Ch. 3
Off
they fly,
Into
the wild blue yonder…
-Air Force song
Touma
hugged Ami, the last time he would for a long time. Ami hugged him fiercely.
"You
better come back." she whispered. He hugged her tighter.
"Don't
worry. Not even Talpa himself can keep me away from you." he told her.
Shin and Makoto were sharing one last (and long, going on 8 minutes) kiss, and
Ryo and Rei were hugging each other as well. Even Mia and Whiteblaze had come
to watch, but she was eying Ryo warily. As for Seiji, he kept glancing at
Minako. She had an envelope in her hand, but she wouldn't open it. Finally,
Makoto broke off and smiled.
"Hey,
if you need any help, just say the word." Shin shrugged.
"I
hope it will nae come to that." Makoto nodded.
"So
do I." Touma sighed.
"We'd
better get going, guys." Everyone nodded and transformed. They were all
near Mt. Fuji, a place where Touma had observed that there was a weaker barrier
between the Dynasty and the Negaverse there. Touma theorized that he could
break through it with an extremely powerful Arrow Shock Wave. Touma geared up
for the blast, it would wipe him out for at least a half hour. The more he
concentrated on the blast, the stronger it was.
"ARROW.........SHOCK.......WAVE!!!!!!!"
Touma had been right. The barrier split open, leaving them all staring into an
open black space. Touma sighed again.
"This
is it." he said gritting his teeth. Ryo took the lead.
"C'mon."
he said. He headed carefully in and all the guys followed him in.
"Be
careful!!" Mia called after them. Then, the hole suddenly closed in on
itself. Mia looked worried.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
All heads whipped towards her.
"What
do you mean?" Ami asked, her voice growing shrill. Mia sighed.
"Touma and I went over this. THAT was
not in the plan. I knew they were walking into a trap, but it might be worse
than I thought." Ami was deathly pale. Makoto patted Ami on the shoulder.
"I
think that was more information than she needed to know, Mia." Mia
shrugged.
"C'mon,
let's get back to the house. It's dangerous being out here by ourselves."
Whiteblaze growled slightly in acknowledgement. Usagi nodded.
"Yeah,
then you can read that letter Seiji gave you." Minako nodded and everyone
piled back to the jeep.
Minako tore open the letter. Usagi leaned
over.
"What's
it say?" Minako just read it, flushing the whole time.
Dear Minako,
By the time you've seen this
letter, I'm probably already gone on my mission. This letter is to tell you
what I never could in person. I know I've never really done a lot with you. I
guess I was scared. But, the truth is, I truly care about you....a lot, in
fact. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you. More than anything. I
don't know if you share the same feelings, but if I should die on this mission,
I want you to know you are forever in my heart.
Love,
Seiji
of the Halo
Minako
was stunned. She couldn't believe it. All this time, Seiji had... Oh man. She
remembered his exact words the last time they played volleyball. Now she could
make sense of them.
"MinakoyouseeIreallyreallylikeyouandIwaswonderingifyouwouldbewillingtogiveusachanceImeanusasinyouandmeina
relationshipplease?" She hadn't understood him then, but now she did.
"Minako, you see I really, really like you
and I was wondering if you would be willing to give us a chance I mean us as in
you and me in a relationship please?" THAT was what he was trying to say.
She quickly went through her feelings for him. He was kind, and wise, and
seriously cute. I DO like him!! She realized suddenly. She sighed. If only
she'd known all this the night before...
Rajura
grinned. The Ronins were in HIS domain, now. With no way out. They would die
and they would die painfully slow. They would pay for all the anguish they'd
caused. For all the torment, the hate. He turned to Ule.
"It's
time to set out the bait." he said, almost gleefully. Naaza grinned.
"Alright. At last. The fun part."
Anubis nodded.
"Think
we can tear Sh'ten away from Prizma long enough to get him to help?" he
asked the others amusedly. Rajura and Naaza grinned.
"Naw. Let him have the pleasure."
Rajura said, grabbing Ule by the shirt collar.
"Where
are you taking me??" Ule asked in alarm. Rajura grinned, evilly this time.
"You're
going to...hang out." he said, amused at his own pun. Naaza hit Ule across
the head and Ule whimpered. For a ten year old boy, he wasn't very big. Anubis
looked at Naaza.
"What'd
you do that for?" Naaza shrugged.
"Just
wanted to get one in before we got into action." Anubis nodded, and got
the hook ready.
Shou looked behind him as the hole
closed. Then he looked at Touma. He was pale. NOT a good sign. Shou sighed.
"That wasn't supposed to happen, was
it?" he asked. Touma shook his head soundlessly. Ryo stepped up.
"C'mon, guys. We've got to go get Ule
and leave!!" Seiji nodded.
"Ryo's
right. C'mon, if we have TOO much trouble, we can always transform into the
white armor." Shin shrugged.
"Okay,
Ryo. Ye're the leader. So, lead." Ryo sighed. He didn't like being
classified as "the leader". Something like Mercury's computer could
help in a time like this. Fortunately, or unfortunately, they were guided by an
image of Ule hanging by his arms from a hook. He was bound and not looking to
happy. Seiji grit his teeth and followed Ryo in the direction the image had
come from. For a while, nothing happened. Then, they were attacked by Dynasty
goons. Seiji sliced through three of them, no sweat, he thought. Then, he saw
Negaverse water beasts come at him. He sliced through them. BIG problem. He
sliced one into two pieces, two new beasts reared up. He saw that the others
were having the same problem, and they didn't know how to cope. Shin grit his
teeth. Touma couldn't do anything major, he knew, and Ryo's flames wouldn't be
of much help. Maybe he could knock them down with a blast, but he doubted it.
Best to keep dodging their attacks. Then, he saw that he and Seiji were being
driven away from the rest of the gang, almost as if they were being herded.
Being split up was NOT an option, so Shin and Seiji tried to fight their way
back to the others, but pretty soon, they couldn't even SEE them. Seiji and
Shin glanced at each other. This wasn't good. Not at all.
Touma
took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. He was alone with Shou. Seiji and
Shin had been driven in another direction, and Ryo was god knows where. Shou's
stomach rumbled and Touma laughed.
"Hungry? You just ate." Shou huffed
.
"I know, but fighting always makes me hungry." Touma smiled. At least
there was ONE constant around here. They decided to walk in the direction they
had been headed last, but, though they didn't know it, they'd actually gotten
turned around, and they weren't heading in the right direction at all. Pretty
soon, they came upon a place that looked like a Tokyo subway. Shou looked at Touma.
"Do we go in?" Touma shrugged.
"Do
we have a choice?" and he headed in. When they got down there, they jumped
onto the tracks and began heading more or less in the right direction. Touma
stopped dead when he heard the sound. A loud sound, much like that of a car,
resounding off the walls. Shou turned pale.
"Oh shit." he muttered. Then, both
of them jumped up and grabbed onto the pipes above them as the train roared
beneath them. Midway, though, Shou lost his hold and slipped onto the train,
leaving Touma far behind in an instant. Shou had to jump aside, as a blast
ripped through the roof leaving a gaping hole. Shou jumped in and gulped. The
car was full of Dynasty soldiers.
"I've
REALLY got to look before I leap." he told himself before engaging them.
Touma
opened his eyes. He had closed them while the train roared underneath him. When
he opened them, he saw Shou was missing. He dropped down.
"It's
gone...and if nothing happened to me....THEY MUST BE AFTER SHOU!!" he
shouted and took off in the direction of the train.
Shou saw his chance. Hopping off the
heads of the soldiers, he managed to clamber his way out of the hole he had
come in by. Multiple blasts were sent up but Shou was well clear of the train
by then. He looked around this new tunnel. Suddenly, he found himself to be in
a field, facing Rajura. Rajura laughed.
"You
call yourself a hero of justice," he began. "But you will only be a
warrior of evil, like me." Shou grit his teeth and transformed. Rajura
laughed again.
"That
will do you no good. You see, your armor is evil, and it will turn you evil as
well." Shou stared. Rajura HAD to be lying to him. Then again, they didn't
know all that much about their armor, so he could be right. Just the same, Shou
called out
"I
don't believe you!!" Rajura grinned, and then Shou found himself pit
against images of his fellow Ronins, all of their faces had been shadowed, and
all seemed to have the same intent: to kill. He tried to dodge the attacks, but
when Seiji's blade came within a hair's breadth of cutting him, Shou's rage
took over.
"IRON...ROCK...CRUSHER!!!!" he
yelled, sending the whole field up in his blast. When Shou looked at what he
had done, he turned deathly pale. Rajura reappeared and laughed.
"I
saw your rage, Shou. The evil IS within you." And Rajura left Shou there.
Shou looked out over the field, at the four bodies strewn across it, fell to
his knees and sobbed.
Touma stared at his friend. Shou was
just sitting there in the middle of the tunnel, sobbing wildly. Touma walked
carefully up to him.
"Shou?" he asked. Shou looked back
and Touma gasped. He'd never in his life seen Shou cry. He had always prided
himself on being tough. Now, Touma stared at him. Shou stood and tried to dry
his face. Touma took his arm.
"C'mon,
I've located Shin. Let's go." Shou nodded soundlessly, untransformed, and
followed Touma. A little while later, when they came upon Shin, Shou saw that
he wasn't in too good shape either, seeing as his head was bandaged and he
seemed to have trouble moving his right arm. Shou could clearly read the shock
on Shin's face when he saw him, just like he had registered the shock on
Touma's face as well. But he didn't want to think about what had just happened.
That was a mistake. A trick Rajura had been playing on his mind. That HAD to be
it. There couldn't be any other explanation...could there?