Chapter 10
Part 2
*****
"What! He knows! How does he know?" Alex screamed.
"Looks like your fool proof plain didn't work! Did it?" Daller said, crossing his arms.
"We'll see! We SHALL SEE!" Alex slammed his fists against the wall. He then turned around. "He may know, but that doesn't mean he can stop it!" Daller smiled at these words.
*****
Ryo stood, the best he could, against a tree. And he was laughing! Ryan gritted his teeth together, then yelled, "AND JUST WHAT IS SO FUNNY?" Ryo just laughed harder
"You are! You are quite funny, Ryan!" Ryo said; his right arm started shaking a little but he made it stop before anyone really noticed. Ryo gritted his teeth. Alex, I know you're trying to control me, but it won't work! I'll fight you till the day I die! Ryo thought to himself. I just hope that the day I die isn't that close! Ryo's arm starting shaking again and this time he couldn't stop it. Ryan laughed
"So I see Alex's little spell worked better than you'd like!" Ryan stopped laughing, then put on a serious face. "NOW you die!" Ryan charged at Ryo; Ryo just stood there! When Sage saw that Ryo wasn't going to move he jumped at Ryan, knocking him down. Ryan gasped as he hit the ground; Sage jumped off of him before Ryan had a chance to get the upper hand. Ryan stood up and Sage took a fighting stance right in front of Ryo. Kento looked at Ryo; he was breathing really heavy and his arm was shaking quite hard. Ryo cradled his shaking arm; he put his head back and gritted his teeth. Kento's eyes narrowed; he HATED to see any of his friends in any kind of pain.
Ryan looked at Sage, then at Ryo, he then looked at the other Ronins; they were staring at Ryo, most had pity in their eyes, but Hardrock had anger in his eyes. Ryan wondered about this for a second, but then Hardrock charged him. Ryan had no time to react and was soon tackled to the ground; a fist came down on his face that was soon followed by another one.
Kento punched Ryan madly, with anger filled in his eyes. Sage's eyes were huge he looked back at Ryo, who was standing more upright. His arm had stopped shaking and he had a light smile on his face. Sage looked back at Kento; he had slowed dow a little but not much. Ryan put his feet under Hardrock and pushed him off. Kento went flying backwards, but landed on his feet. Ryan stood up, his head was spinning.
"I'll... I'll be back!" Ryan disappeared, and Ryo laughed quietly to himself.
Sage turned around and looked at Ryo. "Okay, Ryo, time to explian! Why did you make Kento and Rowen run off? Why aren't you trusting us? Why is your arm shaking? What was Ryan babbling about? Why...?"
"SAGE! Slow down! I can only answer one question at a time! MAN!" Ryo was about to continue when a female voice came in.
"We saw the arrow! Is he all..." Tina stopped in mid-sentence, when she saw Ryo leaning against a tree, waving at her. She put on a cheesy smile. "Ha, hi, Ryo. Were you standing there the whole time?" Tina felt really stupid for not seeing him in the first place. Cye smiled to himself, knowing exacly what she felt like.
Then came another female voice, one that they had not heard in a while. "Hello, Ronins," came Kayura's kind voice, a voice that kinda scared Rowen. "I have come to talk to the cousins, but I'll start with just Tina." Kayura turned to Tina. "Tina, if you could please follow me."
Tina looked at Cye; Cye nodded, saying go ahead. So Tina followed Kayura into the trees; Cye watched until they were both out of sight.
*****
Kayura walked for about a mile before she turned around and faced Tina. "Tina, I know you've noticed that your power is somewhat slipping?" Kayura smiled as Tina bit back her lip and a tear ran down. Kayura put a hand on Tina's shoulder. "Don't worry, this is happening to Chi Chi and Brittney too."
Tina's face shot up. "Wh... what, why?!"
Kayura smiled again. "Because it has to. You three were chosen to hold these powers for a while, then they would be passed on to another."
"Another? Why? Why didn't this person just take the power in the beginning? WHY did we have to have them, love them! Then lose them? It's not fair," she said in a quiet voice.
"Because you got your powers when you were born; the powers were tiny, like you, but as you grow they grew. But if you had all the powers in you as they grew, you would go insane. So we took you three girls to hold these powers for a greater use. Yours will go so this 'person' can talk to big cats, or so it says in the scrolls. Chi Chi and Brittney will be going through this too. In fact, Chi Chi's power is almost gone, and Brittney's is leaving her fast. Their powers will go towards this 'person' being able to control her weapon. This weapon is known as the Solar Whip; it is supposed to be the most powerful weapon. The Dynasty will be after this 'person' as soon as they find out the power has surfaced. And this is why I must warn you, if the Dynasty finds out you are losing your powers this person will be in serious trouble! And if we don't find this 'person' first, the world as we know it is doomed!" Kayura finished.
"Doomed?" Tina shook her head. "If this person is SO powerful, then why can't 'it' just defeat the Dynasty by itself?"
"Because when this 'person' first gets its powers, it won't know how to use it. This 'person' will be extremely weak, this 'person' will not know how to use these powers or the Solar Whip," Kayura explained.
"So this 'person' will be able to use all of our powers?" Tina confirmed.
"No! This 'person' will only be able to talk to big cats and that's all; the others will just be to control the whip, and that's all," Kayura told her. Tina looked confused; Kayura frowned. "Look, all you need to know is that your powers are leaving and they ain't coming back! To put it plainly. All right?"
Tina put her head down. "They're never coming back?"
Kayura shook her head. "No, they are gone forever. You are now normal, and your cousins will be too, very soon. But you must understand this has to happen! For the sake of this planet, it was meant to happen! And it is; do not worry, you will learn to get along without them! As will your cousins." Kayura put her hand on Tina's shoulder again. "Now I must go and talk to your cousins; come, we must return to camp."
Kayura turned and started walking back to camp. Tina just stood there for a moment; she sighed, then followed Kayura back to camp.
*****
Derek sat in his room on a chair, he sat starring at his bed where Kit sat with her arms folded, and wore a frown. "Please, talk to me, my dearling. If we are to be wed we must at the least talk," Derek said, standing up.
"I will NEVER marry you! Not know not ever! I will kill myself before I'll marry you!" Kit spat back.
"Now, now, you can't kill yourself, I won't have it! Now, I know you will grow to love me in time, once you give me a chance, that is," Derek said and then got right in her face.
Kit pushed him away. "How can I LIKE someone, let alone love someone who keeps me and my sisters as prisoners, and tries to kill everyone I love?" Kit asked.
"I do not wish to kill anyone you love." Then Derek grumbled, "Except maybe Wildfire." Kit laughed at this, bringing Derek's attention back to her. "What?" he asked.
"You are truly threatened by him!" Kit smiled, but then got a sober face.
"I am threatened by anyone who looks at you!" Derek said.
"You are not truly evil, are you? I mean, if you changed quite a bit then maybe it would work between us," Kit said, thinking out loud, then clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing what she had said.
Derek smiled. "It will work, I will change as soon as I'm Emp..."
"NO! I don't want you to be Emperor. It's too much power and too much temptation to be evil; if even for a moment I don't think you've changed and this is just a trick I'll kill you, I swear I will," Kit tossed back to him.
"I swear this is no trick, but if I can't be Emperor then at least let me kill Wildfire!" Derek said, and Kit glared at him. "All right so I won't kill him, but I want a promise that you will never look at him the way you used to!" Derek said, pointing a finger at her.
"I'm not sure how I'm looking at him, but I will try to 'look' at him in a different way, will that work?" Kit asked him.
"Yes, I suppose." Derek looked down, then back up. "Are you sure I can't just kill him?" Kit slapped him; Derek put his arms up. "All right, all right."
"Now go free my little sis!" Kit said, pointing.
*****
Ryo watched in wonderment as each of the cousins left in high spirit then came back almost in tears; Ryo had no idea what Kayura was telling them but he planned to find out. When finally Brittney came back, he figured that Kayura would leave, but she didn't. She turned to Mariah and said that she had to talk to her! Ryo's eyebrow went up at that. Then his eyes narrowed; he didn't like this, secrets on his team was a bad thing. As Kayura and Mariah left, Ryo followed quietly behind. Ryo didn't know what was going on, but he was going to find out right now!
Kayura and Mariah stopped by a little lake; Mariah bent down and sat on a rock, she put her fingers on the icy lake. "Mariah, do you have any idea why I asked to talk to you?" Kayura asked her, looking directly in her eyes.
"No," Mariah said simply, not even bothering to look up.
Kayura frowned. "Mariah! Please at least look like you're paying attention to me!" Mariah looked up with a start. "Mariah, you have a major choice to make."
Mariah just looked at Kayura, confused. "What kind of a choice?"
Kayura sighed. "Mariah, tell me why are you afraid of fire." Kayura's eyes got a cold look to them as she stared at Mariah.
"Because," Mariah looked around nervously, "because my parents died in a fire!" Mariah's eyes filled with tears.
Kayura put a hand on Mariah's shoulder, and looked into her eyes. "Mariah, what if I told you that your parents aren't dead?"
Mariah jumped at that. "What...? What, what do you mean?" Mariah searched Kayura's face for any clues on what she was talking about, but she found none.
Kayura sighed again. "Mariah, do you remember that night at all?" Kayura asked.
"Not really," Mariah paused. "I remember being in a cave and hearing screams and seeing fire! Then there was an explosion that knocked me out; when I awoke no one was there! I was alone." Mariah looked down at the snow-covered ground.
"Mariah, long before you were born the Dynasty was a peaceful place ruled by your people, everyone was happy! But then an evil came into this world and took it over. Your people tried to keep things peaceful, but couldn't. So they went off to their own part of the Dynasty. Now the evil ruler knew that these people had great power, so he left them be but watched them carefully, and that's how it went for many years. But then that evil one died and he son took over; his son was a power hungry monster, he tolerated your people for a while trying to see how much power they really had.
"No one really took it as much, but about ten years later a child was born that had true power. The evil emperor wanted this child more than anything, so he sent troops out to get it. Your people put up a mighty good fight, though, and fought back; they hid the child in a cave and put a magic shield around the entrance of the cave. They prepared to leave the Dynasty, and take you with. But because of the shield you didn't go with them! It was an accident! But once they were gone they couldn't come back; it was a one way trip, I guess you could say!" Kayura finished off.
Mariah did an annoyed sigh. "So, what does that mean to me! They're still gone, except this time I find out they left ME!" Mariah stood up and started pacing.
"They didn't leave you, it was a mistake that they couldn't fix, but I can."
Mariah looked up at Kayura. "What do you mean?" she asked, staring at her.
"With this staff," Kayura held up the staff, "I can send you to wherever they went." Kayura sighed as she saw Mariah's face fall, but she put on a small smile. "It is a tough choice: leave the home you've known for years and find a family you do not know, or stay here and never know your true past, your people's past. The choice is yours; I will be back tomorrow night for your answer." Kayura smiled, then tapped her staff and disappeared.
Mariah turned around and sighed. "Well, you can come out now." Ryo smiled and stepped out. "What do you think I should do?" Mariah asked him.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Go; I would give anything to find out my parents weren't dead, and that they never meant to leave me." Ryo looked at Mariah, and grabbed her hands. "Mariah, this may be the only chance you'll ever get; don't let it go, don't you dare let it go! Family is something I've always wanted, and the guys, they try to be my family but it's not the same; I'll never feel the joy of a mother's arms hugging me just 'cause she wants to hug. You know, people take those things for granted but it's something I've always wanted. Now you take your chance to get those things, you understand me!" Ryo finished, looking her right in the eyes.
Mariah smiled back. "All right! I'll go, but don't forget me, you understand me, don't you forget me."
"I promise, I will never forget you; why don't we go tell the others?" Ryo smiled at her again.
"All right! But let me tell them in my own way, kay?" Mariah said.
*****
Trots stood in one of the hallways in the castle, pacing. The end is coming! The end of this stupid battle is coming! What shall I do first! I know I'll kill that annoying Kit; Derek is getting to close to her! Trots started to walk down the hall towards the room where Kit and Ally stayed. She busted the door open, only to find no one in there. Derek, she cursed to herself.
She stormed down the hallways to Derek's room. She swung open the door to find Derek kissing that witch! Derek stood up and stared Trots right in the eye. "How dare you! KISSING the enemy! How low can you go!" Trots spat at him.
"Well, I'd say the apple doesn't fall far to the ground! MASTER!" Derek said with a slight bow, and a glare.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A WAY!" Trots flung her fist at Derek; Derek ducked and then kicked upward into her gut. Trots grabbed her stomach for a second, then regained her pose. "You want to fight? Do you really think you can beat me?" Trots said with a smirk.
"I know I can! Your power is useless! If you have any. I let you think you were in control, but you never were! Do you think I would really bow down to you for long?" Derek said, standing up.
Trots started laughing. "Have you forgotten who I am?" Trots looked at Derek for a second, then continued, "My father was one of the most powerful beings ever to walk this Dynasty! He had two children! ME and Talpa, my brother..."
"Yeah, and it looks like Talpa got all the power! And even he was defeated by the Ronins! Did you really think you could win? Did you honestly think you had control? Ha, you are more stupid than I thought!"
"Wrong! I was always in charge! But I allowed you to think you were. Talpa had lots of power, but I always had more! But Father said, 'Let your brother think he is better; if he becomes Emperor, GREAT, then he'll get rid of your enemies for you! And when one comes along that he can't beat, you will become Empress and defeat them too. BUT you must always remember to mask your true power! Because you are a girl, your enemies will underestimate you. Remember that.' Yes, he told me that every day! So that's what I did. And now I shall rid myself of you and that brat!" Trots said. She put her hands together, then pulled them apart; a light glow came from them and the glow started to get brighter.
Derek, seeing what she was about to do, grabbed Kit's arm and transported them elsewhere. "Derek, what was that? What was she doing?" Kit asked.
"It's a powerful attack; if she can master that attack... she's a lot more powerful than I thought she was." Derek shook his head. "She did that trick like it was nothing. If she can do much more, your friends don't stand a chance." Kit looked down; Derek brushed her cheek. "Come on, she'll be after us soon. We need to get your sister and get out of here." He started to turn, then looked at her again, then sighed. "I'm just glad we hid your sister. Otherwise..."
Kit put a finger to his lips. "Come on, let's go get my sister." Kit smiled at Derek. She grabbed his hand and they disappeared.
*****
Ryo stood in front, Sage and Rowen stood behind him one on each side. Behind them stood Cye and Kento, all in full armor. The girls stood to the side and backed away. Ryo took out his twin katanas, frowned and said, "It ends now!" The other Ronins took out their weapons and shook theire heads in agreement.
*****
Daller, Alex, and Ryan stood at the doors of the Dynasty castle; hundreds of Dynasty soldiers were there too, all ready to fight, just waiting for the Ronins to appear. Ryo came over the hill; the other Ronins, and Kat stepped up behind him. The Dynasty soldiers started grumbling. The warlord stood there calmly though. "Should we attack now or wait?" Daller asked.
Alex looked around. "ATTACK!" As soon as that word left his mouth, then the Dynasty soldiers came running at Ryo.
Ryo swallowed hard. He turned to the other Ronins and Kat. "Remember, we make a path for the girls to follow; Kat, you try to focus on finding your sisters. Fight strong."
The first Dynasty soldier came running at Ryo; Ryo slashed right through him. Soon everyone with an armor on was fighting. Ryo turned to the guys, slashing another soldier down as he did. He was going to say one more thing before they got separated. "DON'T BE A HERO!" Ryo shouted over the noise.
Sage looked up from for a second, then smiled. Take your own advice, Ryo, take your own advice. Sage quickly stopped himself from thinking about other things and started focusing only on the battle. The battle seemed to go on forever. When finally they had killed off enough of the soldiers they saw the new warlords standing there smug, and proud.
"It's over," Ryo said, pointing one of his twin katanas at Daller.
"Is it now?" Daller asked, smiling. Ryo was about to respond when he felt a sudden blast hit him in the chest. The Ronins watched as Ryo flew off the ground and landed with a thump. Kento was about to run to his side, but Daller jumped in front of him, blocking his way. Kento started the fight with Daller, and just hoped that Ryo was either okay or that one of the other guys had gotten to him. He pushed at Daller's sword with all his might and Daller was forced to jump back.
Kento quickly looked around; all the guys were busy with their own fights, Cye was held up with Ryan, and both Rowen and Sage were trying to fight off Alex. Daller came crashing back onto him; Kento only had a second to react. The battle raged on, and every chance he got he looked for Ryo, but never found him.
Daller slashed his sword under Kento's weapon, and Kento went flying. Kento rammed right into Sage, Sage screamed as he was knocked form his feet. Kento started to get off of Sage but before he could Daller came flying down at him, his sword ready to kill. Kento blocked it with his staff, he could hear Sage groan at the extra wait. There was nothing Kento could do except block.
Rowen took an arrow, strung it, and shouted, "Arrow Shock Wave!" The arrow hit Alex head on. Alex flew backwards; Rowen knew it wouldn't buy him much time, but he had to help Sage and Kento. Rowen turned around, strung another arrow and again shouted, "Arrow Shock Wave!" The arrow struck Daller just as Alex came running back; Rowen used his bow as a block, and knocked Alex back. Alex frowned and came charging at Rowen head-on.
Rowen readied himself for the blow, but at the last moment Alex jumped into the air and landed behind him. Alex kicked Rowen down; Rowen lost his bow in the process. Alex raised his sword over his head and then started to send it back down on Rowen. Rowen looked up in fear. He couldn't block or anything. Rowen slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow; when it didn't hit he opened his eyes to see Cye standing over him, using his trident to block the sword. Rowen looked around; Kento was now fighting Ryan, and Sage was fighting Daller.
Cye looked down at Rowen, who was still on the ground. "You want to HELP!" Cye asked and pushed harder against Alex's sword. Rowen nodded; even though Cye was no longer looking, Rowen started to crawl under Cye's legs; he started to stand up but soon saw something red come flying at him. Rowen rolled out of the way to see RYO crouching there, his twin katanas stuck into the ground where Rowen had stood. Everyone stopped fighting. Ryo stood up; his mask was down, so they could not clearly see his eyes.
Daller started to laugh, "And so it starts." The warlords all jumped back, onto a roof, and watched.
Sage came forward. "Who are you?" he said in a deep voice.
"Well, I'm your leader, of course! Or at least I'm in his body, so here's where the choice comes in. I am less powerful in this body and you could probably defeat me, if you combine your powers. But if you defeat me, your leader will also be dead! The choice is yours," Ryo's body said.
"There's no choice in it! We have to kill him to beat you, or we all die and so does our world!" Cye said with a snarl. "You truly are evil; it is you, isn't it, Trots?"
"Well, yes, it is. So come, come and kill your leader! Your friend! Your brother of truth! Come. Time waits for no one!" Trots said.
Sage swallowed hard, he didn't know if he could do it destroy Trots, and destroy Ryo?
A tear ran down Kento's face. "Come on, you know this is what he'd want us to do, so let's do it." Kento connected his weapon up so it was just a staff. "Iron Rock Crusher!" Kento shouted. Rowen followed, doing his sure kill; soon all the Ronins had done theirs, then came two female voices shouting. Vines and leaves came shooting at Ryo. Sage looked up, the tears ran freely down his face; there stood Kit and Kat. Sage looked back at were Ryo had once stood.
The dust cloud started to lift; Ryo lay there in his armor, he slowly started to get up. The other Ronins got on guard. He shook as he stood and used one of his katanas as a cane to steady himself.
"Well, I'll be, I never thought you would really do it, and especially not so soon. You must really want to get rid of Wildfire, don't you," Trots said in a shaking voice.
"We would never want to even hurt Ryo, but he has trained us to do what we have to do. Never try to be a hero, when putting the whole world in danger," Rowen said, glaring at her/him.
"Really, well then, come finish me off! If you can," he laughed.
It sounded so wrong coming from Ryo's voice, Sage thought. "Why do you want us to kill you so quickly? You think you will survive?"
"No, but after me there will only come another leader! And without the Ronins to worry about, that leader WILL survive and will rule your world just as my brother always wanted. I will die for such a cause any day," she finished off.
"Why? If you wanted him dead, and you willing to die too. Why not just kill him and you when you're in his body?" Kento questioned.
"Because it's all the more painful for you if you have to do it!" she said, his voice cracking.
"NO!" Kento screamed. "No, it's just not fair! You can't do this." This was the first time Kento had felt totally lost. When he had to kill Talpa and knew it would kill Ryo, it was different; he was staring at Talpa, but now he was staring at Ryo! He couldn't do it.
"All's fair in love and war!" Trots said with a smirk.
"Is that so?" came a female voice. Kayura stood there, her two swords she used to fight with were strapped to her back and in her hand she held the staff. "Well, then this must be fair too." The circles on the staff started to chime as they hit one another. "BEGONE, EVIL, BEGONE FROM THE BODY OF GOOD!"
Trots screamed; at first it was Ryo's voice, but then it turned to Trot's voice; a form of black left Ryo's body and he fell limp. Trot's body landed to the side with a thump.
Daller jumped down and scooped her up "You may have won the battle, but the war is far from over! So long, Ronins." Daller threw down a ball; it exploded and black smoke rose.
Sage waved his hands in front of his face, trying to clear the smoke. When he did clear it Sage realized they were no longer at the castle. "Where are we?" Sage asked no one.
The chiming of the staff startled them all. "You are home; Daller knew they were beat and forced you home. The Dynasty is no longer a threat. For a while, you may rest easy. But always be prepared. THEY WILL BE BACK," Kayura explained.
Sekhmet and Cale came up behind her, then came Dais holding a limp body. Sage gasped, realizing it was Ryo. The other Ronins made other noises when they realized who it was. Dais gently set down the limp body in front of the Ronins.
Dais looked up. "He is still breathing. He is lucky, and very strong. Stronger than before. I am glad we are no longer enemies!" Dais stood up and stood by Kayura.
Kayura tapped the staff and it started chiming. "Wait," Rowen shouted. "Where are the girls?"
Kayura smiled. "At their own homes." With that Kayura and the warlords disappeared. Sage went over to the limp Ryo; his armor had already gone down to his subarmor.
Part 2
*****
"What! He knows! How does he know?" Alex screamed.
"Looks like your fool proof plain didn't work! Did it?" Daller said, crossing his arms.
"We'll see! We SHALL SEE!" Alex slammed his fists against the wall. He then turned around. "He may know, but that doesn't mean he can stop it!" Daller smiled at these words.
*****
Ryo stood, the best he could, against a tree. And he was laughing! Ryan gritted his teeth together, then yelled, "AND JUST WHAT IS SO FUNNY?" Ryo just laughed harder
"You are! You are quite funny, Ryan!" Ryo said; his right arm started shaking a little but he made it stop before anyone really noticed. Ryo gritted his teeth. Alex, I know you're trying to control me, but it won't work! I'll fight you till the day I die! Ryo thought to himself. I just hope that the day I die isn't that close! Ryo's arm starting shaking again and this time he couldn't stop it. Ryan laughed
"So I see Alex's little spell worked better than you'd like!" Ryan stopped laughing, then put on a serious face. "NOW you die!" Ryan charged at Ryo; Ryo just stood there! When Sage saw that Ryo wasn't going to move he jumped at Ryan, knocking him down. Ryan gasped as he hit the ground; Sage jumped off of him before Ryan had a chance to get the upper hand. Ryan stood up and Sage took a fighting stance right in front of Ryo. Kento looked at Ryo; he was breathing really heavy and his arm was shaking quite hard. Ryo cradled his shaking arm; he put his head back and gritted his teeth. Kento's eyes narrowed; he HATED to see any of his friends in any kind of pain.
Ryan looked at Sage, then at Ryo, he then looked at the other Ronins; they were staring at Ryo, most had pity in their eyes, but Hardrock had anger in his eyes. Ryan wondered about this for a second, but then Hardrock charged him. Ryan had no time to react and was soon tackled to the ground; a fist came down on his face that was soon followed by another one.
Kento punched Ryan madly, with anger filled in his eyes. Sage's eyes were huge he looked back at Ryo, who was standing more upright. His arm had stopped shaking and he had a light smile on his face. Sage looked back at Kento; he had slowed dow a little but not much. Ryan put his feet under Hardrock and pushed him off. Kento went flying backwards, but landed on his feet. Ryan stood up, his head was spinning.
"I'll... I'll be back!" Ryan disappeared, and Ryo laughed quietly to himself.
Sage turned around and looked at Ryo. "Okay, Ryo, time to explian! Why did you make Kento and Rowen run off? Why aren't you trusting us? Why is your arm shaking? What was Ryan babbling about? Why...?"
"SAGE! Slow down! I can only answer one question at a time! MAN!" Ryo was about to continue when a female voice came in.
"We saw the arrow! Is he all..." Tina stopped in mid-sentence, when she saw Ryo leaning against a tree, waving at her. She put on a cheesy smile. "Ha, hi, Ryo. Were you standing there the whole time?" Tina felt really stupid for not seeing him in the first place. Cye smiled to himself, knowing exacly what she felt like.
Then came another female voice, one that they had not heard in a while. "Hello, Ronins," came Kayura's kind voice, a voice that kinda scared Rowen. "I have come to talk to the cousins, but I'll start with just Tina." Kayura turned to Tina. "Tina, if you could please follow me."
Tina looked at Cye; Cye nodded, saying go ahead. So Tina followed Kayura into the trees; Cye watched until they were both out of sight.
*****
Kayura walked for about a mile before she turned around and faced Tina. "Tina, I know you've noticed that your power is somewhat slipping?" Kayura smiled as Tina bit back her lip and a tear ran down. Kayura put a hand on Tina's shoulder. "Don't worry, this is happening to Chi Chi and Brittney too."
Tina's face shot up. "Wh... what, why?!"
Kayura smiled again. "Because it has to. You three were chosen to hold these powers for a while, then they would be passed on to another."
"Another? Why? Why didn't this person just take the power in the beginning? WHY did we have to have them, love them! Then lose them? It's not fair," she said in a quiet voice.
"Because you got your powers when you were born; the powers were tiny, like you, but as you grow they grew. But if you had all the powers in you as they grew, you would go insane. So we took you three girls to hold these powers for a greater use. Yours will go so this 'person' can talk to big cats, or so it says in the scrolls. Chi Chi and Brittney will be going through this too. In fact, Chi Chi's power is almost gone, and Brittney's is leaving her fast. Their powers will go towards this 'person' being able to control her weapon. This weapon is known as the Solar Whip; it is supposed to be the most powerful weapon. The Dynasty will be after this 'person' as soon as they find out the power has surfaced. And this is why I must warn you, if the Dynasty finds out you are losing your powers this person will be in serious trouble! And if we don't find this 'person' first, the world as we know it is doomed!" Kayura finished.
"Doomed?" Tina shook her head. "If this person is SO powerful, then why can't 'it' just defeat the Dynasty by itself?"
"Because when this 'person' first gets its powers, it won't know how to use it. This 'person' will be extremely weak, this 'person' will not know how to use these powers or the Solar Whip," Kayura explained.
"So this 'person' will be able to use all of our powers?" Tina confirmed.
"No! This 'person' will only be able to talk to big cats and that's all; the others will just be to control the whip, and that's all," Kayura told her. Tina looked confused; Kayura frowned. "Look, all you need to know is that your powers are leaving and they ain't coming back! To put it plainly. All right?"
Tina put her head down. "They're never coming back?"
Kayura shook her head. "No, they are gone forever. You are now normal, and your cousins will be too, very soon. But you must understand this has to happen! For the sake of this planet, it was meant to happen! And it is; do not worry, you will learn to get along without them! As will your cousins." Kayura put her hand on Tina's shoulder again. "Now I must go and talk to your cousins; come, we must return to camp."
Kayura turned and started walking back to camp. Tina just stood there for a moment; she sighed, then followed Kayura back to camp.
*****
Derek sat in his room on a chair, he sat starring at his bed where Kit sat with her arms folded, and wore a frown. "Please, talk to me, my dearling. If we are to be wed we must at the least talk," Derek said, standing up.
"I will NEVER marry you! Not know not ever! I will kill myself before I'll marry you!" Kit spat back.
"Now, now, you can't kill yourself, I won't have it! Now, I know you will grow to love me in time, once you give me a chance, that is," Derek said and then got right in her face.
Kit pushed him away. "How can I LIKE someone, let alone love someone who keeps me and my sisters as prisoners, and tries to kill everyone I love?" Kit asked.
"I do not wish to kill anyone you love." Then Derek grumbled, "Except maybe Wildfire." Kit laughed at this, bringing Derek's attention back to her. "What?" he asked.
"You are truly threatened by him!" Kit smiled, but then got a sober face.
"I am threatened by anyone who looks at you!" Derek said.
"You are not truly evil, are you? I mean, if you changed quite a bit then maybe it would work between us," Kit said, thinking out loud, then clasped her hands over her mouth, realizing what she had said.
Derek smiled. "It will work, I will change as soon as I'm Emp..."
"NO! I don't want you to be Emperor. It's too much power and too much temptation to be evil; if even for a moment I don't think you've changed and this is just a trick I'll kill you, I swear I will," Kit tossed back to him.
"I swear this is no trick, but if I can't be Emperor then at least let me kill Wildfire!" Derek said, and Kit glared at him. "All right so I won't kill him, but I want a promise that you will never look at him the way you used to!" Derek said, pointing a finger at her.
"I'm not sure how I'm looking at him, but I will try to 'look' at him in a different way, will that work?" Kit asked him.
"Yes, I suppose." Derek looked down, then back up. "Are you sure I can't just kill him?" Kit slapped him; Derek put his arms up. "All right, all right."
"Now go free my little sis!" Kit said, pointing.
*****
Ryo watched in wonderment as each of the cousins left in high spirit then came back almost in tears; Ryo had no idea what Kayura was telling them but he planned to find out. When finally Brittney came back, he figured that Kayura would leave, but she didn't. She turned to Mariah and said that she had to talk to her! Ryo's eyebrow went up at that. Then his eyes narrowed; he didn't like this, secrets on his team was a bad thing. As Kayura and Mariah left, Ryo followed quietly behind. Ryo didn't know what was going on, but he was going to find out right now!
Kayura and Mariah stopped by a little lake; Mariah bent down and sat on a rock, she put her fingers on the icy lake. "Mariah, do you have any idea why I asked to talk to you?" Kayura asked her, looking directly in her eyes.
"No," Mariah said simply, not even bothering to look up.
Kayura frowned. "Mariah! Please at least look like you're paying attention to me!" Mariah looked up with a start. "Mariah, you have a major choice to make."
Mariah just looked at Kayura, confused. "What kind of a choice?"
Kayura sighed. "Mariah, tell me why are you afraid of fire." Kayura's eyes got a cold look to them as she stared at Mariah.
"Because," Mariah looked around nervously, "because my parents died in a fire!" Mariah's eyes filled with tears.
Kayura put a hand on Mariah's shoulder, and looked into her eyes. "Mariah, what if I told you that your parents aren't dead?"
Mariah jumped at that. "What...? What, what do you mean?" Mariah searched Kayura's face for any clues on what she was talking about, but she found none.
Kayura sighed again. "Mariah, do you remember that night at all?" Kayura asked.
"Not really," Mariah paused. "I remember being in a cave and hearing screams and seeing fire! Then there was an explosion that knocked me out; when I awoke no one was there! I was alone." Mariah looked down at the snow-covered ground.
"Mariah, long before you were born the Dynasty was a peaceful place ruled by your people, everyone was happy! But then an evil came into this world and took it over. Your people tried to keep things peaceful, but couldn't. So they went off to their own part of the Dynasty. Now the evil ruler knew that these people had great power, so he left them be but watched them carefully, and that's how it went for many years. But then that evil one died and he son took over; his son was a power hungry monster, he tolerated your people for a while trying to see how much power they really had.
"No one really took it as much, but about ten years later a child was born that had true power. The evil emperor wanted this child more than anything, so he sent troops out to get it. Your people put up a mighty good fight, though, and fought back; they hid the child in a cave and put a magic shield around the entrance of the cave. They prepared to leave the Dynasty, and take you with. But because of the shield you didn't go with them! It was an accident! But once they were gone they couldn't come back; it was a one way trip, I guess you could say!" Kayura finished off.
Mariah did an annoyed sigh. "So, what does that mean to me! They're still gone, except this time I find out they left ME!" Mariah stood up and started pacing.
"They didn't leave you, it was a mistake that they couldn't fix, but I can."
Mariah looked up at Kayura. "What do you mean?" she asked, staring at her.
"With this staff," Kayura held up the staff, "I can send you to wherever they went." Kayura sighed as she saw Mariah's face fall, but she put on a small smile. "It is a tough choice: leave the home you've known for years and find a family you do not know, or stay here and never know your true past, your people's past. The choice is yours; I will be back tomorrow night for your answer." Kayura smiled, then tapped her staff and disappeared.
Mariah turned around and sighed. "Well, you can come out now." Ryo smiled and stepped out. "What do you think I should do?" Mariah asked him.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME! Go; I would give anything to find out my parents weren't dead, and that they never meant to leave me." Ryo looked at Mariah, and grabbed her hands. "Mariah, this may be the only chance you'll ever get; don't let it go, don't you dare let it go! Family is something I've always wanted, and the guys, they try to be my family but it's not the same; I'll never feel the joy of a mother's arms hugging me just 'cause she wants to hug. You know, people take those things for granted but it's something I've always wanted. Now you take your chance to get those things, you understand me!" Ryo finished, looking her right in the eyes.
Mariah smiled back. "All right! I'll go, but don't forget me, you understand me, don't you forget me."
"I promise, I will never forget you; why don't we go tell the others?" Ryo smiled at her again.
"All right! But let me tell them in my own way, kay?" Mariah said.
*****
Trots stood in one of the hallways in the castle, pacing. The end is coming! The end of this stupid battle is coming! What shall I do first! I know I'll kill that annoying Kit; Derek is getting to close to her! Trots started to walk down the hall towards the room where Kit and Ally stayed. She busted the door open, only to find no one in there. Derek, she cursed to herself.
She stormed down the hallways to Derek's room. She swung open the door to find Derek kissing that witch! Derek stood up and stared Trots right in the eye. "How dare you! KISSING the enemy! How low can you go!" Trots spat at him.
"Well, I'd say the apple doesn't fall far to the ground! MASTER!" Derek said with a slight bow, and a glare.
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A WAY!" Trots flung her fist at Derek; Derek ducked and then kicked upward into her gut. Trots grabbed her stomach for a second, then regained her pose. "You want to fight? Do you really think you can beat me?" Trots said with a smirk.
"I know I can! Your power is useless! If you have any. I let you think you were in control, but you never were! Do you think I would really bow down to you for long?" Derek said, standing up.
Trots started laughing. "Have you forgotten who I am?" Trots looked at Derek for a second, then continued, "My father was one of the most powerful beings ever to walk this Dynasty! He had two children! ME and Talpa, my brother..."
"Yeah, and it looks like Talpa got all the power! And even he was defeated by the Ronins! Did you really think you could win? Did you honestly think you had control? Ha, you are more stupid than I thought!"
"Wrong! I was always in charge! But I allowed you to think you were. Talpa had lots of power, but I always had more! But Father said, 'Let your brother think he is better; if he becomes Emperor, GREAT, then he'll get rid of your enemies for you! And when one comes along that he can't beat, you will become Empress and defeat them too. BUT you must always remember to mask your true power! Because you are a girl, your enemies will underestimate you. Remember that.' Yes, he told me that every day! So that's what I did. And now I shall rid myself of you and that brat!" Trots said. She put her hands together, then pulled them apart; a light glow came from them and the glow started to get brighter.
Derek, seeing what she was about to do, grabbed Kit's arm and transported them elsewhere. "Derek, what was that? What was she doing?" Kit asked.
"It's a powerful attack; if she can master that attack... she's a lot more powerful than I thought she was." Derek shook his head. "She did that trick like it was nothing. If she can do much more, your friends don't stand a chance." Kit looked down; Derek brushed her cheek. "Come on, she'll be after us soon. We need to get your sister and get out of here." He started to turn, then looked at her again, then sighed. "I'm just glad we hid your sister. Otherwise..."
Kit put a finger to his lips. "Come on, let's go get my sister." Kit smiled at Derek. She grabbed his hand and they disappeared.
*****
Ryo stood in front, Sage and Rowen stood behind him one on each side. Behind them stood Cye and Kento, all in full armor. The girls stood to the side and backed away. Ryo took out his twin katanas, frowned and said, "It ends now!" The other Ronins took out their weapons and shook theire heads in agreement.
*****
Daller, Alex, and Ryan stood at the doors of the Dynasty castle; hundreds of Dynasty soldiers were there too, all ready to fight, just waiting for the Ronins to appear. Ryo came over the hill; the other Ronins, and Kat stepped up behind him. The Dynasty soldiers started grumbling. The warlord stood there calmly though. "Should we attack now or wait?" Daller asked.
Alex looked around. "ATTACK!" As soon as that word left his mouth, then the Dynasty soldiers came running at Ryo.
Ryo swallowed hard. He turned to the other Ronins and Kat. "Remember, we make a path for the girls to follow; Kat, you try to focus on finding your sisters. Fight strong."
The first Dynasty soldier came running at Ryo; Ryo slashed right through him. Soon everyone with an armor on was fighting. Ryo turned to the guys, slashing another soldier down as he did. He was going to say one more thing before they got separated. "DON'T BE A HERO!" Ryo shouted over the noise.
Sage looked up from for a second, then smiled. Take your own advice, Ryo, take your own advice. Sage quickly stopped himself from thinking about other things and started focusing only on the battle. The battle seemed to go on forever. When finally they had killed off enough of the soldiers they saw the new warlords standing there smug, and proud.
"It's over," Ryo said, pointing one of his twin katanas at Daller.
"Is it now?" Daller asked, smiling. Ryo was about to respond when he felt a sudden blast hit him in the chest. The Ronins watched as Ryo flew off the ground and landed with a thump. Kento was about to run to his side, but Daller jumped in front of him, blocking his way. Kento started the fight with Daller, and just hoped that Ryo was either okay or that one of the other guys had gotten to him. He pushed at Daller's sword with all his might and Daller was forced to jump back.
Kento quickly looked around; all the guys were busy with their own fights, Cye was held up with Ryan, and both Rowen and Sage were trying to fight off Alex. Daller came crashing back onto him; Kento only had a second to react. The battle raged on, and every chance he got he looked for Ryo, but never found him.
Daller slashed his sword under Kento's weapon, and Kento went flying. Kento rammed right into Sage, Sage screamed as he was knocked form his feet. Kento started to get off of Sage but before he could Daller came flying down at him, his sword ready to kill. Kento blocked it with his staff, he could hear Sage groan at the extra wait. There was nothing Kento could do except block.
Rowen took an arrow, strung it, and shouted, "Arrow Shock Wave!" The arrow hit Alex head on. Alex flew backwards; Rowen knew it wouldn't buy him much time, but he had to help Sage and Kento. Rowen turned around, strung another arrow and again shouted, "Arrow Shock Wave!" The arrow struck Daller just as Alex came running back; Rowen used his bow as a block, and knocked Alex back. Alex frowned and came charging at Rowen head-on.
Rowen readied himself for the blow, but at the last moment Alex jumped into the air and landed behind him. Alex kicked Rowen down; Rowen lost his bow in the process. Alex raised his sword over his head and then started to send it back down on Rowen. Rowen looked up in fear. He couldn't block or anything. Rowen slammed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow; when it didn't hit he opened his eyes to see Cye standing over him, using his trident to block the sword. Rowen looked around; Kento was now fighting Ryan, and Sage was fighting Daller.
Cye looked down at Rowen, who was still on the ground. "You want to HELP!" Cye asked and pushed harder against Alex's sword. Rowen nodded; even though Cye was no longer looking, Rowen started to crawl under Cye's legs; he started to stand up but soon saw something red come flying at him. Rowen rolled out of the way to see RYO crouching there, his twin katanas stuck into the ground where Rowen had stood. Everyone stopped fighting. Ryo stood up; his mask was down, so they could not clearly see his eyes.
Daller started to laugh, "And so it starts." The warlords all jumped back, onto a roof, and watched.
Sage came forward. "Who are you?" he said in a deep voice.
"Well, I'm your leader, of course! Or at least I'm in his body, so here's where the choice comes in. I am less powerful in this body and you could probably defeat me, if you combine your powers. But if you defeat me, your leader will also be dead! The choice is yours," Ryo's body said.
"There's no choice in it! We have to kill him to beat you, or we all die and so does our world!" Cye said with a snarl. "You truly are evil; it is you, isn't it, Trots?"
"Well, yes, it is. So come, come and kill your leader! Your friend! Your brother of truth! Come. Time waits for no one!" Trots said.
Sage swallowed hard, he didn't know if he could do it destroy Trots, and destroy Ryo?
A tear ran down Kento's face. "Come on, you know this is what he'd want us to do, so let's do it." Kento connected his weapon up so it was just a staff. "Iron Rock Crusher!" Kento shouted. Rowen followed, doing his sure kill; soon all the Ronins had done theirs, then came two female voices shouting. Vines and leaves came shooting at Ryo. Sage looked up, the tears ran freely down his face; there stood Kit and Kat. Sage looked back at were Ryo had once stood.
The dust cloud started to lift; Ryo lay there in his armor, he slowly started to get up. The other Ronins got on guard. He shook as he stood and used one of his katanas as a cane to steady himself.
"Well, I'll be, I never thought you would really do it, and especially not so soon. You must really want to get rid of Wildfire, don't you," Trots said in a shaking voice.
"We would never want to even hurt Ryo, but he has trained us to do what we have to do. Never try to be a hero, when putting the whole world in danger," Rowen said, glaring at her/him.
"Really, well then, come finish me off! If you can," he laughed.
It sounded so wrong coming from Ryo's voice, Sage thought. "Why do you want us to kill you so quickly? You think you will survive?"
"No, but after me there will only come another leader! And without the Ronins to worry about, that leader WILL survive and will rule your world just as my brother always wanted. I will die for such a cause any day," she finished off.
"Why? If you wanted him dead, and you willing to die too. Why not just kill him and you when you're in his body?" Kento questioned.
"Because it's all the more painful for you if you have to do it!" she said, his voice cracking.
"NO!" Kento screamed. "No, it's just not fair! You can't do this." This was the first time Kento had felt totally lost. When he had to kill Talpa and knew it would kill Ryo, it was different; he was staring at Talpa, but now he was staring at Ryo! He couldn't do it.
"All's fair in love and war!" Trots said with a smirk.
"Is that so?" came a female voice. Kayura stood there, her two swords she used to fight with were strapped to her back and in her hand she held the staff. "Well, then this must be fair too." The circles on the staff started to chime as they hit one another. "BEGONE, EVIL, BEGONE FROM THE BODY OF GOOD!"
Trots screamed; at first it was Ryo's voice, but then it turned to Trot's voice; a form of black left Ryo's body and he fell limp. Trot's body landed to the side with a thump.
Daller jumped down and scooped her up "You may have won the battle, but the war is far from over! So long, Ronins." Daller threw down a ball; it exploded and black smoke rose.
Sage waved his hands in front of his face, trying to clear the smoke. When he did clear it Sage realized they were no longer at the castle. "Where are we?" Sage asked no one.
The chiming of the staff startled them all. "You are home; Daller knew they were beat and forced you home. The Dynasty is no longer a threat. For a while, you may rest easy. But always be prepared. THEY WILL BE BACK," Kayura explained.
Sekhmet and Cale came up behind her, then came Dais holding a limp body. Sage gasped, realizing it was Ryo. The other Ronins made other noises when they realized who it was. Dais gently set down the limp body in front of the Ronins.
Dais looked up. "He is still breathing. He is lucky, and very strong. Stronger than before. I am glad we are no longer enemies!" Dais stood up and stood by Kayura.
Kayura tapped the staff and it started chiming. "Wait," Rowen shouted. "Where are the girls?"
Kayura smiled. "At their own homes." With that Kayura and the warlords disappeared. Sage went over to the limp Ryo; his armor had already gone down to his subarmor.