Armor of the Cherry Blossom
By: Keila Tenshi
Part Three: Visions and a New Place
Ronin Japan
Alone, his violet eyes closed, Sage meditated. The calm breeze tried in vain to blow away the flop of gold hair that hung in front of his left eye. The forest was calm, the weather was cool, but what Sage saw as he meditated surprised him.
A vision came to him. Pictures in quick succession ran through his mind.
First a staff the same make as the Staff of the Ancient, only in a triangle and with bells appeared. Next was a cherry blossom tree in full bloom. The blooms suddenly burst off the tree and gathered together. They disappeared leaving gold and white armor in their place. Then a flash of brown and gold passed before it. A pair of wise and powerful gold eyes followed it. They blinked and were gone.
Sage gasped and his eyes snapped open as a new vision came to him with a feeling even more evil than what he felt from Talpa. A darkness appeared like a cloak upon a formless figure that was tall and built. Then the darkness in the hood took on two points of near white blue fire that locked into his heart and wrenched it with the evil coming from it. The vision left him.
For a long time he sat there, the echo of the evil still stirring in his heart making him unconscious to everything around him. Finally a thought crossed his mind, *I have to tell the others.* He got to his feet and bolted for the mansion nearby.
"When's dinner ready?" Kento whined for the eleventh time in twenty minutes. He was tall and brawny with grayish/blue hair and blue yes. When he wasn't complaining about his stomach he was thinking about fighting.
"Kento will you stop complaining!" Cye exclaimed, his softly English accented voice taking on a note of annoyance. He was tall and slender with auburn hair and sea blue eyes. He was a gourmet cook and Kento's best friend.
Rowen chuckled softly from behind his book. Tall and slender, he brushed back a strand of natural blue colored hair. Cye and Kento argued with each other so much he was used to it, nearly. His blue eyes returned to the page he was reading. He had an IQ of 250, but didn't like to brag about it.
Ryo entered the room then from the kitchen where he had entered the house after playing basketball with 8 year old Yulie. White Blaze, his white tiger, followed after him. White Blaze had been with him since the fateful day his father had been killed by a wild animal while on a photo shoot. Ryo was tall and slender with black hair and what some people called 'tiger blue' eyes. He froze after taking three steps into the room an ominous feeling washing over him.
"What's wrong Ryo?" Yulie asked entering the room. His blue eyes looked up at him with concern as he straightened his brown hair, or tried too.
Everyone turned to look at Ryo as the an ominous feeling swept over them.
Suddenly Sage entered the room, out of breath and pale. He froze when he saw the expressions on his friend's faces. "You feel it too then?" It was more of a statement than question.
"Another evil comes," Ryo whispered.
Mia entered the room preparing to announce dinner. When she saw her friends expressions she froze her blue eyes looking at each one in turn. "Not another one," she whispered. Her hand moved to twist nervously at a strand of her long brown hair as she remembered the battles with Talpa.
A rhythmic ringing came to them then. Following soon after was a light in the middle of the living room. Soon the light faded into the orb in the middle of the Staff of the Ancient and left standing there four figures familiar to the Ronins from the NeatherRealms. Lady Kayura, and the three former Warlords to Talpa, Cale, Dais, and Sekhmet.
"Unfortunately yes Mia, another one comes," Kayura said. She was small and slender but extremely powerful. Her near black blue hair was pulled back form her face and her blue eyes shone clear. Dais, Cale, and Sekhmet were all tall and built. Dais had long white hair and a patch over his right blue eye. Cale had dark blue hair and a scar over his right blue eye. Sekhmet had green hair and black eyes; some people thought that he was related to reptiles, he never said anything to confirm it.
"We felt it," Ryo said. He gestured to the furnishings with his hands meaning for everyone to sit.
"I didn't just feel it," Sage said. "I isaw/i it."
Everyone looked at him startled.
"Sit down and I'll tell you," Sage said.
Cale, Dais, and Sekhmet stood against one wall while Kayura sat next to Ryo, Mia, and Rowen on the couch. Kento sat in an armchair while Cye sat cross-legged on the floor next to him. Yulie sat cross-legged next to White Blaze who laid on the floor next to the couch. Sage took his usual position leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
Sage sighed trying to gather his thoughts. He took a deep breath and described the evil he felt and saw.
"This guy sounds like bad news," Cye remarked thoughtfully.
"He is," Cale said darkly. He remembered the feelings he and the others had gotten before coming. The cold, evil, dark feeling.
"Who is it?" Rowen asked.
"If we knew I could look on the Internet for anything on him," Mia said.
"I do know who he is. His name is Rhon, he is the Shadow Lord of the Shadow Lands. It was said that he is even more powerful than Talpa. He tried to enter the Earth and capture it much like Talpa tried, and was driven back by the Ancient and Yamabushi Monks. But driving him back severely depleted the resources of the Yamabushi Monks and the battle with Talpa destroyed the rest, except for the Ancient. It seems as if he is trying to make a come back and take what he thinks is his, Earth," Kayura explained. Her grip on the Staff of the Ancient tightened as she remembered her mindless incarceration under Talpa's control. Her memories had been returned to her when Ryo had broken the necklace Talpa had used to keep control over her. Then Talpa's evil priest had possessed her and the only way she had been saved was when Anubis, one of Talpa's former Warlords had forced his armor on her and given her life for her.
"Well let him come! We'll send him home crying!" Kento exclaimed.
"It's not as easy as that Kento. Rhon nearly destroyed all of the Yamabushi Monks," Kayura gently chided. She got to her feet and raised the Staff over her head. The orb glowed and five armor orbs came from it. The red one went to Ryo, the orange one to Kento, the light blue one to Cye, the dark blue one to Rowen, and the green one to Sage. They took them and let the old familiar power enter them again. They transformed into their subarmors.
"We will help you fight Rhon. To defeat him will take ia lot/i of power, probably even more than what was used to destroy Talpa," Dais commented.
Sage, who had been silently thinking during this, cleared his throat. "There was something else in my vision," he said. He looked down at the floor remembering the gold and white armor.
"What was it?" Ryo asked.
"Maybe it's something that'll help us," Rowen said.
"It was another Armor," Sage said simply.
There was silence as everyone stared at him.
"Another Armor?!" Kento exclaimed.
Kayura looked deep in thought remembering something from her past. "What colors where it?" she asked.
"White and gold. Also there was a cherry tree in full blossom with it. The blossoms burst and gathered together, and when they disappeared they left the Armor," Sage described. "There was also another staff in it."
"What do you mean?" Sekhmet asked.
"It looked like the Staff of the Ancient, only the orb was in the middle of a triangle and it had bells on the bottom instead of rings."
Kayura gasped remembering. "Jun," she whispered barely audible.
Everyone looked at her.
"I thought it was only a legend," she said softly.
"What?" Mia gently prodded.
"According to the stories I heard as a child the Armors used to be separate before Talpa got them. Only there were ten Armors then."
"iTen/i," Cale exclaimed.
Everyone was startled by this news.
"I thought my grandfather mentioned that there was ten armors but I wasn't sure," Mia said.
"Why haven't we heard of this?" Rowen asked.
"It was stolen from Talpa before he could take it and make it one with the other Armors. Compared individually to all of the other Armors, this one is twice as powerful iand/i has the ability to cure evil."
"What happened to it?" Sekhmet asked.
"According to what I heard it was taken by a Yamabushi Monk into another dimension to protect it, out of Talpa's reach. It was called the Armor of the Cherry Blossom, the Armor of Peace. I never thought it was real," Kayura said.
"Well it seems it is. And it's going to make a come back too," Cye commented.
"We'll need it in the fight," Dais said.
"Finding it will be impossible though," Rowen commented. "It's in another world."
"I don't think we're supposed to find it. It's supposed to find us," Kayura said after letting her senses roam. She closed her eyes and a sudden feeling of familiarity that she hadn't felt in a long time made her gasp.
"What's wrong?" Dais asked her concerned.
"Nothing," Kayura said thinking that what she felt was impossible. "I'm just tired."
Ryo looked over and saw Yulie had nearly fallen asleep next to White Blaze. "It's starting to get late and everyone looks tired," Ryo commented. "Let's continue this tomorrow and also maybe get some practice in."
Everyone agreed. Mia extended an invitation to Kayura and the former Warlords who took it. She showed them there rooms while carrying a sleeping Yulie up to his. Ryo, Sage, Rowen, Cye, and Kento piled into Kento's van and he took them each home.
Sage was the last one Kento dropped off. As Sage got out Kento noticed a girl walking down the street. He whistled softly. "Do you know her?" he asked Sage.
Sage looked.
She was of medium height, slender build, and her waist length, bangless, brown with gold highlights hair was pulled up into a pony tail with parts of it hanging loose.
"No," he said. "But I guess I should."
Kento moaned. "Will you please give me someone to flirt with?" he asked.
Sage just grinned at him, and closed the door to the van. He looked down the street and saw her disappear into a building nearby. "I guess tomorrow." He waved as Kento drove off. Sage went passed his father's dojo that was connected to the two story western style house. The rest of Sage's night was normal. He ate dinner with his parents, practiced with his father in the dojo, and then went to sleep. But his dreams were filled with the visions he had seen that day, his only comfort the other Staff of the Ancient and the Armor of the Cherry Blossom.
______________________________________________________________________________
Kim was startled by her surroundings. The lake, Mt. Fuji, everything scared her. She turned around and gasped when she found the cave gone and forest behind her.
Her mind reeled in panic. *Think!* she thought forcing the panic down. She turned back and her breath caught as the sun disappeared behind the mountain. "Wow," she breathed.
She flinched as the last rays of the sun shone a bright piece of metal near her. Curiously Kim turned towards it and found it to be a key resting on top of a note. She picked it up and read:
Kim,
The key is to a house in the
city where you can stay. Here's the
directions. Good luck.
Jun
"I guess this is part of my help," she said to White Gold. She sighed and put the key into her pocket. A piece of her hair fell into her face and she pushed it back. Looking at the map she considered it for a wile. "White Gold, since we're going into a city where people might not respond to good to wolves. I think you should find your own way where people can't see you," Kim said sitting on her knees in front of the wolf.
White Gold whined.
Kim laughed. "Don't give me ithat/i," she said. "I know you can do it! You did it that night when you saved me. Startled the heck out of my dad when you came through the open window at the hospital. Good thing I was on the first floor!"
White Gold barked and wagged his tail.
Kim laughed and got to her feet. "Come on, let's go."
With a confidant, knowing stride that covered her fear, Kim moved through the city looking for her temporary home. Three hours, and five stops for directions later, Kim reached the street. She stood at the top of it and looked down it. Seven two story houses stood very closely side by side next to each other on the left side, her side of the street. Normal houses took the rest of it. On the right side, in the middle of the street stood a traditional style Japanese dojo with a western house attached to it. A van was in front of it.
Kim started down the street checking the numbers on the houses while getting the key out. Her eyes slid across the street where a young man with golden blonde hair was getting out of the van. She looked away as she reached the last two story house in the row and found it to have the same number as that on the note. She unlocked and opened the door.
The apartment was comfortably, if not wonderfully, furnished. The refrigerator was full, the heater was on at comfortable temperature, and the telephone worked.
Kim sighed at the sound of the dial tone and quickly looked up a delivery pizza parlor in the phone book. She was about to dial when she wondered how she was going to pay for it. Grumbling angrily she hung up and looked through the refrigerator again. Choosing a TV dinner she put it in the microwave and turned it on.
Pulling her pony tail out and shaking her hair she opened the back door and went outside to sit on one of the chairs on the small back porch to wait for White Gold.
Tiredly she closed her eyes and let her body relax. She slipped unwillingly into a deep sleep.
In the darkness of her consciousness she heard a ringing, even more sweeter than the bells on Jun's staff. A light appeared with the ringing. A person formed out of the light. The form was of a man dressed in the same type of priest clothes with a hat pulled low over his eyes. A feeling of immense power washed over Kim. "You are?" she asked softly.
"The Ancient, Kim Doris, Bearer of the Armor of the Cherry Blossom," he told her.
Kim looked at him startled. "Y-you know me?" She felt small in his presence, felt like a child.
"I know all the Armor Bearers."
"Please tell me, who are they?" Kim asked.
"I cannot tell you that. That's something you must figure out for yourself."
"Oh," Kim said looking down. She trembled slightly.
The Ancient touched her on the head gently and the feelings vanished from her.
Kim looked up.
"I need to show you something Kim. Something that will help you understand the past, your Armor, and the new evil."
Kim nodded.
The Ancient moved behind her and gently took her by the shoulder and waved his hand in front of them. The darkness changed and standing before them stood ten, hers included, armors on a dias in a traditional Japanese-styled building.
"Where are we?" Kim asked.
"In the past. The time after Talpa, Emperor of the Dark Dynasty had captured the Armors, but before he made them one," the Ancient said. "Watch."