As the Ronins finished dinner and catching up on the events in each
other's lives the attention turned subtly towards Kento near desert. The meal was finished later on when everyone was
caught up on the news and the dishes were done. It
was almost as if the guys had never left. Ryo
and Kento did dishes in the kitchen while Cye and Sage cleaned up the dining area. Rowen helped Yulie with his homework and Mia had
the few moments in the day to think for herself.
She knew next would come the explanations and the planning on how to
save the world, or at least Japan. Just as
she came down the stairs to the living area Sage, Kento, Ryo and Cye all came out of the
kitchen area with snacks and drinks for the brain session and it began.
Kento using his laptop computer displayed the maps of what was
happening and what would happen should the fault line slip as a shudder. He knew that there was about three weeks before
the slippage would occur but there was not enough time to warn the government about it and
expect action.
Should the fault lines shudder as they slipped past the current catch
point, countless lives would be lost and damages would be irreparable. Since the catch point was under the Sea of Japan
it was decided that Cye and Ryo would go down to the bottom and try to find out if the
earth was buckling and if there was any lava flow. If
there was, Kento explained that there was a chance that they could melt the catch point
causing the stress to slip away and only cause a minor quake.
The only problem was that if this was not a natural problem and the
catch point was not buckling or producing lava then they would have to turn to Mia and see
what her database would turn up. Kento could
not explain why, but something about this whole deal was waving danger flags at him. Only he did not know how to interpret them.
Most of the world was in danger because if this quake went off, most
of the Pacific Rim would take the world with it. The
Ronin's might be needed and that was a chance that they had to take. They could not sit back and let their friend do
this alone. Granted the Hardrock armor had
the power to prevent the disaster from being momentous. But that was not their way. They
were a team til the end. Not Talpa, not
even the Black inferno armor could sever those ties.
Mia agreed that she would stay behind this time so that she would
have her database handy and keep the place like home base should they need a spot to
retreat to. They had the money so they had
purchased private band radios that would reach almost everywhere. Splitting up into their separate teams they
armored up and left the estate grounds for the Sea of Japan. Hoping that it was nature and praying for a
miracle they all worked almost redline to get there. It was going to be another one of those nights.
Back at the mansion Yulie and Mia started to get worried. It had been almost a year since the guys had to
fight together. They had all kept their
skills sharp and they were as strong as ever as friends. But life and Love were starting to intrude on those bonds. How strong would they be in the future should more
than one relationship get strained? Yulie
knew that Kento was not ok about the whole situation of Natalia being gone and it showed
in the long hours that the ronin put in at work. Kento
had changed drastically since that wintry break. He
was once a fun loving teaser that never ceased to be a nuisance in the kitchen or
elsewhere when he played his jokes.
Granted, the jokes were harmless, but even Sage, the most constant
butt of the jokes had been known to mention that they were no longer being played. The fact that Kento wasn't teasing the guys
who had all been his friends since the start was a serious sign that something was
seriously wrong. Cye had always been able to
get his friend to talk, but lately it was becoming harder to make the man talk than it was
to get the Torrent bearer to look at Seafood.
Kento was seeing his friends all happily married, or having at least
a loving relationship with someone and having to watch from the outside as it fell apart. But Kento had never had that joy until he met
Natalia. Only months after they had met, she
was gone from him and completely unable to return. Unable
to see her and to talk to her, he sometimes talked to Mia about her and she did what she
could to be the friend he needed so badly.
The guys were all aware that Kento was still trying to adjust to life
with out Natalia but they could not understand the bond that he had felt with the woman. Not even Rowen could understand what kept their
friend under for so long. Hoping that this
little rescue the earth trip would snap him out of it he agreed with the others that this
was Ken's area of expertise and so he did most of the planning for what all was going
to happen should this just be a natural phenomenon.
They all had to admit that when Kento thought things through, he
really thought them through. From the people
that were needed to get to the point in the sea of Japan to what the duties of each ronin
would be he knew what would happen and when. They
only hoped that the plan would go off with out a hiccough.
They reached the seaboard of Japan early morning and agreed that they
all needed a few hours of rest before they took this on. Kento used his influence as a respected geologist to get a boat out to the
middle of the sea. Now all that was left was
for Cye to get them out there with out running into anything.
As they slept they all had dreams, but these were troubling dreams. Dreams they were all familiar with by now and when
they woke up in the middle of the afternoon to take the boat out they agreed that they had
better call Mia and let her know to be on the alert.
As Mia spoke to them all she spent the longest time with Kento. Kento, Please be careful with the guys, I
know you may think that this is nuts, but something isn't right. I had some weird dreams last night myself. I don't want to lose you or the others, but
there is a bad odor about this mission and I can't shake the feeling that maybe I
should be there with Yulie.
Mia, The guys and I will be fine. However you know the drill better than all of us. The world comes into danger and the Ronins will be
there. I know what you mean about this whole
bad odor Mia. I tell you what. With the day as it is, the Radios should work out
to sea pretty far. If we are out of contact
for more than 12 hours I want you and Yulie to get down here with your laptop to catch the
situation. I know that I have been training
you with the others occasionally, but Yulie took formal training with Date Sensei. If you come down here tell him to bring his
Dai-Katana (Twin Katana, not unlike Ryo's) since that is what he seems to be most
comfortable with. If there is trouble, you
are going to need the protection till we can get one of us back to the mainland.
Kento, like the others, worried about Mia getting hurt in one of their battles but he knew that like himself she would be the last person to not show up. She did know quite a bit about the mythos that surrounded and pierced the culture here. And on more than one occasion she was able to help them all out in defeating the major threats to them all. Letting Mia come down to the shore was provisional and she knew it. But at least this time they would not have to worry about her as much.
