shadow and Nether soldiers.

He watched a ball of yellow energy mixed with light blue ice shoot towards one of the walls that they were standing in front of…then suddenly the blue ice shot back the way it came from as it rebounded the wall. He saw Shino duck from the blue energy, giving a small cry of surprise as it shot past him with incredible speed.

"What the hell?" Kento wondered out loud as he eyed the wall carefully.

"Just what I suspected…he has this place shielded from any entry, whether it be human or energy…careful Uncle Kento, don't touch it or else you'll be fried," Shino warned him and Kento retracted his hand a bit suddenly afraid to touch the perfectly calm wall.

"Then how do we get in? The others need our help and Ryo might have to summon the Inferno Armor," Cye asked and Kento nodded in agreement, giving a cursory glance at the young warrior.

"I think the top of the stronghold might give a bit of room for us to get in, since the barrier is only for defensive ground, not air attacking," Shino replied glancing up. Kento followed his gaze and suddenly let out an exasperated sigh.

"You mean we have to climb all the way up there?" he said, groaning a bit. The damned building looked impossibly tall; almost stretching towards the clouds of the Nether Realm.

"That's an illusion Kento," Cye explained and Hardrock creased his forehead, confused. "Its not that tall, we can make it to the top around maybe four five leaps if we go now while nothing's stopping us," Cye said, and Kento eyed the stronghold again.

"You sure?" Kento asked then shook his head a bit, "Aw hell…Dais sure did mess with my mind…damn him."

"Let's go," Shino ordered and Kento nodded, folding up his nunchucks and placing them in a small hold for them, on the side of his armor. He crouched and jumped, sailing high into the air after Shino and Cye. Don't worry Ryo, we're coming, Kento thought as he landed then crouched again.

* * *

Kareyn glanced around tentatively as she, Hiro, Kayura, Mia, and Sanjuro entered the darkened main hall of Shadow Lord's stronghold. Evil radiated from all corners of the room, resonating like a pulse of a heartbeat. It was almost as if this whole place was alive in someway. Whoa, don't go there Kareyn or else you'll go into creep's mode, Kareyn thought to herself as she focused her senses alert for any attack.

"Welcome," a voice boomed from the recesses of the room, making her stop in her tracks as she scanned the area.

"Where are you Shadow Lord!" Hiro shouted behind her, and out of the corner of her eye Kareyn saw Hiro get himself in a defensive formation, partially shielding Mia.

"I am here," Shadow Lord's voice bounced all over the room and Kareyn closed her eyes for a second, focusing her thoughts to pin point the voice.

She snapped them open and stared straight ahead, pointing her katana into the darkness. "There," Kareyn said in a fairly loud and vicious voice. She suddenly tensed again as a red light bathed the area putting the cloudy area into a red hazy fog…almost like blood, Kareyn thought as she saw two figures standing in the middle of the room, one sitting down, the other standing beside the chair.

She walked forward cautiously with Kayura, Hiro, Sanjuro and Mia by her side. "Mia, stay back, I don't want you to get hurt," Kareyn whispered waving a hand away at Mia.

"Yes, why don't you sit back and enjoy the show Mia Koji," Shadow Lord replied in a nasty voice and Kareyn whipped her head around as she heard Mia give a muffled cry of protest. She saw Mia hanging on a black scaly tentacle that appeared from the middle of the ground.

"Mia!" Hiro cried out reaching a hand towards her but was stopped by Kayura.

"Don't Hiro, she'll be all right, Shadow Lord won't hurt her for now…he's waiting for Wildfire," Kayura explained and Kareyn returned her gaze back to Shadow Lord.

"What the hell do you want asshole," Kareyn spat out, glaring at her enemy.

"Why I want you to die…that's all," Shadow Lord replied and snapped his fingers. Kareyn's eyes widened as she saw Sokar step from the shadows, along with the future-warlords Cale and Dais. "Clever isn't it? Sokar is seemingly back from the dead after you killed him to avenge the death of your Guardian Onyx. But, this isn't really Sokar, its actually Blackhawk," Shadow Lord said slyly and Kareyn stepped back a bit as Sanjuro moved in front of her.

"Shadow Lord…" Sanjuro began in a quiet yet seething-anger voice.

"Ah, the brother of my greatest warlord, you could have had your chance to join my ranks, but pity that you died at the hands of your own brother," Shadow Lord began then a cruel smile appeared on his black lips.

"I will not be able to fight you in this form, but mark my words, before you die you will see me as I was so many centuries ago. You will die for all your murders, for the Guardian of Elements, my friends, Wanatabe, Hariel, Akira, and Takeru…my fellow warriors you killed them all," Sanjuro said in a deadly quiet voice.

"You are wrong you know that Shadow Lord…it wasn't me that killed the all mighty powerful Sokar…it was Halo, yes Halo, the deadliest warrior of all the Ronin Warriors. His anger makes him a deadly enemy," Kareyn whispered, then suddenly whipped her katana up in a block as Cale leapt down from his place and towards them slashing his clawed arm, scattering Hiro and Kayura to one side while she and Sanjuro stayed on the other.

"We shall see," Shadow Lord replied softly as he drew out his Soul Strike Katana, waiting for a moment where Elements would be off guard.

* * *

Ryo brought one of his twin katanas up in a parry against Sekhmet's sword, holding his hand high so the corrosive sword would not touch his armor. That was his weakness, a weakness to poison from Sekhmet, but the warlord was too dense to use that to his advantage. He broke away from his locked position and backed up a few steps, eyeing the future-warlord.

"What's the matter Wildfire? Too much, for you? My acidic swords eating away at you?" Sekhmet taunted and Ryo narrowed his tiger blue eyes.

"You were an ally, but you've turned," Ryo started in a low voice, "how could you call yourself one of us? How could you have turned against us?"

"Shadow Lord made me better than what I was. I was lowly, a nothing among you; during your battles with Sokar, I saw how weak and pathetic you all were, and when we time traveled to the future, you were still the same old pathetic human you were fighting Talpa," Sekhmet said then threw two of his six swords with deadly accuracy and speed at Ryo.

Ryo leapt out of the way, but too slow. He felt the pain of the acid biting into his armor and through slowly at his skin as one of the blades passed near his arm. He couldn't let those blades get near his eyes, not again; not like before when he was rescuing Sage after Talpa had scattered them. Ryo hissed a bit as the searing pain spread throughout his arm, almost numbing it. He dropped one of his katanas, as his left arm became numb. "What the hell?" Ryo whispered sinking to the ground. Suddenly he felt pain erupt from his stomach and with it he felt his future daughter's suffering. "Ahh," Ryo cried out.

"Ah, looks like Kamagati is doing her own work…both Wildfire bearers will die," he distantly heard Sekhmet's taunting voice above him, the pain lancing throughout his body.

Damn you Kamagati, don't you dare hurt her, Ryo thought as he froze, one of the Warlord of Venom's blades near his throat, close enough that he could feel the acid slowly eating at his exposed skin. "Go ahead…kill me if you want," Ryo whispered harshly trying to flex his numbed left arm.

"Too easy Wildfire…I should just take you to Shadow Lord," Sekhmet drawled and Ryo glared at his former ally.

"Then I can say to Shadow Lord to go to hell," Ryo gritted his teeth as the blade inched closer, the acid now biting deeper. Shadow Lord must have done something to his acid, it hurts more than ever, he thought keeping an even gaze on the future-warlord of Venom.

Suddenly a black and white blur brushed past his vision and the acidic pain that was eating away at his skin was suddenly gone; punctuated by a roar of defiance from Black Blaze who now stood in front of Ryo protectively.

"Blaze," Ryo whispered, standing up, his armor healing his numbed left arm as quickly as it could. He smiled a bit, as Black Blaze rubbed against him then glared his yellow eyes at Sekhmet.

"The tiger…" Sekhmet whispered and threw four swords at them.

Ryo leapt to one side as his tiger leapt to the other. He glanced up and brought his right hand up, holding a katana, in a one-hand parry as Sekhmet brought his other two swords on top of him, intending to kill him. Ryo heaved Sekhmet off of him and shook his left hand, feeling returning to it. He picked up his discarded katana and glared at Sekhmet. "Now we end this," Ryo said slowly.

He placed both ends of his twin katanas together, joining them into a bladed staff. Swinging it around him, Ryo leapt high above Sekhmet and raised his joined katana in an overhead blow. "FLARE UP NOW!" Ryo yelled his sure-kill as his katanas became a shining white of fire-energy. He swiped down at Sekhmet unleashing the sure-kill that barreled its way towards Sekhmet. Ryo shielded his eyes against the bright blast and when the blast died down, Sekhmet was laying flat on the ground, motionless. Ryo hesitantly walked over, still a bit cautious that it could be a trap. He saw that Sekhmet was hurt, badly, but he seemed to be recovering slowly.

"…Wildfire…" Sekhmet hissed a bit, his face contorted into pain.

Ryo narrowed his eyes as the future-warlord extended a hand towards him. He fingered the handle of his katana and Black Blaze gave a low growl.

"Wildfire…where am I? What happened?" Sekhmet asked, sitting up and rubbing the back of his head. "Last thing I remember…"

"Good, you're back to normal," Ryo breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to kill the future-warlord. "Sekhmet are you strong enough to fight Shadow Lord?" Ryo asked, helping the warlord up. He saw the Warlord of Venom nod a slight yes, standing on his own feet, still a bit disoriented from the blast of Ryo's sure-kill. Ryo suddenly winced in pain, clutching his stomach as he felt his future daughter's pain.

"Black Blaze…take Sekhmet to Kareyn…she can heal him," Ryo managed to get out through clenched teeth, "I'm going after Kamagati." He straightened as the pain lessened and ran towards where Sayli was fighting Kamagati, leaving Sekhmet and Black Blaze behind.

* * *

Dammit! I can't do anything! Sanjuro thought furiously to himself as he watched Kareyn and the other battle Shadow Lord and his forces. The others weren't even here yet, and they were loosing slowly. The only thing he was able to do was to prevent the Nether spirits from taking over the armors, controlling them. He couldn't even help Mia out of her prison.

Suddenly searing pain flared up from every part of his spirit body. He could feel a familiar pain, almost as if he was in real battle again. Amongst that pain he felt the current Strata armor bearer suffering. Rowen…Rowen's in trouble…Sanjuro thought grimly as he floated away from the battle and towards where the source of the pain was coming from. He had to help the current bearer of Strata or else, risk loosing everything.

* * *

Please God, please…stop this…stop this, Sayli thought desperately as she ached all over from the multiple stab wounds Kamagati had inflicted on her. Her wrists were probably broken, and she had a couple of broken ribs. She felt herself being thrown to the ground, but she didn't care; the pain was too overwhelming.

"How do you like it Rekka? You feel pain all over, yet you do not give in? Why?" Kamagati taunted and Sayli curled up in pain.

"I…I…won't…not to you bitch," Sayli managed to get out before she gasped a bit as the wind was knocked out of her by a punch to her stomach.

"Don't you dare say that word to me, you insolent little brat!" Kamagati shouted, seething with anger as she drew out her sword.

"…Bitch…" a single voice rang out like a wave of molten lava through the area.

Sayli turned her head slightly and so did Kamagati as both saw a figure walking out from the blood-red mist, towards them. The figure's hands were empty, but Sayli noticed that angry tiger blue eyes burned through all that mist.

"Wildfire," Kamagati stated flatly as she stepped away from Sayli and drew out her long sword. The blade glistened against the blood-red mist as she held it in an en guarde position. "Come to save you daughter?" Kamagati taunted acidly as she waved the sword near Sayli's neck then brought it back to an en guarde position.

"She doesn't need saving…she's strong enough to handle herself. You however…" Sayli heard Ryo say, his voice unusually cold and bitter.

"Are you suggesting, Wildfire, that I need saving?" Kamagati laughed, her voice echoing throughout the area.

"Do I look like I'm suggesting?" Ryo shot back and Sayli tried to repress a shudder. His voice wasn't his normal voice, not the kind, warm voice she had so often heard back in her time-line.

"Then, if you have something to say, say it with your swords, Wildfire," Kamagati replied then charged at Ryo; her no-daichi swung a wide arc that was meant to decapitate a person's head with speed that was beyond human.

Sayli's eyes couldn't follow the parry Ryo made with his twin katanas, but she heard the clanging noise of swords impacting each other. The blood-red mist cleared enough for her to see Ryo pressing his swords against Kamagati's, both not giving way to each other. Suddenly Ryo flipped backwards and stood in an en guarde position, breathing heavily as he watched Kamagati with his ice blue eyes.

Sayli turned her attention back to her own body and armor, which was glowing slightly as Rekka was trying to heal her. She knew that the deep wounds Kamagati had inflicted on her would have to take time if they were to heal properly, but she had to help her future father. Come on Rekka; heal quicker, Sayli thought furiously at her own armor. She wished that either Sama or Kaira were here, their healing powers would be of some help to her. Stop it, you're the leader of the C-Ronins…your teammates depend on you for leadership, you don't depend when you are injured. You must be able to conqueror your own enemies first before receiving help from your friends, she reminded herself. The words were from an ancient tablet she had found near the base of Mt. Fuji when her father and her went exploring; when he had created the C-Wildfire yoroi ball.

A sudden multiple clanging of swords brought her attention back to the fight between Ryo and Kamagati. She stifled a gasp of horror as she saw Ryo staggered back, a bit winded. His katanas were nowhere to be found on his hands and Kamagati was laughing maniacally.

"I have you now Wildfire…looks like your battle with that traitor Sekhmet left you a bit winded for me to finish you here and now. If I destroy you now, your future daughter will be gone from this world!" Kamagati taunted, then raised her no-daichi high up into the air for the killing blow.

"NO!" Sayli yelled with all her might summoned the strength to pick herself up from the ground. She felt her wounds shoot pain all over her in protest as she picked up one of her discarded masuame that was near her and ran with the speed of the gods towards Kamagati who was still poised over Ryo, unaware of what Sayli was doing. Kamagati turned at the last minute, her face full of surprise and Sayli glared at her with her black eyes.

"VOLCANO FLARE!" Sayli yelled, her black eyes blazing with the hidden power of Rekka as she slashed downward at Kamagati's unprotected stance. Her masuame cut downwards, slicing through armor and flesh as if they were thin rice papers. Red-orange energy sprang from her masuame, burning Kamagati alive as she cut through the bearer of the Armor of Fears. Suddenly Sayli turned her blade in mid-cut and threw Kamagati high into the air where the fire-energy from her sword burned her up into a million little crisp pieces.

As Kamagati's ashes fell downwards, Sayli felt herself falling to the ground, the pain of her injuries overwhelming her senses. Suddenly a pair of strong hands held onto her and Sayli looked up to see her Ryo holding her. She gave a small smile of victory before letting go of consciousness to let her armor heal her.

* * *

Shadow Lord suddenly stiffened as he watched the battle. He felt Kamagati's final cry in his mind then her presence was gone, snuffed out by one of the Ronins or C-Ronins. With his mind's eye he reached out to grasp the trailing end of Kamagati's spirit and pulled it into his own. Her spirit cried out against the entrapment of his black tangled web, where also all other spirits he had managed to capture stayed.

"Now here's where the fun begins," Shadow Lord whispered to himself as he watched the Warrior of Elements battle her way through his soldiers, trying to get at him. After watching for a few more minutes, Shadow Lord decided he had enough and stood up from his throne-chair. He silently signaled for the soldiers that were fighting Elements to stop their attack and he walked through them to where Kareyn was standing. Her stance that of her ancestors, an ancient Chinese form of sword fighting that combined so many other sword techniques that it had no name. But it was favored by the bearers of the Armor of Elements because of its lethal techniques and style of combat. The reason it wasn't favored by any other warrior or soldier was because of the weakness in the person who battled with the stance. Each bearer of the Armor of Elements was weaker than that of the Ronins or Warlords, but Kareyn was a slightly exception, Shadow Lord knew that much.

"Kareyn of the Elements, prepare to die like your predecessors," Shadow Lord challenged, holding butt of the Soul Strike Katana near his groin, the tip pointed to the ground next to his right foot.

"You will die first," was Kareyn's reply.

* * *

Author's Comments-

Ohhh…the challenge has been accepted. The final battle is yet to come, this is only round one. Next Chapter, we see what has been going on with Rowen and Raven, also Sage is probably feeling a bit better since Sayli kicked Kamagati's butt. Thanks for this chapter goes to Onyx, Bunny, and Shinji. Also, apologies that I couldn't get this out soon enough, I was hung up on schoolwork and other projects. Now, hopefully, I can write better battles since I'm currently watching Rurouni Kenshin (damn, awesome sword fights). Well, stay tuned for the next chapters and Happy New Years! (YEAH! 2001! A REAL Space Odyssey!)

Email: shadow_chaser41@hotmail.com