The three ran as
fast as they could. Fighting was no longer an option since
they were deprived of their special attacks for a reason they have
yet to find out. The enemies were abundant and
plentiful. They had no idea there were still open portals
hence why they are now being chased by Dynasty
Soldiers.
Sage was in full
armor with Pikachu on top of his helmet. Sailor Jupiter ran
alongside him. "There's a town up ahead," the wise one in the
group said, "More than likely someone there would be able to wipe
out those tinheads." And so they ran into the town and
incidentally past a high school.
A teenage girl
watched them run past the building from the third floor of the
school. "Sage Date just ran past here!" she shouted.
"He's in this town!" In a few seconds, the place was empty of
all its female students.
"Have we lost
them?" Sage asked Pikachu who was still riding comfortably on top of
his helmet as they continued to run.
The furry pokemon
turned its head to see a horde of women chasing them instead of
Dynasty soldiers. "Um... yeah... sort of."
"Good. Let's
keep running though for a little longer."
"Running would be
a good idea."
Sage shed his
outer armor and went back into his sub-armor. Their hearts
were frozen solid in fear at the sudden female chorus of
hormone-filled shouts of joy. Not wanting to, but curious
enough, Sage and Lita turned their heads...
"No..." Sage
pleaded. "Not them...
The Ronin, then,
yanked Sailor Jupiter by the hand and zoomed away in a desperate
attempt to evade the horde of women who were chasing
him.
A man allowed the
tip of his wooden Kendo sword to rest on the ground, watching the
teenyboppers leave. "So, he is here at last," The man
let out one evil chuckle. "Now, we shall see who is the real
Lord of the Thunder."
Yuli Yamada
matured quite nicely after his adventures with the Ronins had
ended. In fact, he hadn't seen or spoken to any of them in
over a year. He had grown into a sensible, respectable
eleven-year old and although there were no more adventures, he
discovered that life after the first decade is a rather challenging
experience in itself.
After he finished
breakfast that morning, he hopped outside and onto his new
skateboard. He still preferred skateboards over the
increasingly popular rollerblades. It's easier to stop a
skateboard than rollerblades and a person uses more energy on
rollerblades.
Despite the fact
that the Ronins were losing their place as the central focus in his
life, Yuli still relied on them for advice; advice that parents
refused to give or give cryptically. He was looking for one
special Ronin who might be able to give him the advice he desired
dearly.
He only knew one
Ronin Warrior with a girlfriend - Kento of Hardrock.
An hour later,
Sage, Lita, and Pikachu stopped to breathe. The teenyboppers
had long since stopped chasing them.
"Why were those
people after you?" Lita asked.
Sage shrugged, "I
can never understand women."
Pikachu mused, "I
didn't know you were so popular."
"Well, just look
at him," said Lita. "Just look at those fine, handsome
features. Every woman wants a man like that."
"I don't look
'good'." said Sage. "I look just like a normal
person."
Makoto rolled her
eyes as a group of girls walked past, calling out to the Ronin
Warrior, using all three of his names.
"What are you
doing here in this town, Seiji-sama?" a raven-haired girl
giggled.
"I'm only passing
through."
The girl giggled
even more. "Do you have a place to stay for the
night?"
Lita leaned
against Sage and held his arm defensively since he did nothing to
protect himself from the onslaught of women. "He's staying
with me." Did Sage have any idea what this woman was trying to
do?
"So," a man
murmured elegantly, watching Lita hug onto the Ronin's arm as girls
fled from the blond and brunette. Sage did nothing to get Lita
to let go. "There is really no limit to how far that man would
go in order to get a woman."
The trio of
electric characters decided to evade the other teenyboppers.
They didn't get too far when a man shouted at them.
The three
stopped. They slowly turned their heads to see a big
dark-haired
man, holding a
Kendo sword, approach.
"Are you Date
Seiji, the undefeated Kendo champion of the Samurai Trooper
territory and the
Anime Realm's most uncontrollable flirt who bewitches every
single woman you
just so happen to come across?"
Sage opened his
mouth, but hesitated to speak, wondering about the last part
of that
sentence. "I am Date Seiji from the Samurai Trooper Anime and
I am
undefeated, but
I've never flirted with anyone."
"There is no need
to lie to me. The women of this Realm belong to one man and
that is a man who is the true champion of the manly sport of
Kendo! Therefore, I, Kuno Tatewaki, shall challenge you, Date
Seiji, to a duel. Do you accept the challenge?"
Sage felt his
instinctive, inbred sense of chivalry surge up inside of him.
It didn't matter what the challenge was. A challenge is a
challenge. "Yes," Sage said formally. "I accept your
challenge to a duel."
"Good. Then,
we fight in three days at Furikan high school one hour before the
sun begins to set and the victor," Kuno looked at Lita, "shall win
the affection of the lovely Lady Jupiter. Is that
clear?"
Sage nodded.
"Very well."
Makoto was
breathless as Kuno walked away. No, she pleaded,
It can't be...
Main Characters aren't supposed to look like common
characters. It's impossible. But I could almost swear he
looks like my old boyfriend, Jacq... And Sage is going to
fight him for me... Sage...
"Do you see what I
see?" Nabiki Tendo asked her comrades, watching Sage and Kuno
part ways until
the duel.
"A really
fine-looking hunk?" One of them came close to drooling.
Nabiki nodded, "I
see money."
Kousei skipped
class yet again. They walked on the sidewalk along the shops
of the busy city of Toyama. She wished Kento would someday
come to his senses. Kento was telling her that this was the
very street where he and the other four Ronins fought their first
Dynasty soldier and yada, yada, yada. Kousei had heard the
story many times before. Three times actually. Once for
the orgininal and there were two dubs. Instead of paying
attention to his story, she gave him subtle hints about the romantic
stuff which she wanted him to do.
In the distance, a
boy rode towards them on a skateboard. "Kento!" The boy called
out. Yuli stopped beside Kento and tried not to stare at
Kousei. She fitted the description of the Future Magia
perfectly, but she couldn't be Yogenchi's Great-granddaughter.
Why would she want to be with a man like Kento when all of the other
women in the Realm would give anything to be with her? It
didn't make sense. But if Kento had truly been able to get a
hold of a powerful woman like Kousei, then perhaps his advice would
be even more valuable.
"Yuli, I haven't
seen ya in a long time."
"Yeah, I've been
kinda busy. Um, Kento, I really need some important
advice."
Kento nodded,
telling the boy he was ready to listen.
"Well, there's
this girl I like at school. I haven't talked to her yet, but I
really like her. I asked my dad about what girls like and
their interests. He told me to ask my mom. My mom told
me that girls like boys who are, um, romantic. I have no idea
what that word means."
"Ah, well, that's
easy," Kento said confidently. "Food. Women love
food. Food is definately romantic."
"Oh. I
thought about getting her some pretty flowers..."
"Food,
Kento!? Food?!" Kousei shrieked. "There is
NOTHING romantic about
food, Kento! What gave you that
idea?!"
"Well, you always
talk about doing something romantic and the only thing I can think
of that other people consider romantic is going to dinner in some
fancy restuarant where one slice of bread costs ten dollars.
They go to dinner! And what's in dinner? Food!
People also go to movies and they eat popcorn. Popcorn's food
too!"
Kousei shook her
head sadly. He was so hopeless...
The door opened,
bringing into the room an air of dreadful solemnity. Well
aware of the severity and contempt the others held for him, Durog
calmly walked into the conference room. Resnik, who was
sitting at the small table and reading a book, acknowledged his
presence with a nod. Durog observed more of the room. A
bulky machine rested in the far end. Creochi energy flowed in
and out through the visible tubes steadily.
Durog took a seat
directly across from Resnik. "Where's Mishalli?"
Resnik closed the
book and set it aside. "She's in the Gundam
territory."
"Still?
Perhaps she should focus her attention on to another
territory."
"So that she could
do your work for you? Mishalli's the only one who can prevent
any extremist groups from forming there. Even I lack her
talent. If she wasn't there months ago, the Gundam territory
would've been rampant with extremists, just like Flame of
Recca."
Durog
shuddered. Hanabashi Recca has gained an impressive amount of
power by banding together most of the anti-Messiah extremists in his
territory. Being the most powerful extremist leader in
history, Recca would cause huge problems unless someone cooled him
down which didn't seem possible since even Yanagi
failed.
A deep, liquid
voice intervened, one which resounded from the exact walls of the
ancient building, "You have to concentrate your attention on
preparing the general public for the impeding danger. They are
still not aware of the threat and the time is coming near.
Date Seiji is still a threat, no matter how inadvertantly, but a
threat that I can neutralize easily without any assistance."
The Messiah had spoken.
"Do you know what
you've gotten yourself into, Sage?" Pikachu asked the samurai, also
getting Lita out of her shocked stupor in the process.
He took a deep
breath. "Yes... I have agreed to fight in a few
days." They started walking again.
Pikachu exhaled in
a sigh. Furikan high? It certainly didn't expect
anything like this to happen.
"So, we're going to stay here for a few days."
Nabiki Tendo
zoomed up in front of them. Lita tensed her muscles, ready to
defend Sage if the middle Tendo child tried to flirt. Kuno who
looked like Jacq was forgotten. She HAD to protect
Sage!
"Hi, I'm Nabiki
Tendo," the teen said conversationally. "I heard you're going
to fight Kuno in a few days."
"Well, you're
going to need a place to stay. There's always room at the
Tendo household and you can stay there free."
"I don't want to
be a bother," Sage tried to ease his way out of this one and Lita
silently cheered for him. She didn't like Nabiki.
"Come on, we, Main
Characters, have to stick together and the Tendo Residence is fairly
secluded. Plus it has a place where you could practice for the
battle."
"Hm..." Sage
thought about it and agreed.
The door creaked
open slowly and was followed by labored breathing.
"Another fight
with Kousei again?" Rinfei, the second eldest, teased Kento as he
walked in, supporting brusies and an eye that was slowly turning
black.
He paid no
attention to his sister and walked over to the cabinets. His
other three siblings ran over to the counter and propped themselves
up on stools to see his wounds. Kento then said hastily, "I
was only telling her my opinion, all right?"
They nodded in an
all-knowing manner.
Then, Kento opened
the cabinet door and jumped back in shock. "What happened to
all the food?" he asked Rinfei.
"Yun's going
through a growth spurt. He now has a bigger appetite than
you."
He watched his
least youngest brother run away from the counter.
"Mother and father
went shopping and grandfather's away working on the business as
usual," said Rinfei.
Kento nodded and
slumped down on the floor, staring into the near empty food
cabinet. Why was Kousei always so mad at him?
Slowly, a fearful
Yun returned and sat next to him. "Big brother, I'm
sorry. Would you forgive me if I helped you with your
problems?"
The Ronin Warrior
of Justice raised an eyebrow. "I don't have any
problems."
"Ah, but you
do! You have women problems! The only reason Kousei
beats you up so much is because you're full of flaws and those flaws
cause you to have problems with Kousei."
His younger
brother explained more. "You want Kousei to think you're
perfect, right?"
"Well, there's a
certain type of potion that can help you out and its just now
reached distribution. There's only one person who sells it
around here though." Yun whispered in Kento's ear, "Lina
Inverse sells it."
"What's the name
of this potion?"
Yun shook his
head, "I can't tell you, but I can contact Lina so that you could
buy the stuff if you want it."
"Hm..." He
was actually considering the idea.
"Sage, I don't
like this Nabiki," Lita advised as they followed the middle Tendo
child towards her family residence. "We probably shouldn't
trust her."
"Relax.
She's not going to hurt us."
Nabiki showed them
the guest room where they'd be sleeping for the next few days.
"That's also where Ranma and his old man are staying until Ranma
finally marries my younger sister." She added as an
afterthought, "That's going to be an interesting
marriage."
Lita still got a
bad feeling about the Tendos.
Sweet, gentle
humming could be heard as they started through one of the halls and
grew louder as they approached the source of the sound.
"That's the kitchen," Nabiki announced when the humming
reached its
highest pitch.
They peered inside
to see a woman with light brown hair, much lighter than
Lita's,
hovering over the
stove, humming contentedly as she stirred whatever was in the
pot. Then,
she turned off the stove, lifted the pot up with two heavily
cushioned
pot holders and
slowly turned around to inadvertantly look at the new guests.
"Oh!" Kasumi Tendo
promptly dropped her pot upon seeing Seiji. The contents
spilled all over
the floor."Oh, I'm sorry," the eldest Tendo child apologized.
"Please, don't
mind me. You can go and make yourselves
comfortable."
Lita instantly
felt a strange sense of anger and apprehension.
Is exactly what
manner was that girl looking at Sage? She
isn't... Lita
decided to forget about her sudden paranoia as the tour of the Tendo
residence continued.
Uhrg, I can't
believe this is actually happening, Kale thought as he gazed at the medium-sized house that he
and the others had rented. Well, not rented actually.
Because they were Main Characters, they got a hold of the capital
and recieved 300,000 yen to spend on the house and 200,000 yen to
spend on extra furniture. They had to spend it before sixteen
months passed. Then, they'd be forced to- Kale surpressed a
shudder. Then, they;d be forced to get jobs and work for
money. Kyra also wanted them to learn how to
drive.
"I can't believe
you have so much furniture," Ami commented as they watched Darien
park the moving truck into the driveway.
"People begin to
collect alot of things after four hundred years," Kale shrugged,
wondering how they actually managed to get all that stuff into the
truck and poor Darien's the only one who could drive it. Dais
appeared slightly unnerved, but to the untrained eye, he still
seemed calm and composed.
Kale looked around
the side of the house to see Sekhmet and Minako walking
together. For some strange reason, he couldn't help, but
think, Cute.
Serena, Kyra, and
Raye ran over in front of the truck which was being parked backwards
and the girls started shouting, "Okay! Okay! That's
enough!"
Kale took a deep
breath. The back door of the truck slid open and everyone
crowded around it and tried to pull stuff out.
Serena grumbled as
she tried to pull out a heavy chair, "Sekhmet, could you help me,
please?"
"No, you'd build
better muscles if you did that on your own," he
replied.
Mina didn't
complain, but it was evident that she was having trouble with a
piece of furniture. He decided to help her.
They were
introduced to all the other people who were living in the Tendo
residence. Kasumi had to restart dinner because she
accidentally ruined it eariler. Pikachu decided to go
exploring on its own into Kasumi's room.
"I wonder what
that huge binder is for," Pikachu murmured to itself as it hopped on
top of the desk and opened the binder. A huge collection of
Date Seiji pictures fell out. It glanced through the next few
pages, but getting bored of seeing pictures of Sage, it flipped the
pages over towards the back. "Ah, finally. She has
pictures of other bishounen. That's good."
"Sage, I still
don't like this place," Lita whispered.
Dinner was soon
served and to infuriate Lita even more, Kasumi fixed Sage's favorite
meal. Makoto was near boiling with rage. She never had
the food materials nesessary in order to fix his favorite
meal...
After dinner,
someone knocked on the door and Ranma opened it. Standing
outside was a pale woman with dark black hair pulled back in a
ponytail to the side.
Ranma clenched his
fists angrily. Not this again! "Kodatchi, I thought I
made it perfectly clear to you years ago that I-"
"I'm not after
you, Ranma dear," she answered seductively. "I'm after
Sage. I heard he was staying with you for a few
days."
Pikachu ran up to
them, holding something in hand. "Sage isn't here! He
left already!"
"Oh? Where
is he?" Kodatchi wondered.
"He's in the
Slayers territory!" Pikachu held up the picture. "He got a new
style!"
She was instantly
mesmerized. "Oh, I have to add him to my bishounen collection
soon
before some other
woman steals him from me!" With that she began hopping away,
shouting, "Sagey
dear! I'm coming!"
"Did she just say
'Bishounen collection'?" Akane wondered. Ranma nodded dumbly,
sickened by what
he just heard. Then, they looked at the picture that Pikachu
was holding. "That's Gourry," she noted.
"Yup!" The furry
animal chirped proudly.
Seiji walked into
the room, "Did someone call me?"
"Um, I hope you
don't mind me asking," Kasumi said to Makoto that night, "but are
you and Seiji... going out together?"
"Yes," she replied
instantly without thought. "Well, I hope so."
"But, you don't
undertstand," Kasumi said still sweetly. "Sage is
mine." |
