Nightmarish Reality
Chapter 4 - The Battle
By Lady Strata

Cye stepped off the front porch and onto the grass. He walked over to where Mia, Yuli, White Blaze, and the other Ronins, in their subarmor, stood. He stopped beside Kento and spoke.

"Well, are we ready?"

"We're as ready as we'll ever be," Ryo replied grimly. He looked at Mia. "I guess we should be going."

"Oh, Ryo, please be careful," Mia begged.

"Yeah, Ryo, you gotta come back," said Yuli.

(Author's Note: Have you ever noticed how, on the series, whenever the Ronins are about to depart on some adventure, Mia and Yuli only worry about Ryo?)

"Don't worry, guys, we'll come back," Ryo said soothingly.

"Let's just get this over with," Rowen interrupted. "I'm not exactly looking forward to this."

There was a moment of silence as they all remembered what had happened in Rowen's dream.

"Oh, quit worrying, you guys!" Kento exclaimed loudly. "It was only a dream; dreams don't come true!"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Rowen demanded. He firmly believed that unless they were careful, the dream would come true.

"No, no, Ro, I'm not calling you a liar. It's just that-"

"Okay, okay, okay," Sage said. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. We have to be a team."

"Yeah, whatever," Rowen snorted.

Sage's face turned red, but Cye held out an arm and stopped him.

"Let's go," he said, ignoring the look Sage was giving him.

The five Ronin Warriors set off.

"MY WARLORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!" Talpa bellowed. "It is time. Time to finally defeat the Ronin Warriors. Dais failed to kill Rowen of the Strata, but the four of you will destroy the Ronin Warriors, including Rowen of the Strata!"

"Master, I-" Dais started to say.

"QUIET!!!!!!!!!!!"

"You failed, Dais," Sekhmet said bitterly. "You couldn't kill him. Hopefully, you will be of some use to us in this battle."

"Why, you-"

"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now go; go and defeat the Ronin Warriors!"

Rowen stopped walking and looked around.

"This is the spot."

"Are you sure?" Ryo asked. He looked around. "I don't see anything."

"I had the dream, Ryo, I would know."

"Well, what do you know, the Dynasty is late," Kento said, a smirk on his face.

"Ha, ha," Cye said sarcastically.

Suddenly, evil laughter filled the air. The four Dark Warlords became visible.

"Shit, it's them!" Sage cried.

"To arms!" Ryo yelled.

After they had their armor on, the Ronin Warriors faced the Dark Warlords. And the battle started.

Rowen found himself facing Anubis. The Warlord of Cruelty smirked at his opponent.

"I look forward to defeating you, Rowen."

"In your dreams, Anubis!" Rowen replied sharply.

Anubis laughed. "We'll see about that! Quake with fear!"

Rowen leaped to the side as Anubis's attack just barely missed him. It hit Sekhmet instead. Sekhmet cried out and fell to the ground. Ryo, who had been fighting Sekhmet, looked surprised.

"Good one, Anubis!" Rowen said, taunting the Warlord. "Care to attack me again and hit another one of your friends?"

Anubis sneered. "You wait and see, Ronin. After all, we'll get back at you later. It's a pity you already know what we have in store for you."

He turned around and gave a hand signal. Dynasty soldiers came pouring onto the battlefield from all directions. The five Ronin Warriors looked around wildly as the Dark Warlords vanished.

"Holy shit!" Kento cried. "What are they doing here?"

"We don't have time to wonder, Kento!" Cye yelled back. "We have to beat them!"

No one said anything back to Cye, because a second later they were all attacked by the soldiers. Sage swung his sword, killing two soldiers. Another one hit him from behind, knocking him to the ground. Sage's breath was knocked out of him.

The other Ronins didn't seem to be doing much better, with the exception of Rowen. He drew back his fist and punched a soldier in the face. Then he was ambushed. Just like in his dream.

Rowen struggled to fight back, but he couldn't. Remembering his dream, he waited for the very brief gap in which he would be able to defend himself. It came.

"Arrow shockwave!"

Rowen looked around him at the Dynasty soldiers lying, unmoving, on the ground. Then he collapsed.

He lay on the ground, breathing hard. His uncovered face was now covered with blood and bruises. Just like in his dream.

"Damn," Rowen muttered. At least one of his ribs was broken, and he couldn't move his left arm.

"This can't be happening. It's exactly like my dream. I hope the guys are all right."

Rowen tried to get up, but he fell back to the ground.

"Oh man, not this again. Don't tell me I have to wander around for two hours before I see something."

He crawled over to a tree and pulled himself to his feet. He was going to be doing some walking.

Two hours later, Rowen staggered painfully up a hill. He was ready to die. Then he staggered painfully down the hill. He looked up and stopped.

"No..."

Before him was the scene of a battle. Bodies littered the ground. There was blood everywhere. Most of the bodies were of Dynasty soldiers. But it was the three bodies in front of Rowen that caught his attention.

"NO!"

Rowen hurled himself to the ground and began to cry. The bloody bodies of Ryo, Kento, and Cye lay in front of him.

"I'm too late," Rowen sobbed. "Oh shit, I'm too late. My nightmare is becoming a reality. This can't be happening. This just can't be happening..."

Rowen put his face in his hands and began crying even harder. But suddenly he jerked his head up as a thought came to him. He had nearly forgotten about Sage. Rowen got to his feet. Three of his friends were dead. But he could still save Sage. If he got to Sage fast enough, that is.

"SAGE! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Rowen limped across the battlefield, calling out Sage's name. Fear held his heart in an iron grip. He felt like he was about to vomit. Tears were streaming down his face.

"DIE, RONIN!"

Rowen's heart raced. There wasn't much time left.

"Sage!"

Rowen limped toward the battle between the Warrior of Wisdom and the Warlord of Darkness, filled with a sense of purpose.

"I can't let Sage die," he said to himself. "I just can't..."

"Sage, get out of here! I'm not letting you die this time!"

Sage looked toward Rowen, surprised to see him.

"Rowen-"

"Sage, look out!"

Sage looked just in time to see Cale swing his sword right into his stomach. Sage screamed with agony as Cale pulled the sword out, laughing evilly.

"NO!"

Rowen felt as though his heart had been ripped out. He had failed Sage. He had failed all of them.

Rowen ran toward Cale, ready to tear him apart for what he had done to Sage.

Cale laughed and knocked Rowen to the ground.

"I may be hurt, but I'm still strong enough to take care of you, you pathetic Ronin weakling!"

"You killed my best friend, you bastard!" Rowen screamed with rage. "I'll get you for this!"

"Not very likely, in your condition."

Cale raised his sword above the fallen warrior, ready to plunge it into Rowen's heart. But surprisingly, he lowered it instead.

"You know, instead of killing you, I think I'll leave you here and let you think about how you killed your friend. If you hadn't been stupid enough to let yourself get attacked, you would have been here to defend them. I didn't kill your best friend, you did!"

"No, no I didn't! I swear I didn't!"

Cale laughed and disappeared to report to Talpa that he had succeeded in defeating the Ronin Warriors.

Rowen was left alone on the battlefield. He looked over at Sage.

"I'm sorry, my friend," he said to Sage's lifeless body.

Rowen felt horrible. His dream had come to life. Now he was stuck to live in a nightmarish reality, never able to forget the fact that he had killed Sage, Ryo, Kento, and Cye. And just what was he going to say to Mia and Yuli?

The Warrior of Life lay sobbing on the ground. He knew in his heart that Cale was right. It was his fault that his friends were dead. All his fault...

A HAPPY LITTLE AFTERTHOUGHT

Well, that was it. The battle. Wow. I know a lot of people are going to be pissed at me for killing off 4 of the 5 Ronin Warriors. Any torch-bearing mobs who want to burn me at the stake, feel free to come to my house in Minnesota and do so. But this is NOT the end of the story. I still have one more part to write. So you might want to wait until you've read the epilogue to decide if you still want to kill me or not. I'm hoping you WON'T want to kill me. Have mercy, please.

(Lady Strata turns around as she hears loud voices outside her door)What the-AAAAHHHH!!!!!!

(She turns around and runs like hell as a torch-bearing mob breaks down the door and chases after her)