Part Twenty-One: Kento's Recollection, Part Two

Kioko brought us into a room were we were held down by chains. The catch? We were all buck naked, but she luckily didn't see anything important. Kioko grinned. "Not bad, not bad at all for any of you." She went down into her subarmor, and we saw what she looked like. She was kind of pretty, but I didn't like her. She was evil.

I blushed. This was humiliating.

"I'd just like you all to know that thanks to Osiris, the Armor of Cruelty has been stripped from Anubis, and the Lady Kayura and the Three Stooges are back under Talpa's control," she said.

"What!?" we asked in unison. Oh no. THAT'S what happened.

"But, that doesn't really concern you that much. This will though," said Kioko.

After a minor torture session involving a lot of whips and hot pokers, Kioko decided she was finished with us and has us thrown into a dark, dank dungeon cell. Thankfully we were back in our subarmor. It was about the size of a small bedroom. All around was a very, very shallow light source, so dark that the whites of our subarmor looked like a grayish-blue in color. Sort of like the cartoons where it's so dark all you can see are the two eyes. Much like the holding cell Talpa used before Cye, Sage, and I were half-fried. Ryo and Rowen could see our discomfort.

"Calm down," said Rowen. "Talpa won't do anything that could possibly harm Ryo, since he's the main link to the Inferno, so he probably won't bother with the rest of us."

Sage glared at Rowen, but said nothing. He was mad. Halo curled up in a corner and said nothing. Uh oh. When Sage stews, it's never a good thing.

I went over to the corner he was sulking in. "Rowen's right. We have to have faith. Cye won't leave us."

Sage nodded. "I'm upset because he KNOWS what we've gone through. Cold hearted-"

"Cool it," I said. Ryo and Rowen were discussing something in the opposite corner. "Cye'll come through."

"Let's hope so," said Sage.

A few days passed. I kid you not. A few DAYS passed. We were fed well enough. There wasn't a bathroom, but, well, we never really had to "urge to go" when we were in subarmor. And we ruled out loss of bladder control a long time ago.

"Hey, guys?" I asked randomly.

"What, Kento?" asked Ryo.

"To keep from going insane, where DOES the food go while we're in subarmor?" I asked.

A bunch of shrugs and "I don't knows" were my answer.

"Why'd you ask?" asked Ryo.

"Lack of imagination, and the fact every time we've tried a plan it never got off the ground," I said. "I REALLY hope Anubis is getting to work on this."

"He is," said Sage. "He won't leave us hanging."

Suddenly, a popping sound filled the small room. Then, the whimpering of a small child could be heard. "I'll go check it out," I whispered. I followed my ears to the sound of the child. I was slow, quiet, and stealthy. I didn't want to scare the poor kid.

My eyes finally saw a small child with deep, auburn hair in a messy ponytail. She was wearing a pink Sailor Moon nightgown and had bare feet. "What's a kid like you doing here in a place like this?" I asked softly.

The girl looked up. Deep green eyes looked back at me. She looked so familiar, but I knew for the life of me I'd never seen her before. "Who, who are you?" she asked.

"My name's Kento," I said. "How'd you get here?"

"A bad man in a scary green and red armor brought me here," she said through sobs. "I want my Daddy!"

"Shh, don't cry, when we get out of here we'll get you back to your Daddy," I said. "He's probably really worried about you."

"I know. He loves me, he says so every day," she said.

"Well we'll make sure you get back to him," said Sage, who'd come over. "I'm Sage."

"I'm Ryo, and that's Rowen over there," said Ryo. "We'll make sure they don't hurt you, okay?"

Rowen snorted. "We're back to being baby-sitters," he said.

The little girl made a face that told us she was thinking. It was adorable, and once again, oddly familiar. "You guys are the Roman Warriors that the meanies talked about, aren't you?"

"That would be us, and actually, it's RONIN Warrior, but you were close, kiddo," I said. "What's your name?"

"Ariel," she said shyly.

"That's a pretty name," said Sage.

Ariel smiled. "Why am I here?"

"We aren't sure," said Rowen. "But I'm pretty sure that they want you for something big, since the Dynasty usually won't go to that kind of a length for something if it weren't to be to their advantage."

"Dynasty?" asked Ariel.

"That's sort of where we are," said Ryo. "The Dynasty is the name for the evil force that lives here. Like. . . the Negaverse on Sailor Moon."

"And you're like the Sailor Senshi," said Ariel.

"Uh, not quite," said Rowen. "We're similar, but not like them. Are you following?"
"I think so."

"Good," I said. "Now, who's your daddy?"

"Why do you want to know that?"

"So we can get you to him after this whole mess is over and done with," I said. "And you can trust us. I give you my word. Ronin Warrior's honor."

"Ronin Warrior's honor," said Ariel. "His name is. . . is. . .uh. . . Koji calls him something. . . why can't I-"

Suddenly, someone else was in the room. "Sorry boys, time for the brat to come with me."

"Kayura!" I said, standing infront of Ariel. "Don't you dare hurt her! She's just a little kid!"
"I'm not little! I'm four and three months old!" argued Ariel.

"Little enough," I countered. "Kayura, stay away from-" Before I could finish, one of her Starlight Swords was pressed up against my neck. I froze, and Kayura grabbed poor Ariel by her nightgown. She screamed. Kayura laughed.

"See you later, boys," she said, then she and Ariel vanished. I closed my eyes. Rats. I'd let the girl down.

"You did all you could, Kento," said Rowen, placing a hand on my shoulder. I looked over at him. "We would've stepped it, but, we didn't want you to get impaled."

"Thanks," I said. Then, I looked up. "What in the world is that?"

"What in the- the blue light?" asked Rowen. "I, don't know, but- I bet it's the portal device that they use to get out of here!"

"Men, we are out of here!" said Ryo.