The Armor of the Soul

By Dixxy

Chapter Fifteen: The Ronin Senshi Get a Clue

(Keisha)

While Ria and Sara were at the (stupid) fortune teller, I went back to Mike's to talk with Anubis. Lately, Anubis hadn't been leaving home much. I guess he felt somewhat guilty about Sam and Rona running off like they did. While agreed that yes, Anubis should've told us sooner (we didn't have to know about Talpa- saying "I used to work for the Dynasty" wouldn't have made us any wiser about the other Ronins), they chose to the wrong solution.

I found him in the living room, curled up on the love seat. "Hi, Anubis," I said, walking over to him.

Slowly, Anubis lifted his head. He had heavy bags under his eyes and looked dead tired. He hasn't been getting any sleep, I thought. He looks awful. "Hello, Keisha," he said, half interested.

I sat next to his depressed form. "Don't feel bad about it. You had to do what you had to do," I said, placing a hand on his back. "I'm sure they'll forgive you eventually."

"Sam had trouble trusting men. I've shattered any hope she had of learning to trust again," he said. "Of course I'm going to feel rotten about this! Keisha, she trusted me. She might trust Mike. But all that's gone now! I'm a failure!"

I played with a few strands of his hair. I've always loved his hair. "Anubis, you're not a failure. You trained five girls how to use magic, fighting skills, and weapons some of us haven't ever even heard of before," I said. "Maybe by some twist of fate she'll run into Halo boy and he'll help her," I said.

Anubis chuckled. "Sage did seem to have that effect on women," he said.

"Sage? Is that the Ronin Warrior of Halo?"

"Yes. Ironically his hair is almost identical to Sam's style," he said, sitting up. He drew me a quick sketch of a head and a crop of hair. "The fey lock is over the opposite side. I almost burst out laughing when you girls told me who she was."

I smiled, tracing the picture. The picture was poorly drawn, but even so, I could probably spot the guy if I saw him due to the wild hairstyle he sported. "You really do miss them, don't you?" I asked.

"Kind of," said Anubis. "But they think I'm dead, and my responsibilities lie here."

"Anubis, I've been wondering, why didn't you tell us this up front?" I asked.

"The Law of Dependency. It's forbidden that the male armors assist the females until a second war arises or one of them is killed. The only reason I could help was because I got permission from the Ancient, and I can feel the link to my old armor has weakened sincerely," he said.

My mind flashed back to the moments before my possession, during my conversation with the spirit I'd encountered. Something about what the spirit said to me had been nagging me for the past few months, and it was starting to nag me again.

How many time do I have to tell you? I want desperately to help you. I hate Trulpa. But destiny forbids me to help you! Please try to understand!

"Forbidden," I said.

How many time do I have to tell you? I want desperately to help you. I hate Trulpa. But destiny forbids me to help you! Please try to understand!

"Keisha?" asked Anubis. "What do you mean?"

How many time do I have to tell you? I want desperately to help you. I hate Trulpa. But destiny forbids me to help you! Please try to understand!

"Something's trying to tell me something, but I can't figure it out," I said.

How many time do I have to tell you? I want desperately to help you. I hate Trulpa. But destiny forbids me to help you! Please try to understand!

Anubis sat up. "Did I trigger something?"

How many time do I have to tell you? I want desperately to help you. I hate Trulpa. But destiny forbids me to help you! Please try to understand!

"I think things might be piecing together. The voice in the Dynasty I heard."

Anubis cocked an eyebrow. "Exactly what did this mysterious voice of yours say, Keisha?"

"It said it hated Trulpa and that it wanted to help me but. . . destiny. . . forbade. . . Holy smokes!" I said, leaping to my feet. I knew what was going on. Forbidden. Wanted to help me. Hated Trulpa. I hadn't been talking to a spirit- I'd been talking to one of the Ronin Warriors! "Anubis, Trulpa must've kidnapped one of the Ronin Warriors!"

"What!?" asked Anubis, getting to his feet as well.

"The Law of Dependency says that the Ronin Warriors can't help the Senshi until after they've fought at least one war. We were in the first war when I contacted the spirit. I must've accidentally contacted one of them and they somehow knew about Trulpa and the Ronin Senshi! They also must know about that stupid dependency!"

Anubis' eyes widened. "They never knew about you girls to my knowledge, never mind the Dependency." Then, he narrowed his eyes. "But why?"

"Why what?" I asked.

"Why would Trulpa want the Ronins- Kaze!" he said.

My eyes widened. "You think that Trulpa used one or more Ronins to create Kaze?" I asked.

Anubis nodded. "Kaze was a tri-mutantal," he said. His eyes widened as he realized something. "That would also explains why some of the powers didn't affect you girls! Partners in arms can't hurt each other!"

"The lightning attack came this Sage guy. The earth attack came from Hardrock. The water attack came from Torrent," I said. I sat down. "It must've been Hardrock I contacted. We have the same armor. Well, sort of. It makes sense that I'd somehow contact him."

Anubis sat down. "It seems as if those three got into even more trouble," he said.

I looked up. "Hmm?"

"Before I died, during their second war, the three of them were captured by Talpa and subjected to some very harsh torture. Talpa forced the other two to watch him do it."

I gasped. "How?"

"A strong current of negative power was sent surging through their bodies. It was only because of their armors that they weren't killed," said Anubis. "It was sickening. The three of them were younger than the other two by just about a whole year. Ryo of the Wildfire felt powerless to help them, despite the Armor of the Inferno, the White Armor I mentioned."

"But why would Trulpa single them out?" I asked. "So they're younger- Talpa tried that game and apparently lost."

Anubis raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. I would assume she'd go after Ryo or even Rowen of the Strata first- they're both very strong. That is odd. . ."

"I have a feeling age wasn't the only factor," I said. "We need to figure this out-"

"The fortune teller guy said he felt something to the north."

Anubis and I turned to see Ria and Sara come in. Ria sat down, folding her arms and looking at us expectantly. Sara stood over Ria's perch, her forearms resting on the back of the chair. "The north?" I asked.

"He couldn't find an exact location, but he said to try the north and that Sam might be in big trouble," said Ria. She snorted. "Poor guy looked like he was hiding something. Hope he didn't get a glance at any Dynasty related stuff or else Trulpa will be after his hide."

"Well, Anubis and I pieced together a lot of information," I said, summing up what Anubis and I had gone over. My fellow Senshi looked interested, Wildfire nodding along as Sara added the occasional "you're kidding me" or "oh my God" type comment.

"So Trulpa's had three of them captive for a long time?" asked Sara.

"Yes," said Anubis. "Well, at least since your first war."

"Do you that Talpa might've accidentally broken the barriers between the Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock armors when he captured them?" asked Sara. "I mean, all that power must've left SOME long term affects."

I blinked. "Duh! Those three were singled out by Trulpa, we can use sure-kills, I bet you're onto something, there! I bet that's even where that weird thingy that happened to us came from! We told you about the weird levitation thing, Anubis, remember?"

"Yes. I'm afraid you had to share their pain," he said, looking oddly uncomfortable. "You described it as being similar to electrocution. That's pretty much what Talpa did to them."

"So then one of them is in Boston, since we saw one of the energies escape," said Ria. "But where is he? And does he speak English?"

Sara sat down. "That means that two of them are still in the Dynasty," she said, shaking her head. "Trulpa must be doing something awful to them. I hope they're all right."

I leaned up against a wall, folding my arms and crossing my legs. "Well, we know that Ryo of the Wildfire and Rowen of the Strata are in Japan, probably. Sage of the Halo we have a slight composite off."

Ria picked up Anubis' sketch. "Don't quit your day job."

"That leaves Torrent and Hardrock," I said. "Tell us about the other two."

"I think Cye can speak English. His Japanese was pretty weak and it sounded like it may have come from this tongue," he said. "He also didn't look very Japanese."

"What's he look like?" asked Sara.

"Kind of short, auburn hair, green or blue eyes, but . . . it's been a while," he said.

"Maybe we could ask that Kento guy if he can help us find them," said Sara, smiling as she said so.

Anubis looked ready to choke. "Kento?"

"The fortune teller we went to see. Nice guy, kind of cute. Why?" asked Ria.

Sara seemed to catch onto Anubis' sudden face fault. "The Ronin Warrior of Hardrock is named Kento," she concluded. Anubis nodded. Suddenly, I felt like an idiot for not going with the other two to check out the fortune teller.

"Describe him a little more," asked Anubis. "You might be onto something. For all we know it could be another Kento, but. . . no, the coincidence is too great to ignore."

"He had this dark, bluish-black hair that was down to his chin, big blue eyes, Chinese, and a headband kinda like Keisha's," said Ria. "Big guy, but not fat big- muscle big. Kind has Mr. Santana's build without the gut."

"That's our man!" said Anubis, standing up excitedly.

Ria narrowed her eyes. "He looked nervous about something, like he was avoiding something. Maybe he was afraid to let us know who he was?"

"I don't know but we've got to find him. He might know what Trulpa's up to," said Anubis. "And why she grabbed him and the other two."